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.

Now who was the idiot that thought that would be a good idea!!!!  Fourteen days in Bali sounds nice, yea right!  Mmm…might have been moi ! (well Bali was fantastic, it was the aftermath that sucked! Lol) You see the timing of this little holiday really sucks but it worked out this way as we had our house on the market for a while and decided to live our lives as we always do regardless which meant painting and sculpting and also having holidays.

We had no idea that the week after sunning ourselves in Bali (at the time of booking the holiday) we would also have to move the entire contents of the previous 17 years of our lives out of our huge farm house. We tried to change the settlement date but had to work in with the new owners,   so for the first part of the holiday we were feeling  decidedly STRESSED, so much to do and so little time! Not only did we have to shift all our stuff but also all the animals we own, birds and cats as this painting shows and also the dogs too.

COMEDIAN; THE OLD FELLA

I suppose I only have myself to blame with the timing of this but I couldn’t help but laugh when a comedian friend of mine Rodney Gregory, you probably know him as The Old Fella from the Australia’s Got Talent (check him out on Youtube here) said:

“Good luck with shifting, great idea to go away in the middle of it??”  I might try that, we are shifting in about 3 weeks, can hardly sleep in anticipation”.

There is no way in words to describe, what a terrible and stressful time we had for that last week at the farm,  as we sorted, gave away, threw away, burned, packed, dusted, scrubbed and cleaned and I thought it would never end. As the settlement deadline loomed closer and closer we were 5 people working our fingers to the bones, including our cleaning lady and the window cleaning guy and my baby boy.(here is the window cleaning guy, Craig as he has appeared in a previous artwork, in ceramic and mosaic)

THE ART OF SORTING

Of course we could have hired removalists, however as we were downgrading and only taking half of our belongings we actually had to go through everything ourselves anyway.  We had of course started packing before we went away but we are talking 17 years of accumulated stuff.

We also have many objects of value and sentiment, however I cannot understand why I agonize so much about throwing away stray bits of paper and ornaments with a chip in it and clothes that are out of fashion, never mind the perfectly good rubber bands and paperclips and the like.

Why do I think it will all come in handy one day lol! Someone SAVE me and just put it all in a big skip!

For the last 2 nights Bryan and I only got 3 hours sleep each night, the pace was that frantic that I’m surprised we didn’t have heart attacks so I can only deduct from that our hearts are probably quite healthy!  We still managed to go over the time limit by 2 and a half hours but the new owners were very gracious and did not complain.

So here are some wise words from Ernest Hemingway (writer) that I think fit well here. “Never confuse movement with action.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you.

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.