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

This painting is of Popeye which is an iconic Adelaide institution, it is privately owned and the first ferry was launched in 1935 and took you between Elder Park and Adelaide Zoo.  The first two boats in service carried 20 passengers each and the three next Popeyes made seated up to 40 people. A very popular tourist attraction and they even took Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip on a little ride in 1977.  The new fiberglass models,  was launched in 1982 by the then Prime Minister Malcom Fraser.

If you look closely at this acrylic on board painting you will see me, my husband and the two kids in the middle of the boat, the kids loved going on it when they were little (I’m in pink and hubby green).  I have even done a ceramic and mosaic version of this painting which hung in the old Adelaide Airport for many years.

JAPAN & ART

I will get back to the Popeye story soon but firstly let me tell you why we came to take another ride on the boat a few years back.  When the kids were in high school here in Australia they had a program going whereby Japanese exchange students would come over for 2 weeks each year and learn English and also learn about the Australian way of life. So we discussed this as a family and all thought it would be a worthwhile experience for our family to do.  We thought it would help to teach the kids tolerance and respect for other customs and cultures and perhaps learn a little Japanese too. I have for many years had a strong connection to Japan anyway.

During my modeling days I fulfilled a couple of contracts there as a Fashion model each one of three months duration (that’s another story) and then as I have written about in these art blogs 57. “THE SIGNING OF THE CONTRACT” ‎as well as 64.  “FLYING TO JAPAN” ,  I have also traveled there many times for my art exhibitions as well.

In any case all the parents who agreed to have the Japanese students attended meetings and were given information and lists of what to do and not to do, what was expected of us and also some basic words in Japanese. According to this information the Japanese students loved going for car rides, sightseeing, shopping (particularly for souvenirs), food shopping (as they liked to see the different types of food we have here) exploring Museums and Galleries and going out for lunch and dinner.

THE ART OF BEING A TOURIST

Over the years this had all worked very well and we had 5 students come and stay with us over the years and all were delightful.  However one particular boy drove me completely nuts one day, he was a very quite boy and hard to communicate with but seemed happy enough.  A week or so into his stay when we had been very busy with life and work we thought we better plan a day for the boy to see a bit more of Adelaide.

None of us really had any time to this, I could not really afford to take any time away from the art studio, my teenage daughter was supposed to go to a birthday party which she regretfully cancelled and son and hubby likewise cancelled other engagements. We asked him what he thought of the plans and he seemed very excited at the prospect so up early in the morning and into the car for a big day of fun.

Now we lived a three hour round trip to the city and with a few detours for points of interest we covered a quite a few kilometers to say the least.  However the “Star” of the day sat bolt upright with his eyes firmly closed asleep for the entire trip, (as only the Japanese can do on transport,lol) only to open them for a minute or two when poked to have a look at something.

ART & TOURISM

Then as we showed him the Museum and the Art Gallery, he walked everywhere with us but looked down on the floor the whole time, and when we sat down to enjoy a lovely lunch he was not hungry and only had a glass of water. So we thought a spot of shopping would surely get him in the mood and took him to the center of the shops and asked what type of things he wanted to get and which shops he would like to go to?

That’s when he informs us that he doesn’t like to shop and doesn’t want to buy anything! What was wrong with telling us that yesterday!!  So at this stage we are nearly all tearing our hair out, my children rolling their eyes as teenagers do. We then ask him what he would like to do now and when no suggestions were forthcoming we suggest a few other things and he settles for a ride on the Popeye.

So we go and purchase the tickets, now the tickets aren’t expensive but for the five of us it’s still 60 dollars, ordinarily I would not have minded, but when the five of us sat down and the Japanese boy promptly fell asleep again I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, lol. However the four of us looked at each other and just cracked up laughing, thinking about what we should/could have been doing that day instead of dragging this sleeping boy around Adelaide and totally wasting everybody’s time.  We laughed till tears streamed down our faces and still the boy just slept.

So as we drove the one and a half hours back to the farm I thought of this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson (essayist and Philosopher)

“Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

FOOTNOTE; we hope and pray that our Japanese exchange students; Kaori, Kazuya, Takahiro, Yuki and Megumi, and their families and friends are all safe and well after the Tsunami.  We are thinking about you and hoping to hear from you.  Love Marie, Bryan, Kai and Hillivi xxxx                (c)

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.

You know it is really strange to be living without a roof over your head for a while, you see, we are renovating, putting another story on our house and to be able to achieve that the old roof had to go. So we have had live-in workmen here for the best part of a month and the whole house is a shambles with dust and boxes, stacks of timber and insulation bats and bits of this and bits of that.This particular painting is called “It’s raining cats on dogs” but I will get to the “men” part later,  to explain the title of this art blog,  It’s Raining Men & Art.  Here is another link if you fancy a look later 42. Art & All That Packing ..mmm Better have a Holiday

It is driving our dogs crazy too as the workmen live on the ground floor and when they come up the stairs the dogs go mad and bark their heads off at what they perceive as the” hobos” from the basement, lol.  Now I must clarify that I don’t share the dogs view on this, not at all.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

You know there is something so enticing about guys who do physical work, all that sweat and the bare chests to look at, it is really quite easy on the eye!

One problem they have had is trying to do a balancing act up there on the rafters of the roof and we have had quite a few fall through the ceiling, all of a sudden as you are going about your business there is an almighty bang and a foot or a knee or something falls down.  My niece tells me when she had the same work done, her workman fell into the ceiling bum first, so that was a good view she said.  So I am patiently waiting for that and in the meantime find myself singing the song that “The Weather Girls” made famous – It’s raining men, hallelujah it’s raining men……

So it goes without saying then to get any work done at all I have had to rent a room 5 minutes away from here with a couple of uni students where I can have an art studio and paint in peace and that has been an interesting experience too.  However I find that after all these years of working from home I am quite disorganized and when I get to my other place I have invariable forgotten some important reference material, such as an art book or that special paint brush that I just needed that day.

Although I do have a bed in my new share house I have been going home to hubby and the renovations at night, most of the time the guys are still at it finishing off one thing or another and then we usually sit around and have drinks, chat and enjoy a BBQ.  I have discovered there are only so many BBQ’s that you can have in a week, lol but as we don’t have the gas connected to the house at the moment I will just have to eat it and shut up!

The Boss of the guys here is actually my nephew Kurt and we have especially enjoyed having him around not only is he just one of the best builders there is but also one hell of a nice guy and if that wasn’t enough-he plays the guitar too!  So at night we have been sitting around listening to the acoustic version of AC/DC hits such as Hell’s Bells and Highway to Hell.  I must confess that has me in my absolute element as they have always been one of my favorite bands.

In fact on a not so good a note lol, I think I will have to blame AC/DC on my slight hearing loss.

HEARING LOSS FOR THE SAKE OF ART

You see during my modelling days I spent quite a bit of time in Japan and the “Walkman” had just come on the market, so of course I had one glued to my ear everyday catching the subway and bullet trains to and from assignments.  The bands album “Back in Black” had just come out and I had that on full volume blasting my eardrums as they sang” Hell’s Bells”,” You shook me all night long”,” What do you do for money honey” and all the rest.  Funny isn’t it how when you are young you think you are invincible and those fuddy duddy adults and their silly warnings about hearing loss is just a load of rubbish.  Well maybe not! LOL.

So I think this quote by Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire (philosopher and writer) fits rather well here, although I must point out it is only the hearing loss that refers to me, lol not the other afflictions.

“I am a little deaf, a little blind, a little impotent, and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and renovating 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.

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.

So you know the drill, you have a special occasion coming up, something romantic like an anniversary maybe, lol and you want to celebrate in style and make it special.  Well that’s what we have done with nearly all of our wedding anniversaries, bar a few when the kids were little and we could not bear to leave them or money was short.

(In this painting “Rub a dub dub, there is a woman in my tub!” I was having a somewhat better time that what evolved, oh and there seems to be some Romeo peeking in too, I’m sure that’s not Bryan.)

Otherwise a night or two in a fancy hotel is in order, room service, champagne, best bottle of red we can afford, romantic dinner by candlelight, room with a view and a spa of course.  Now as it happened this year we had just had 2 weeks with all of the above in Bali and then come home to a very very hectic move into the new house and we thought mmm… new house, kids away for the weekend, let’s just stay home- we now have the view, 2 spas to choose from, hubby had bought ingredients for a lovely dinner set the table with candle lights etc., everything was planned.

So it should have been perfect then right?  WRONG  – Silly us – instead of taking the day off, we decided that we would each work until 3pm when we would meet on the patio for drinks and nibbles.

You see with the new house and all and it’s renovation time, the laundry needed an overhaul, so hubby is busy doing that whilst I am in the art studio.

Both of us tearing our hair out as it happens, as everything that could go wrong did go wrong!  At hubby’s end the newly bought cupboards are the too small, shelves are for a pantry and not a laundry, wrong hoses and fittings that doesn’t match and to top that off he drops the bench top on his leg and at first thinks it’s broken (lucky it is not but looks nasty). Oh and the new tiles are the wrong shade of white and will have to be returned.

ART GALLERY

In the studio I am fearing no better, I have just received a $400 dollar cheque for a painting which should have sold for $1500!  So I am trying to find out what went wrong there, is the mistake our end or gallery end?  Then the emails decide that they won’t send, not even one email, they just go into cyberspace somewhere.  Where do all this emails go anyway- is there some sort of catchment area for stray emails?  I cannot reach anyone by phone either as our new number is playing up, topped up with the iphone that now is refusing to send messages too!  Oh and did I forget to tell you the ART website was having issues too!

So there were two cranky people that met up not at 3pm but by now 5pm for a bottle of Champagne!   Ok so hubby has now got the spa going and has lined the entire bathroom with candle lights, very romantic.

He goes off and checks the water level and adds a bit more bubbles to the water and then rather sheepishly calls for me to join him.

NEW PAINTING IDEAS

Well you should have seen it – he had somehow upended the bottle of soapsuds and now we had a ‘white soapsud monster’ growing in the spa, it grew and grew and covered half way up the walls and put all the candles out, filled up the wineglasses and then proceeded to travel over the spa itself till the whole bathroom was covered.  Well as if that was not enough, why should that be enough I ask you- let’s bring it on! – and it did, because now the ‘white soapsud monster’ was starting to travel down the carpet covered hallway, as I am alternatively laughing and screaming at hubby to hop out of the spa and help me save the carpet and furniture!  You get the picture!

I know now why he did nothing to help as by the time I finally hopped into the spa I understood entirely- the temperature of the spa was that hot-you actually cooked upon getting in and any rational thoughts, never mind the romantic ones simply vanished!

So in the end when the water cooled down a bit I ended up having a lovely spa with our two dogs, whilst hubby called the local Indian take away delivery service, as by this stage it was really late and he was not in the mood to cook.  We did finally have a rather nice night, exchanged presents, laughed and said let’s just get DRUNK!

I think this saying fits rather nicely here by Martin Luther (Theologian)

“He who does not like wine, song, and wife, Remains a fool for the whole of his life.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie  xx

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.