I was thrilled recently to see a well respected interior design company Classica Decor feature my art and the bedding designs from ARTnBED on their website.  If you would like to have a look what they wrote in their blog use this link CLASSICADECORBLOG.  This acrylic on board painting of hot air balloons flying over the Barossa Valley in South Australia was one of the artworks they featured on their blog.

INTERIOR DECORATING

Classica Decor is based in Miami, Florida where they are not only a major force to be reckoned with in the interior designers sphere but they have also come up with a “Design Touch eBook program” for all you around the world who want to decorate your own houses.

In their consultation meetings, they frequently came across clients who had tried to decorate their own homes.  After buying a few items they felt overwhelmed, lost and frustrated and were unable to finish what they had started as all the components of the rooms did not seem to fit together.

DECORATIVE ART

That is why Debra and Dafna from Classica came up with this wonderful program which includes the eBook, 5 tutorial videos and online support.  Both have spent many years immersed in global culture and from this international background Classica has a worldwide perspective on design and moved away from the typical formulaic ideas which they replaced with the unexpected element, making their creations stand out among the rest.  I can only imagine that is also why my artworks appealed to them.

DESIGN AT HOME

The “Design Touch Program” is offering solutions to home decor dilemmas and the Classica’s support team will answer any questions.  The members can email in their photos and get personal advice and all the while the eBook covers everything from calculating a budget to new decor, how to choose a color palette, combining fabrics, colors, prints, furniture  both old and new.   How to buy readymade pillowcases and drapes or even how to make them yourself shown in detailed videos all made easy with the Classica’s support team on hand.  The eBook itself is divided into 10 day/sections, each section will guide you through a different topic, all the way from getting the inspirations to installing the new decor.

GOOD DESIGNS AND GREAT IDEAS

The eBook was created for people who strive for a beautiful decor in their home and wants to create it themselves.

The website shares great ideas and good designs with many before and after photos, an interesting blog full of great tips and they work closely with each client to design exactly what their heart desires.  So whether you want their professional decorators to do it all from concept to deliver or you want to do it yourself through the eBook give ClassicaDecor a go.

So here is a quote I feel fits well here by an unknown author;

“Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions”.

Till next time happy painting, sculpting and interior decorating to you all.

Love Marie xxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Carols by Candlelight is such a lovely Australian Christmas tradition.  Last week my art blog and painting featured the acrylic painting of Swedish Lucia which was used for Project mapping on the Swedish Embassy in Poland see this story 205 Projection Mapping & Art in Animation This week however the artwork is a wall based sculpture and made from handmade ceramic and mosaic and captures my memories of the Carols by Candlelight celebration in Elder Park here in Adelaide.

AUSTRALIAN TRADITION

The history of the tradition heralds back to the 19^th century in Moonta, South Australia where the Cornish Miners would get together on Christmas Eve with candles stuck to the brims of their safety hats and sing Christmas carols.

The tradition then spread to Victoria and Melbourne and was made popular by a radio personality named Norman Banks.  According to Wikipedia,  Norman was walking home from his night time radio job when he walked past an elderly woman sitting up in bed listening to Christmas carols being sung on the radio.  The woman’s face was lit by candlelight as she sang along and this made Norman wonder how many other people spent Christmas alone.  This in turn gave him the idea and the first ever event was organized in Alexandra Garden Christmas 1938 where 10,000 people attended.

ARTISTS & STARS

These days we celebrate Carols by Candlelight all over Australia in all the capital cities and smaller country towns and they are held on many different dates all throughout December.   The tradition has now spread around the world and people gather usually outdoors in parks and sing carols in choirs and usually accompanied by bands.  Lots of talented artists both very famous and up and coming stars do the rounds of the different shows and they are compared for the most part by Radio and Television personalities.  The audience of course sing along and everyone has a candle or two which they hold up and sway from side to side with the music at times, a very atmospheric sight.

THE ART OF A GOOD CHARITY

The Adelaide event was sponsored this year by Woolworths with the funds raised going to the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation due to the hardworking Marta Harbuzinska, Christina and Natalie Angus and their team and some of the acts featured here were Samantha Jade,  The Collective as well as Humphrey Bear.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

As a family we started going to the open concert after our son Kai was born and have only missed a few along the way.  We used to arrive early in the afternoon to stake our claim on a spot close to the stage put down a picnic blanket with a basket full of delicious goodies and lovely wine.  It was a quite a few hours wait before the show began at sunset and we would take turns to head up to the city to shop and walk about.  These days we arrive a little later but it is still something we look forward to very much.  However there was one year that nearly turned us off for life when the weather suddenly changed and turned so nasty we thought we would freeze to death, lol.  We still talk about how the coldness that night was equal to shopping down Canal Street in New York at Christmas time, well nearly anyway!  All wonderful memories for more sculptures, paintings and artworks in the future.

THE ART OF LIGHT

So next year if you haven’t been go along to your nearest Carols by Candlelight no matter what religion or culture you come from it is a lovely event for all concerned.

So here is a quote I think fits well here by Earl Nightingale;  “We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and maybe carol singing to you all.

Love Marie xxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALEand SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

I have just joined a gym today, finally after 20 or so years since last time.  Oh and before you get the wrong idea – I have still been keeping fit during that time.  You see we had been living on a farm in the country with the closest gym an hours’ drive away, so I had a treadmill at home in my art studio and could watch telly there whilst I walked.   I used to often do aerobics whilst watching the Good morning programs and go for a run outside (you had to keep the pace up as there were lots of flies in the Australian countryside) and then there were body pump and various fitness classes held in a hall in the local country town as well.  My son Kai and daughter Hillivi would often join in too and we also used to light candles and do yoga in the TV room in front of a roaring fireplace in winter.

ACRYLIC PAINTING

Whilst I was pregnant I had several videos that I used to follow as although we hadn’t moved to the farm yet we had bought a renovated church in the countryside to live in.  I did travel to the city and attended a couple of the keep fit classes for the expectant mum as this acrylic on canvas board painting shows.  That is me in the middle of the artwork in black and green gym gear and baby boy Kai with the balloon!

However this big Gym set up seems like a real luxury to me and lots of fun.  Strange really how things go as I had absolutely no thought about joining a gym again.  Years ago when I lived in Melbourne and Sydney and traveled the world whilst modelling I attended Gyms in every place I traveled to.

THE ART OF DOING WEIGHTS

These days hubby and I are great walkers and do 40 minutes minimum a day often joined by the kids and always joined by our two dogs Cheech and Vegas.  Although I have to admit people that see us often ask me ‘who is walking who’ when it comes to my Chihuahua – you see she refuses to walk for the first 10 or so minutes so I carry her to start.  Lol I figure that is a bit of weight training for me and she has such a cute little face and big brown eyes that I just cannot resist.

THE ART OF A BARGAIN

Anyway my daughter and I found this Deal on the internet where they offered 10 fitness classes for 10 dollars, what a steal we thought and promptly went and checked it out, with the intention of just doing the 10 classes and that would be that.  Well I guess these marketing guys know what they are doing because 2 lessons later and they have got us signed up for the foreseeable future.

THE ART OF THE HOT BOD

Well what can I say; the deal was too good to refuse and the classes so good and the body felt amazing after being pushed that little bit further than you generally do yourself no matter how motivated you are.  It also felt good to be in a structured environment with lots of people keeping fit and all sorts of exercise machines there to use and some hot bods to spur you on too!

THE ART OF PILATES AND LAUGHTER

Yesterday time slipped away from us when we remembered the class was on and hopped in the car to get to the Pilates class.  It is held in with the lights dimmed in a big room with soft atmospheric music and as we were beginners to this class we did a couple of wrong moves which made us giggle between ourselves.  Then all of a sudden my daughter is in absolute hysterics, really trying to contain her laughter in between trying to quietly tell me something.  Well I cannot for the life understand what she is trying to say but now she got me giggling too – both of us like two naughty school girls up the back of the class.  As it turns out she was laughing at me – of course – in my hurry to get ready for the class I had put my yoga top inside out with the tag hanging out at the back!  So much for looking Cool in front of all the buff and fit people, I guess you can take the girl out of the country but not the country out of the girl!   I have to look on the bright side least there are always more inspiration for new paintings.

Here is a quote I think fits well here by Rita Rudner;

“The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said; If we’re going to charge $10 an hour, we can’t call it jumping up and down”.                                                                                                                                                  

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting to you all, oh and maybe exercising!

Love Marie xxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

If you enjoyed this health and art blog you may also be amused at my attempts at meditation; 97 Meditation are you serious & Art

The time had come to leave Sundsvall and it is with sadness that we do so.  Our visit with my lovely cousin Kent and his gorgeous family was not nearly long enough and the setting and town so picturesque that I could have stayed a long long time!

TRAVEL AND ART BLOGS

Our travels today take us to Stockholm by train and if you should want to catch up on the travel and art blogs leading up to this point in our recent Europe trip here are the links;  156. ART & FREQUENT FLYER POINTS and 157. Art & Never judge a book by it’s cover and 155 The Art of Packing Light and 164. ART, TOILETS AND TRAVEL

ACRYLIC PAINTING

This acrylic on canvas board painting is of a little red Swedish cottage during the winter months.  It was commissioned by my American Gallery and as chance would have it unbeknownst to me at the time; my cousin Bjorn and his wife Ann live in a setting almost identical to this by a lake in Huddinge.

My cousin Bjorn picked us up from the train station when we arrived and had arranged for us to stay in an apartment with his son Kalle.  I had really been looking forward to seeing Bjorn again, we knew each other as very young, playing together at family celebrations but had lost touch and reconnected through my art website and Facebook.

.

MAKING SCULPTURES FOR CHARITY

Bjorn has been especially supportive with my art and my artblogs and I think we have found a few common bonds too.  Bjorn who is a whiz kid in IT with IBM commutes between Sweden and England for work, found that in his spare time he would like to give back and thought to combine that with his love of tinkering in his shed where he was originally carving wooden figures.  So to cut a long story short, Rundellhund.com was born.  Roundaboutdogs is the English translation and it is about making small dog sculptures and placing them into roundabouts across the world for the general public to enjoy.  All dogs are made from recycled materials and all money collected goes back to charity.  If you would like to participate or know a little more about this use link RONDELLHUND.  Also here is a previous art blog that I have written about this Roundaboutdogs – sculptures for charity.  The other thing we had in common was that he is a big kid just like me!  Bjorn is all grown up obviously but acts and looks decades younger than his years, full of life and fun.

Before we settled in to the apartment Bjorn took us on a tour of Huddinge which is where I grew up when I lived in Sweden.  A lot had changed of course but some things stayed the same, my high school looked completely foreign to me until I figured out that I always came to it from the opposite entrance climbing up a hill.

ROUNDABOUTDOG SCULPTURE FACTORY

After all this sightseeing we were taken to the little red cottage, home and also head office to the Roundaboutdogs Factory whereby after meeting Bjorn’s gorgeous wife Anne and afternoon tea we were promptly inducted into the Rondellhund makings ourselves.

THE ART OF FOOD

Then we were treated to a scrumptious smorgasbord of Swedish treats including more kantarell dishes (my favourite mushroom) where we were also joined by Bjorn’s mother Lillian and stepfather Hasse.  Yet again I felt as I was in the bosom of my family right at home even though it was 30 years since I was in Sweden the last time.

Here is a quote I think fits well here by John Ed Pearce;

“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.”

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting to you all.

Love Marie xxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Next stop on our cruising adventure was Lifou, and if you have just joined me and want to recap on how this P&O holiday actually started here are some links for you to read of our adventures so far and see the paintings and artworks in these travel and art blogs “LEAVING SYDNEY HARBOR” and  “CRUISING ON THE PACIFIC JEWEL” and “ART,LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE ISLE OF PINES”.

ISLAND INSPIRES AN ARTIST

Lifou is the largest island in the archipelago of Loyalty Islands.  The population is just over 10,000 people who speak French and Kanak dialects and the currency is French Pacific Franc.  It is a beautiful Island with long stretches of white sandy beaches, limestone caves, grottos and cliffs and small coves.  They say time passes more slowly than in other places and are measured by the tides, sunrises and sunsets rather than by clocks.  Not that we could enjoy that part as coming off the cruise you have strict instructions – the last tender back to the boat leaves at 4 o’clock and if you miss that you’re buggered! LOL

However we did have a gorgeous time even so, firstly we took the 25 minute walk through a little forest to the Lady of Lourdes church built by the Catholic missionaries in 1898.  Beautiful white exterior stands out against the green forest with stunning views all around, could even see the cruise ship too.

ACRYLIC PAINTING

This acrylic on canvas board painting shows the underwater experience to come, many of my paintings and sculptures yes all artworks often have a water theme.

THE ART OF STAYING ALIVE

Then we went and had a look at the snorkelling reef which we later returned to before taking another exploring walk heading to the Secret Grotto.  That was really interesting navigating through the rain forest down steep steps (felt like a scene from Tomb Raider) and into a dark dark grotto, where all of a sudden we saw a movement and were met by the white of someone’s eyes.  Turns out it was a gorgeous local man with a speech impediment apart from the obvious language barrier, however he told us all we needed to know with grunts and sign language.  Lucky he was there and had a torch or we would no doubt plunge to our deaths in a crystal clear 10 meter deep pool which was just inside the entrance of this black cave!

Our next death defying adventure was when we went on a tour to the township of We, it is a sleepy town in the bay de Chateaubriand on the east coast and is the main center of Lifou well apparently the whole of the Loyalty Islands.

The brochure boasts “try some of the local cuisine in one of the town’s restaurants or cafe.”   However all that we could find was a take away shop and a supermarket, and we were now on a guided tour mind you so our guide should have known!  We ended up buying some chips and sat on the beach and took a walk instead.

The one hour car ride was more than scary as the female driver was overtaking everything in sight one minute and then kept falling asleep and having to hang her head out the window to stay awake the next.

She delivered us back in one piece where we tried a bit of Kava (not a big hit, lol) and then headed over to the snorkelling place.  We all love snorkelling however there was a little dampener put on this thought after we heard about the “Shark attack in Lifou” which Hillivi then Googled and yes sure enough in the very place where we were going for a swim a French nurse was taken in 2007 by a Great White whilst snorkelling with a friend.

THE ART OF A SHARK-SPOTTER

Still the water was welcoming and the tide and reef provided some good protection so swimming seemed not too dangerous and I was took the post as “Chief Shark Spotter”.

So here is a quote I think fits well here by Ovid;

“Chance is always powerful, let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish”.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and maybe snorkeling to you all,

Love Marie xxx  (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Finally I can share with you my exciting news; my artwork is now available in a bedding range with ARTnBed which launched in New York this week and available throughout the USA.

ART FOUND ON THE WEB

It all started in October 2011 when I was approached by Mr Lior Rapaport an Israeli entrepreneur, who had found my artwork on the MOMA Facebook website (Museum of Modern Art NY) and from there looked at the rest of my artwork on my own artist website.

ARTnBED bought the copyright (bedding) for my acrylic painting ‘The True colours of Hindley Street” and I will also receive royalties for the items sold.

Although I have been approached with various ideas before, this time I had no hesitation as Mr Rapaports care and consideration both for me as an artist as well as for the product and what he wanted to achieve was second to none.

HIGH QUALITY ART

The utmost care has been taken in the design face with high resolution printing on sateen fabrics, 100% cotton which was chosen because it was best suited to printing the high resolution images in the highest quality possible and was also beautiful to sleep in.

The exciting quilt features all the one-time familiar icons of Hindley Street, Adelaide, Australia which is the place where everything happens, Action, Atmosphere and Nightlife –Jules Bar, Downtown Leisure Centre, Flash Coffee Gelateria and Jerusalem Restaurant in a splash of vibrant street life.  Crazy Horse nightclub is depicted alongside Goodwill Stores.  And the instantly recognisable eclectic imagery is jammed with a multi-cultural crowd of people.

The South Australian Tourist Commission’s David O’loughlin thought this was so much fun and came up with the slogan; “Thousands of Americans are sleeping in Hindley Street tonight!”

The whole ARTnBED concept springs from Lior Rapaport and his wife Sharons 4 year spell living in Paris where they enjoyed strolling the beautiful streets, exploring the incredible museums, sampling the rich cuisine and soaking up the sights and sounds.  They discovered that they shared a passion for the arts and started a art collection together and when they finally left Paris it was with a trunk full of memories, original paintings and two beautiful daughters.

When it came to setting up a more permanent home together they found a gap in the market – there were no original artwork on luxury bed linen. So they started a search to find exciting artists so they could convert their vibrancy and spirit from the walls and on to the beds and voila ARTnBED was born.

With much success in Israel it is now New Yorks turn with many more cities and countries to follow.  Our Art, Your bed so follow your heart, sleep in Art.

So here is a quote by Jean Paul Richter which I think fits well here;

“Art is indeed not the bread but the wine of life”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and maybe sleeping to you all,

Love Marie xxx

Here is my blog about the many crazy nights spent having fun in Hindley street called Girls Night Out.

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

]]> https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/140-artnbed/feed/ 3 https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/139-cruising-on-the-pacific-jewel/ https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/139-cruising-on-the-pacific-jewel/#comments Sat, 16 Jun 2012 03:42:11 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3459 THE ART OF THE CRUISE

If you have just joined me now you may want to read the travel and art blog “Leaving Sydney Harbor” as this tale is the continuation.   My family and I are now on the Pacific Jewel  a P&O ship sailing from Sydney to New Caledonia and Vanuatu, stopping at Isle of Pines, Mystery Island, Lifou and Noumea.

We departed Darling Harbour and set sail under the iconic Harbour Bridge, passing the Opera house and Fort Denison before leaving the Heads in the evening twilight.  The entertainment onboard was rocking and the drinks flowing as we turned into a long North-Easterly course towards New Caledonia, initially passing Nobo’s Head and Port Stephens before leaving the mainland astern.

PAINTING INSPIRATIONS

Here is a acrylic painting on canvas that I recently painted dreaming of our cruising holiday.

The Pacific Jewel has a capacity of 1915 passengers and 730 crew, it was built the same year my daughter was born 1991, and for you that loves facts and figures its length is 811ft/245 metres with a gross tonnage of 70,310 tons, draft 8.2 meters and the max speed is 20 knots.  Captained by Tony Draper from Scotland and the rest of the senior officers are from England, Italy, Zambia, USA, South Africa, France, India and Bulgaria, so a rich mixture of cultures from all over the world.

The Pacific Jewel can carry the equivalent of five fully laden 747 jumbo jets and is 50% bigger than the Titanic and the same size as the Cunards Queen Elizabeth with a two story show lounge that can seat 800 people.  So it is a big ship – a great ship to work on according to some of the crew who told us that they don’t have too far to go to work as compared to the Queen Mary ll where you need to get up and hour earlier just to be able to walk an hour to work each day!!  Hard to imagine isn’t it.

THE ART OF BEING GREEN

Anyway after we set sail and had a little rest we dressed for dinner which the silver service restaurant required, smart casual today.  Kai’s girlfriend Sam was putting on a brave face and joined us for dinner even though she was looking a little green around the gills – if that is possible for a beautiful Fijian woman!  Poor baby, it wasn’t long before she had to excuse herself and retired to her room with green apples and bread rolls for dinner as prescribed by the crew to ward off seasickness.

Next call would have been the on-board Doctors seasickness injections, luckily Sam found some tablets that seemed to keep it at bay as the injections were $120 a pop we later found out.  Too bad if you had a real bad case and needed a couple of shoots a day!

THE ART OF THE CHEF

The rest of us enjoyed our 3 course dinner and Hillivi and myself were in heaven – we are both Celiac (gluten intolerant) and vegetarian but that was no obstacle as a special menu was arranged and every need taken care of by our wonderful maître de Eroni Vvetibau (Fijian) and Chef Bupendra (India).  It is no wonder that people put on weight on cruises, the food is absolutely magnificent, a wide choice of dishes every night to choose from, everything that you could wish for from every part of the world too.  Oh Chef Bupendra I want to take you home!!

We were spoilt rotten by our waiters Rajesh Dzouza (Indian) and Nathan Legaspi  (Philippine) with our every need taken care of; they were funny as a fit too with all sorts of tricks!  I had no idea that so many things could be made out of serviettes – no idea at all!

THE ART OF THE DIET

There is no wonder that quite a few rather large people were on the cruise – I am not sure what came first though, if they came on the cruise because of their size and leisurely style of holiday or they put on the weight whilst on the cruise because of the wonderful food.   All I know for sure is that when you get home you have to diet for a while – oh how boring I hate diets!!

Here is a quote I like by Woody Allen on the subject;

When we lose twenty pounds… we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have!  We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you,

Love Marie xxx   (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Another Mothers Day is drawing close and I have to admit I do love them.  It is lovely to get those little treats and spend the day with the family.  This year baby girl is taking me out for the day, starting with lunch not sure what else is planned but later in the day we will go and visit both sets of Grandparents too, Happy Mother’s Day Mormor and Nana!.  To me it’s not so much the pressie giving etc that is important but to spend time together and let the mothers in your life know that they are loved.

THE ART OF BEING A MOTHER

For being a mother is the most fantastic gift but at the same time a guilt ridden curse.  It was hard enough when the kids were little but at least then I was the boss and could tuck them safely into their beds at night and keep the monsters from the door.  Now I need a Lear jet and an Uzi to be of any use.

This acrylic on canvas board painting is called” It’s too late to turn back now” which is a quote equally appropriate to both parachute jumping and motherhood!

THE ART OF KEEPING THEM SAFE

Kai our son is safely (LOL) living with us now but a year or two ago when he spent his gap year overseas  I was  driving him nuts with my various warnings of imminent danger.

Kai had been living and working at a hotel in Cheltenham and travelling around Europe on his days off so every car, bus or train accident and the like talked about on the news sent me scurrying to the phone to text and make sure he was oK.

Like Darth Vader against a terrorist bomb, that was me!  Suddenly the volcano erupted another thing to worry about, he already had his flight home with a Bangkok stopover cancelled for a week.  Let’s not forget there is also swine flu, Pick pockets, the Bangkok riots, sitting no further that 7 seats from an exit on the plane, drink spiking and gangs with knifes!

THE ART OF DRIVING THE KIDS NUTS

My mantra to myself was “Oh grow up girl and get a grip” I know I should, but my children are so precious, bad enough with baby girl here in Adelaide, I know I drive her crazy too.  Poor baby girl at 21 years old still has to text her mum after every car trip to say she is safe, never mind the fact that one could get ones eye poked out with a sharp stick (lol that was always my dad’s warning too, as soon as me or my brother did anything remotely dangerous).

The Swedes have a very good word for my behaviour and that is “Mesar” which is a bird in Sweden that is known as a little coward, wimpy, so that’s what an overprotective mother preaching excessive caution is called!

So Mums take a deep breath and enjoy your day, relax, permit yourself to get pampered and forget about the worries for one day.

Here is quote I think fits well her by Sophia Loren;

“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts.  A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.”

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and stop worrying!

Love Marie  xxxxx

If you enjoyed this art blog you may also like this one; 86 A million miles an hour and little miss chuck up in Art

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

]]> https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/134-mothers-day-and-mothers-guilt/feed/ 2 https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/133-pie-floater/ https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/133-pie-floater/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 02:29:27 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3351 ACRYLIC PAINTING

This acrylic painting is called the Pie Cart and I have also made a similar one in ceramic and mosaic as a commission that hung at the Adelaide Airport.  Perhaps you also have some pie carts in your town?

Here in Adelaide we have had them since 1870 in Norwood and later in the city, at one stage there were 13 of them around town.   My memory of them does not stretch that far lol, but I do remember one on Franklin Street and the other in front of the Adelaide rail way station.

THE ART OF THE PIE CART

A Pie Cart is a caravan or trailer with a window along one side where you can sit and eat, although most people stand and eat, perhaps that is because you want to test yourself, to see if you still can.  Well that is because the pie cart is usually the place to go late at night after too many drinks, when you start to get hungry and need a little help to sober up.  Of course I had to paint from experience as usual – you know I had to stay up till 2am in the morning, have too much to drink and really gage the atmosphere right?  All in the name of research of course, suffering all the way!

THE ART OF THE TECHNI-COLORED YAWN

Not that they sell too much that I could eat there anyway being a vegetarian and all.  The menu consists mainly of pies (funny about that) they did sell hot chips which I could eat and pea soup.  Speaking of which, pea soup that is, as you can see above not all people like it – or is that a reflection of too much to drink.  Here in Australia we call that a Techni-colored  yawn. LOL.  If it also looks as if someone has Casino chips and throwing money around on the painting that is because our Casino is in the same building as the Railway Station in Adelaide.

Then there was Beef pie, Camel pie, Chicken and Vegetable Pie, Chilli Steak Pie, Egg, Bacon and Tomato Pie, Lamb Pie, Steak and Kidney Pie, Roo Pie, Tuna and Vegetable Pie, also ice coffees and soft drinks as well as hot tea and coffee, donuts and some cakes.  I do have a distant memory of scoffing down a vanilla slice early in the morning way before I even had my painting research to blame that on! I am reliably informed that more recently they were also offering vegetarian pasties, spinach and fetta triangles, but the most famous of all their dishes were the Pie Floater.

THE ART OF THE CONDIMENTS

So what is that I hear you ask, well self explanatory really, a bowl of soup with a pie in the middle, often served with tomato sauce on top, you can also add other condiments such as Worcestershire sauce or vinegar.  We actually have it every Australia Day now at home, my hubby makes a great vego version with a vego pie and it is delicious.  As the Pie Floater was recognized as a South Australian Heritage Icon in 2003 by the National Trust of Australia we think it is fitting to serve it when we have overseas visitors too.  You know a bit of Aussie fun and so far it has always been a big hit.

There are 2 trains of thought how the pie floater was originally created.  One story takes it back to the Great Depression, whereby pie manufacturers would donate their left-overs to soup kitchens, who in turn would add the pie to their soups to make the meals for the homeless more substantial.

The other thought goes back even longer than that – 130 years no less as early records held by the South Australian National Trust puts the Pie Floaters origin in Port Pirie where a man named Ern “Shorty” Bradley ate one.  It is not known if it was his intention to put the pie in the soup or perhaps he dropped it into the bowl by accident, no one really knows.  But I am glad he did.

ARTISTS WHO LOVE IT

Famous people who love the Pie Floater are Joe Cocker, Billy Connolly, Nigel Mansell, Shane Warne and Angus Young from one of my favorite bands AC/DC.

Here is a Jewish Proverb by that I think fits well here;

“Worries go down better with soup”.

Although perhaps this quote by Robert Byrne hits the mark a bit more;

“Anybody who believes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach flunked geography.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and eating to you all,

Love Marie xxx  (c)

If you liked this food and art blog you may also enjoy this one; 83 Art & Are you fond of Fondue

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

]]> https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/133-pie-floater/feed/ 0 https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/still-smoking-hot/ https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/still-smoking-hot/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:18:44 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3183 PAINTING INSPIRATION

This acrylic painting is called “Oh my god, my gown won’t shut I’m showing my butt” and was inspired by my own stay in hospital some years ago.  So true isn’t it why do they like you to have your bottom hanging out when you are sick!!!

I woke myself up giggling this morning and just couldn’t stop, lol, you see my mother is in hospital – yes I know that in itself is not funny at all of course, but she is funny, so let me explain.

MUM, ART AND LOVE

My mum is in her 70’s and not that you would ever think that to look at her and she is on the go all the time, still working and running around a million miles an hour.  There are lots of things that I like – yes love about my mum and one of those things is her sense of humor, she knows how to take the Mickey out of anything.  If there is some fun to be had she will find it and if she cannot find any fun she will make her own and grab me or whoever is near and have a little dance, her favorite the tango.

ARTISTIC IMPRESSIONS

So backtrack to yesterday and my visit to my mother who is in hospital with pneumonia.  The pneumonia she has had for quite a few weeks but of course she has not taken to her bed but kept up all her engagements as usual, not missing a beat.  When she finally showed up to the Doctor to get her third lot of antibiotics, the Dr decided rather wisely that she had to be admitted to hospital.  So there she was in a ward of 6, coughing her lungs up and with oxygen mask attached to her face and a drip with antibiotics in her arm.  The other ladies around her seemed much older and some were decidedly ‘off with the fairies’ and that’s where my mum’s hilarious impressions come in.

You see the lady in the bed opposite must be suffering from some kind of dementia because there she is smoking in hospital – not just one cigarette, oh no she puffs on one after the other all day!

My mum did a sterling impression; you see of course you cannot smoke in the hospital so it’s done with either a straw or a red pen.  As mum showed, the cigarette is held elegantly in the right hand, and then a big drag of “smoke” is inhaled and blown out again, whereby the ash will then have to be flicked into an empty water-glass on the bedside table.  This scenario is repeated continuously throughout the day, so much so that when the TV man came by to see if my mother wanted the television connected she said she didn’t have time for that when there was such an interesting view across the room.

ART AND NUDITY

So Mum had my father, brother and I in stitches with her renditions of this smoking lady but of course there were more tricks to her repertoire!  There was of course the undressing – the lady in question obviously did not like clothes much, perhaps she was one who had enjoyed the freedom of the nudist clubs in her past.  Well either that or it is just one of these things as you get older and lose your faculties, the thing is at every opportunity the lady took her clothes off.  Much to the annoyance of the nurses, who had to turn up at her bedside 18 times a day and put her clothes back on.  My mum cried with laughter as she relayed the goings on, and as if that wasn’t bad enough the lady in question liked to lie in the bed with her legs far apart!  Mum said it was really lucky for them all that the lady was wearing nappies!

THE ART OF MAINTAINING A GOOD ATTITUDE

Now of course this in itself is very sad for the lady and her family – but I do think my mum is on to something with her attitude.  You can either get depressed and think how sad and tragic life is and worry for your own future, I mean my mum is in her 70’s  after all.  Or you can live everyday to the full and enjoy each minute and find a laugh where it lands without judgement or thought.  We all got to die sometime but until then let’s just celebrate and find the humor around every corner and remember that you only live once.

ART AND OLD PEOPLE

My mother in law also made me laugh last time she was in hospital, she was rushed in for another heart attack, number 4 thank you very much!  She spent the first few days in intensive care and then was supposed to be put in another ward.  However when she heard which ward, she put her foot down and said indignantly  “What, there is no way you are moving me up to that ward – that’s full of old people”  The funny thing is she is 82 years old, lol, that’s the spirit isn’t it!

So here is a quote that I love on the topic (author unknown)

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming; “WOW WHAT A RIDE!”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and laughing to you all,

Love Marie xxx

Here is a link where the painting can be viewed on my website Paintings for sale.

(c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

]]> https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/still-smoking-hot/feed/ 2 https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/120-tasmania-and-the-tassie-devils/ https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/120-tasmania-and-the-tassie-devils/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:32:10 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3139 TASMANIA, ART AND TRAVEL

My son Kai and his lovely girlfriend Samantha has just left on a week’s holiday to Tasmania, which is an Island approximately 240 km from the mainland separated by Bass Strait.  They will visit Hobart, Launceston and Cradle Mountain among others, and that reminds me of a family holiday that we took a few years ago there as a family.  This acrylic painting called “Life wasn’t meant to be Breezy”  (which sold in Japan) depicts a tiny bit of the “weather” that we came across on our travels.

We as usual had the most marvelous time, spent much of it laughing and the other making ourselves sick on Devon-shire tea and scones which is something they sold in quaint little cafes at what seemed to be around every corner of the Tasmanian forest.  That “one” had to go on a diet when we got home was a given!

THE ART OF THE SWEET TOOTH

In Hobart where we visited the former women’s prison called the “Female Factory” which had been turned into a fudge factory, go figure!  In the 1800s there had been some 12,000 women and children imprisoned there, it later became a “House for imperial lunatics” and a hospital for contagious diseases and a boys reformatory.  With such a history it seems strange that it now produces yummy tasting fudge and truffles and the like.

A SAD DAY

We also visited Port Arthur which was the prison that the hardest of the British and Irish criminals were sent to during the 1800s.  It is situated some 60 km along the coast from Hobart and is Tasmania’s top tourist attraction.  What makes this an even eerier experience is that it is also the place of Australia’s worst mass murder in 1996, when Martin Bryant went berserk and killed 35 women, children and men and wounded another 21 people.   A very tragic and fascinating story that had the whole country holding it’s collective breath for a couple of days.  If you would like to read more about that here is the link on Wikipedia

MORE ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

We had a hire car and visited Bicheno where they run nightly Fairy Penguin tours and you can see the little creatures returning from a day out at sea and coming back to their nest at night, so very cute waddling up their burrows.  Another interesting bit was the spectacular iridescent light that was moving and flickering all around in the water, which was some sort of sea lice from what I remember.

On our travels we also went to a brilliant maze made for adults where we ran around and had so much fun and of course there were some Devonshire tea and scones involved as well, lol.  We also visited a seahorse farm which fascinated me, but the rest of the family remembers that as a bit ho hum!  Well you cannot please all the people all the time.

MORE PAINTING IDEAS TO COME

One adventure we all rate as first class was the days spent at Cradle Mountain where we stayed in a cabin and whilst hubby made the dinner, the kids and I were playing detectives in the dark searching by torch light for the Tasmanian Devils which we thought we saw around every bush but never actually found in the wild.  Cradle Mountain is found in the St Clair National park, a mountain of 1,545 meters above the sea level and has a beautiful ruggered terrain and Australia’s deepest lake.  Dove Lake has a boardwalk right around it which makes it an easy 2.45 hour walk that we cut our teeth on, so to speak.

Then we decided to do the Cradle Mountain Summit Bush Walk which is a 5 and a half hours return, why not, this bush walking business is easy isn’t it?  We were warned that the weather could all of a sudden become inclement and snow, but we thought they were going overboard with their warnings as it was a summers day warm with the temperature in the 20’s.  So hubby made us all sandwiches and other delights and we reluctantly took a jacket each and set off on the adventure.

THE ART OF LOOKING SERIOUSLY STUPID

We were cursing the jacket advice as it was boiling hot climbing up huge dolerite boulders like a mountain goats and contemplating leaving them somewhere to pick up later.  Anyway we persevered and finally got to Marions Lookout with a magnificent view over much of northern Tasmania, where we decided to eat our picnic.  We were thoroughly enjoying the scenery and watching some other hikers along the path when suddenly without a warning the weather turned treacherous and an icy cold wind came from nowhere and it started to rain and hail.  What the?  How could this be, we scrambled to take shelter among the rocks and the only thing we could put on our heads were 4 plastic sandwich bags, lol.  All the while the other hikers pulled out very fancy professional hiker’s ultra light pants and jackets from their backpacks, goggles, hats and gloves – whilst we sat shivering behind some rocks like idiots with bread bags on our heads!  My husband even had a little pile of crumbs on his head when he took the bag off!

The temperature must have gotten below zero and we were seriously considering our options when just as suddenly the bad weather past by and turned to spring.  This time we took more notice of all the signs and marked cabins should we need to seek shelter again, and thanked our lucky stars at least we had taken the jackets with us.  All’s well that ends well.

Here is a quote by Patrick Young which fits in here:

“The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all or maybe mountain climbing,

Love Marie xxx   (c)

If you enjoyed this travel and Art blog you may also enjoy this one; 155 The Art of Packing Light

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

One thing I really miss about living in Australia is the Sankta Lucia tradition, and yes I know some of you are going – What’s that?  This acrylic painting should help to paint the picture for you.  (Although something awful must have happened to the girl on the very right of the picture, don’t know what that is on her face!)

THE ART OF THE SWEDISH MAIDEN

Sankta Lucia is like a shining angel coming to the Swedish darkness all dressed in white and has a wreath of candles burning on her head.  It is celebrated on the 13^th of December which is the longest night of the year.  Even though the celebration takes the name of the Italian Saint Lucia from the 4^th Century, I’m led to believe that it is really named after the Swedish maiden that appeared on the shore of one of the big lakes and proceeded to give out food to the starving masses during one of the famines.  She is said to have worn a crown or wreath of lit candles – well it was dark wasn’t it and since battery operated torches was not invented yet, what else could a resourceful girl do?

THE ART OF GETTING CHOSEN

When I lived in Sweden it was every girls dream to be crowned the new Lucia and the crown always went to the prettiest girl with the long blond hair.  She would lead the procession dressed in a long white gown and have a bright red sash around her waist and of course the wreath with candles all alight in her hair.  The rest of us could be Tarnor, and we would also be wearing white although our wreath was somewhat smaller and made out of silver tinsel (always the bridesmaid never the bride, lol) Not to be outdone the boys would also join us, some dressed in the long white gown too with a long white pointed hat (LOL actually the hat would look like one of those dunce hats you wear in the naughty corner) although it was decorated with stars and the boys were called sjarngossar – starboys!  A couple of boys would also be Santa’s little helpers dressed in red.

GUN JONSSON – THE ARTIST

My Aunty (father’s sister) Gun Jonsson was actually crowned the Swedish Lucia in Stockholm many years ago Miss Lucia 1947 – part of her prize package was a life time supply of Palmolive soap!  Gun went on to become firstly a dancer in an international dance troupe called “The Cassel Girls “and later became a famous actress.  She was in several plays directed by Ingmar Bergman and Gun is also a much admired director and producer, something which she still does today.  (‘Bad Javlarna’,’ Hem till Byn’ and ‘Sova rav’ are just some of her Swedish movies and TV shows, you Swedes know what I am talking about.)

Of course we would all be singing Christmas carols but the song we started and finished with would be this one.

Natten går tunga fjät
rund gård och stuva;
kring jord, som sol förlät,
skuggorna ruva.
Då i vårt mörka hus,
stiger med tända ljus,
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.

Natten går stor och stum
nu hörs dess vingar
i alla tysta rum
sus som av vingar.
Se, på vår tröskel står
vitklädd med ljus i hår
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.

Mörkret ska flyta snart
ur jordens dalar
så hon ett underbart
ord till oss talar.
Dagen ska åter ny
stiga ur rosig sky
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.

The night goes with heavy steps
around farm and cottage;
round the earth the sun has forsaken,
the shadows are brooding.
There in our darkened house,
stands with lighted candles
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.

The night passes, large and mute
now one hears wings
in every silent room
whispers as if from wings.
See, on our threshold stands
white-clad with candles in her hair
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.

The darkness shall soon depart
from the earth’s valleys
then she speaks
a wonderful word to us.
The day shall be born anew
Rising from the rosy sky.
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.

(Translated: by Chris Troy and based on an article by Elizabeth Dacey-Fondelius)

THE ART OF BAKING

When my own kids were little we would go to the Swedish Church in Adelaide and they would take part in the procession followed by coffee and cakes.  Traditional Lussekattor  (cats) which are baked buns made from saffron, so they were slightly orange colour and with raisins for their eyes, as well as lots of other Swedish biscuits mmmm…. makes me hungry just to think about it.

Then Father Christmas would turn up with presents for all the little kids (which their own parents would have bought and wrapped and put in the sack).

I will never forget when my son Kai was just a little baby and we were attending his very first Lucia celebration.  He had been enjoying seeing all the lights and singing and even did not mind being presented to Santa, however when Kai with a bit of help from me unwrapped his present, the poor little boy screamed blue murder and got the fright of his life.

His stupid mother “moi” had bought him a Jack-in-the-box and it scared him half to death.  To add injury to the insult I had paid good money for this toy bought at David Jones and he never ever played or even wanted to look at it again. LOL, not that I blame the poor boy!

Here is a quote by Franklin P. Jones which I think fits well in here;

“Children are unpredictable.  You never know what inconsistency they’re going to catch you in next.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and baking to you all,

Love Marie xxx

Here are some links to stories about 2. SWEDISH EASTER & Art or Swedish Christmas and Swedish Smorgasbord. Enjoy!

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

I know some people think that all that matters happens in the big smoke, but as someone who has lived in the country for over 20 years I can assure you that is not the case.  Take the local newspaper for instance The Plains Producer situated in Balaklava which has thrived serving the local district. Current circulation is 2,500 with more than 7,000 readers, spanning an area as far as Virginia in the south, to Snowtown in the north, although the paper is for sale much farther and wider than that. (They also these days publish a free monthly newspaper, Two Wells Echo).

The Plains Producer was founded in 1903 under a different name and then had several reincarnations before finally being taken over by Roger Manuel in 1983.  His wife Margaret took over in 1995 after the sad passing of Roger and did a fantastic job and now their son Andrew is continuing in their footsteps with the same passion and vigor.

ACRYLIC PAINTING

However it is the present Editor of the Plains Producer Terry Williams that I would like to tell you about – you see he and another Terry (a tale for another day) was my inspiration for this acrylic painting “Terry Tomcat”.   Although Terry says he is more of a Paco Rabanne or Yves St Laurent type of guy!!

ARTISTIC WRITING

So Terry and I go back in the “day” to when newspapers were constructed in huge rooms full of desks overflowing with note books, papers, photos, pens and coffee mugs.  Where reporters, photographers and passersby mingled, argued and swore.  Before the political correctness was even thought off and cigarettes was firmly held in mouths as the clatter of typewriters filled the rooms and of course it goes without saying that at knock off time there were a few beers to be had at the local pub too.   You see Terry is one hell of a “newspaperman” one of those guys that gets right into a story and builds a narrative and also calls a spade a spade when ” it” is one, lol.   He has the knack of telling it how it is, in an everyday fashion which is very appealing.

THE ART OF THE FEATURES EDITOR

He has worn many hats over the years starting out as a copyboy in 1968 with the News Limited and going up through the ranks to Features Editor.   In 1983 Terry and his gorgeous wife Lee (and she still is today) had their first “tree change” leaving Glengowrie where Terry was born and raised and together with Lee’s sister Tania bought the lease of the Terminus Hotel in Balaklava, which they ran for 3 years.  Once a newspaperman always a newspaperman I recon, as they returned to Adelaide and bought a couple of news agencies (one of them was the big one Read All About it, at the Myer Centre).  Terry divided his time between the businesses and the Sunday Mail, being lured back there by the then editor Rex Jory, before becoming the assistant Editor of the News in 1990.

THE COLOR COPY

Terry says his highlights from those days were helping bring color to newspapers in the early 90’s, redesigning the look of The News and at the same time working as assistant editor. Fulfilling the job of Sporting Editor of the News – with a stint as Sporting Editor at the Brisbane Sun during the Commonwealth Games of 1982 and also working as a Chief of Staff at the Sunday Mail.  However it is when you read between the lines of what Terry says that you find out where his highlights really lie – it’s not the career achievements (and as you see there has been a lot) that matters to him.  It is the people that have crossed his path and the ones that walked with him along the way that really matters (see below the long list of names he mentioned).  So I understand now why I always like to read what he writes – he is a passionate man with a warm heart and a way with words!

I said to Terry just recently that sometimes I wonder why you tucked yourself away in the country, when the whole world could have been your oyster.  His answer was; that he is back here through a range of circumstances, culminating in coming back to help out two days a week while Roger Manuel became ill.  That arrangement was in place from 92-98 when Margaret Manuel took over until she retired and then Andrew (son) took over the helm.

ARTISTIC AWARDS

Terry was appointed the part-time Administration Officer of the Country Press Association of SA (organizing all SA country papers)all this whilst still also running his news agencies too, followed by a year of being the Editor of another country paper the Bunyip, so there was a lot of driving involved.   As it happened he was then again offered the job as the Editor of the Plains Producer in early 2005 and the “tree change” back to Balaklava was set in motion.  The Plains Producer won BankSA Best newspaper award (circulation under 5,000) in 96, 99,00,08,09 and Terry won an individual award in 2009 for Best Editorial writing for his columns.  Terry is turning 60 this year and admits to thinking about fishing a little more often in the future and who could blame him for that, although I’m not that sure – once a newspaperman always a newspaperman!

So here is a quote I think fits well here by Earl Warren;

“I always turn to the sports section first.  The sports section records people’s accomplishments; the front page nothing but man’s failures.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and writing to you all,

Love Marie xxx   (c)

Footnote;

Here is a list of some of the people that Terry worked with and highly admired.  “Great journalists  like  Rex Jory and Tony Baker, editors like Ron Boland, Kerry Sullivan, Peter Wylie, (now chairman of Advertiser newspapers) John Hartigan (was editor of the Daily Sun in Brisbane – now Chairman and CEO of News Limited in Australia), Roger Holden (was the last owner of The News when it closed in 1992 – March, coming up to 20 years next year!). But also great mentors like the brilliant football writer Lawrie Jervis, – a doyen of sports writers but also a great reporter of politics and more – Marty Ryan, a great sub-editor, Alan Shiell, one of the best sports writers, Murray Nicoll, brilliant reporter, Geoff Jones, Doug Steele and Mike Quirk, all top Chiefs of Staff at The News and journalists who knew their craft and took so many young journalists under their wing (many of the names you see in the national media today were helped by these people at The News), photographers like  Ray Titus (just retired), Bert Stansbury, Ian Coventry, Michael Conry, Ray Grimmond, Dennis Rogers … and many more”.

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALEand SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Scoopon,  Cudo,  Our Deal and Catch of the Day are all the rage here in Australia – and what exactly are they one might ask?  Well it works something like this.  These website offer an item or a service at a special price,   often more than 50% discount and if enough of us buyers shows an interest the “deal is on”.  We have to buy it there and then and have a certain amount of time to use it usually 6 weeks up to one year depending on the fine print.  Yes do remember to read the fine print!!!

ACRYLIC PAINTING

So this little black chook, yes moi, have been buying up a storm lately of these vouchers, they represent very good value for money.  Who can say no to a dinner for 2, entree, main course, dessert and a bottle of wine at a lovely restaurant valued at $150 and only pay half of that or less.  Or perhaps a haircut, style and color with a massage and manicure thrown in with a glass of champagne and what about a round of golf with a couple of beers or fancy a spot of bowling for a family of four perhaps? Maybe a day at the zoo for the whole family with lunch, is more to your liking, as this acrylic painting which sold in Japan depicts.

I have been purchasing these deals both for ourselves as well as for gifts to family and friends and so far we had been very happy with our experiences.  That was until last night that is, lol.  It was my husband’s birthday yesterday so a lovely meal was in order and as I had previously bought a voucher with a Lebanese banquet for six, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use it.

We vaguely knew the name of the place but that was years ago and at that stage it was only a take away place.  So the fact that they had now added a restaurant sounded good.  As we are an adventurous family and like new experiences we thought we couldn’t go too wrong.  WRONG!

There were 5 of us in our car and our sons lovely girlfriend drove herself there a bit earlier as she had made a surprise pavlova (cake) for the birthday boy.  She went in and asked to put it in their fridge and then waited for us in the car park.  Poor sweetheart, her eyes were big as saucers by the time we arrived, well so were all of our eyes actually by the time we met up.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

You see as we finally got to our destination and found the place we could not believe our eyes – this was still a “take-away joint”, although to give them credit it had undergone a major revamp.  It was now stark and white with a big food counter and a couple of drink fridges, bright neon lights, like a hospital would use and a blinking open sign on the window.  We saw a few customers standing around waiting for their order and some kids running around playing.   They had a total of 3 tables and 2 of those were pushed together in between the counter and the window to fit the birthday party!

Bryan and I were sitting in the car too stunned to speak, luckily our daughter made the call – she said:  “There is no way that we are going to have dads birthday dinner in there”, and with that we all burst out in hysterical laughter till we had tears running down our cheeks.  Then everyone pointed the finger at me of course and said I was banned from buying any more of these you beaut deals on the net!!  Mmm… how quickly they all forget all the other good ones we had gotten, lol but in this case they were right.  So off we went to another establishment known to all of us and a lovely night was had by all.

So in the end it certainly was not a cheap night as in fact we paid for two dinners and one that we will probably never use.  To add insult to injury today I wasted another deal as I forgot to pick the item up when I was in the vicinity and the petrol and time to turn around and go back wasn’t worth it.

So lesson to self – ease up on the deals Marie!

Here is a quote I think fits perfectly here, by Joyce Brothers;

“Credit buying is much like being drunk.  The buzz happens immediately and gives you a lift… The hangover comes the day after.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxxx                 (c)

If you enjoyed this art blog you may also enjoy this one 99 Cash Strapped & Artistic

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALEand SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

These three kittens in their designer bag surely are not Cash Strapped as the title of this acrylic  painting says, however if you are anything like me you probably have been at some stage of your lives.

Even though at the time we certainly do not appreciate being poor, it does however in the long run become an advantage thankfully.

ART AND THE SILVER SPOON

I have seen many acquaintances that were born with a silver spoon in their mouths sadly loose it all, often because unless you have to work for it, you do not realize how hard money really is to come by.  It is said that the third generation of any business often lose all the inherited money.  They do not understand the blood, sweat and tears it takes to become rich in the first place.  Often displaying the negative qualities of a false sense of entitlement, frustration and wanting everything NOW.

Just as well then that we do not suffer from Affluenza, sounds like a terrible dilemma, lol, but it would be nice to win lotto even so, wouldn’t it?

I recently found 30 bucks in an old jacket I haven’t worn for a couple of years and was mighty pleased and that took me back to my younger days when looking through all the jackets in the wardrobe could mean the difference between going out or not.

MONEY, ART AND TRAVEL

Which reminds me of a tale of my husband’s adventures when he was backpacking through Europe in the early 80’s with his mate Rob.   They were decidedly feeling the pinch and booked into the cheapest Pension only to immediately get scabies!  Lol well thats the story they told me anyway – may have had more to do with the bad bad women!

Another time they went out for dinner  and after a couple of drinks and a cheap meal realized that they wouldn’t have enough to cover the bill, so made a runner for it when the maitre d’s back was turned.   There was one problem which they only found out after sprinting at full speed a couple of blocks away from the restaurant, which was that Rob had left his expensive and only warm coat he owned on the back of the chair at the table, it even had his name written in it.  Well thats karma isn’t it, at least the coat would have covered the bill. LOL. (if you fancy reading more of their crazy tales here is another one 26.Looking for Lochy.)

Here is a poem by my friend Annamarie Causer which she wrote inspired by the above painting.  (More links to her work below)

CASH STRAPPED CATS’

My little puss eats Chappie,
Usually a doggies delight…..
….in days oft gone by.
Makes him feel serene and happy.
He’s grown muscles in places he’s no right.
And I’m positive he barked for the first time last night.

Once upon a time
We ran out of spare money,
Which in this hectic, modern life is not funny.
So opted for a cheap way to feed him.
Cats food proved
So expensive being fancy branded & refined.

Moved
By his mews,
We trailed to the market.
Yet never fear, what did we then find
At the back of the bottom shelves.
Lurking, dusty and unused….an eighties brand
We’d actually thought they’d banned.

So we gave it a try.
Candy floss coloured pink meat,
Resembling no animal we’d ever seen.
But we convinced ourselves ‘twould be a treat.
Now we regret the decision.
For the post box is manned
Each day.
As he dost lay
In wait.
His fave pastime
Come nine
Of the morning is nipping stray postie fingers
If they tend to linger
With neat precision which twould surely astound
The surest footed hound.
He does bound
Up high.
To aim and try
To catch
An unwary hand.
Copyright @ AMC 2011

If you enjoyed the idea with a cat painting and a poem  in an art blog here is a link to another one; 87 Art & It could be worse, they could be fleas

I always remember the song from Spectrum,” I’ll be gone” or “Someday I’ll have money” released in 1971 and if you haven’t heard it I can certainly recommend it as an iconic Aussie anthem of its day.  John Williamson did a later cover of it but it was written by guitarist and vocalist of Spectrum, Mike Rudd.  Here is the first verse;

“Someday I’ll have money,

Money isn’t easy, to come by,

By the time it’s come by I’ll be gone,

I’ll sing my song and I’ll be gone.”

More information on Annamarie Causer, poet extraordinarie;

She also writes for a website called CRAIGMILLAR (look under Memories for Diary of a Countryside Lady) or find her on Facebook FB CRAIGMILLAR (for news, opinion, history and events)

Till next time happy painting and sculpting everyone,

Love Marie xxx  (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

ART OF NEIGHBORS

So here we are, living in the ‘Burbs’, remarkably it is not as difficult a situation as I thought to get used to, although I do miss having my art studio detached from the house.

One of the things I was most worried about was to have neighbors.

When you have been living on a farm and the nearest house is kilometers away this was a daunting idea. No more running around the yard starkers-well not that I made that a big habit of that but just the fact that we could when and if we wanted to.

We are making the backyard into our own little Balinese sanctuary here with high bamboo fence, lots of palms, elephant ears and ferns, a Bali hut and comfy day bed and decking around one side of the pool with paving and some feature stones on the other.

We do love water features too and have a natural rock pond in a corner setting and a Balinese head sculpture on the patio and two big white fish sculptures spitting into the pool (emm..well that did not sound very nice did it, lol but it is really, I assure you.)

It is starting to take shape and hopefully will make up for the lack of space and open fields we are used to and at least we can pretend we are in the jungle somewhere far away from civilization.

ART & ANIMATION

The animation above is a combination of several of my paintings put together; The “Balloon Wedding” ( Giclee print) combined with “Shake Rattle and Roll” (acrylic painting) as well as the stars from “You can walk your own ferret” which is an artwork in ceramic and mosaic and the animation was actually made by one of my new neighbors Suzie.

So far we have been very lucky with the neighbors they all seem very friendly and nice and I even went out to lunch with Suzie, the other day.  She is American and I had a little laugh to myself when I got to the restaurant as it looked just like an American diner.

We had a very lovely time at “Fresh Choice” and it was too, with all you could eat.  I refrained from making a total pig of myself and did not even spill a drop of my lunch on my clothes, which if you have been following my art blogs is something of a miracle.

Suzie is a bit of a whizz kid on the computer and has given me valuable advice on my art website and also has two websites of her own.

ART & ANIMATION WEBSITES

This link will take you to her Christmas Animations and you can use any of these animations with the money going to charity.  On her other site she has book marks and I am very happy that she photographed the orchid that has been officially named after moi: the” Marie Jonsson-Harrison orchid” (written about in another blog) and then she made it into a book mark.

There are lots of other bookmarks on this sight too with many Australian animals and funny quotes, so click here Flashman Bookmarks to have a little look.   Use this link to see my page with more of my artwork animated too;MARIES ANIMATIONS

So I had a nice day and it gave me joy, so here are some wise words from E.B White (writer).

“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and also animating to you!

Love Marie xxx            (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

ARTISTIC WEDDINGS

There are weddings and then there are good weddings and I went to one of the Great ones just recently, and no not conducted by a magpie like in my naive painting here!   Now I may be biased as this was my darling nephew (who is just the coolest guitar playing guy around) and his beautiful Fiona, who already has been part of our lives for the past 7 years.    Although I thought it was longer than that as I liked her lots right from the start and she is a person with a kind heart and easy manner and positive attitude that you enjoy sharing time with.

So that being said, I don’t know how you feel, but I know from my own personal experience, all weddings are different.  Some you enjoy because the food is great, others because of the band or location or as in this case because you can see and you know in your heart that these two people are so right for each other that they will last a life time.

That’s not to say that at this particular wedding all those other elements weren’t there too because they were, if I have to pick on anything it would be they had the ceremony starting at 11.30 on a Sunday morning!  Just as well the Hens night was a week earlier is all I can say to that.  (I do believe I was nursing a rather large headache the Sunday before, and it was all Fiona’s fault.)  If you fancy a read about the goings on at her Bachelorette party here is a link to the paintings and art blog, but do keep in mind the P… word is mentioned 53. Art & Bachelorette – A Hens night out

The ceremony was held overlooking the water at West Lakes Resort and then followed by a Greek Feast at Zacs, where every wish was catered for.  Such a memorable day!

This acrylic on canvas board painting depicts the ceremony of birds of a different feather completely, the artwork sold in Japan, and I had lots of fun painting it!  Oh and in the pretend story of this acrylic painting of course the birds were let out of their cages and lived happily ever after in the wild.  That goes without saying!

In my own case people predicted our marriage would last six months tops (they of little faith!)Oh I do love proving people wrong, as we just celebrated our 28^th wedding anniversary, so you never can quite tell.

ART INSPIRATIONS

That reminds me of another friend of mine, who got married in the 80’s, this marriage unfortunately only lasted a year.  The wedding itself was a rather splendid production at the finest locations and no expense spared and a total bill of $60.000.00 which for the 80’s was a rather large amount to pay for a wedding.   Rather a waste of money, just for one night I thought at the time, but hey we had a fantastic night!

We have been to a lot of wedding over the years and another one that springs to mind was also a splendid affair at a seaside location followed by the reception in the top hotel of the time in Adelaide with a 20 piece orchestra and silver service all the way.

So there we were at this glitzy Do with half of Adelaide’s “who is who” in attendance and what do I  do- well klutzy me had to go and spoil it, lol – I managed to dribble half my dinner on my taffeta dress (you do remember the taffeta dresses of the 80’s?)  The spill was not somewhere low down where it could be hidden, but right up top on my chest, where some sticky mess looked mighty unsightly.

FABRIC PAINTER

Long suffering Bryan takes quite a delight in his wife’s history of food dribbles, as he thinks it is all rather funny to see this model looking bird dressed to kill with food stains, isn’t he mean! LOL

Off to the ladies loo I go as I thought I better try to wash it off, easier said than done!  Have you ever tried to wash a dark purple taffeta gown in a public toilet (well a Hilton toilet but still!)  There I was trying ever so hard to get rid of this stain but instead of making it smaller it actually seemed to be spreading all over the dress, no matter what I did.   Who ever invented those horrible hand dryers that you have in toilets, they are absolutely useless when it counts, or should I say absolutely useless at anytime, especially useless at drying hands for which they were invented I do believe.

I missed some of the speeches and the cutting of the cake as this procedure took half an hour to accomplish.   Needless to say I spent the rest of the night with my hair covering the stain, thank god for long hair!

So here is a bit of wisdom for you who may be contemplating marriage from Pythagoras (philosopher)

“The oldest, shortest words – “yes” and “no” – are those which require the most thought.

Oh and by the way if I find any advice from any other philosopher on “How to avoid food stains” I will be sure to let you know.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie  xxx                                                                               (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.