This painting Balloon Wedding is one of my favorite artworks and is available as a Giclee print these days. Often bought as a wedding present which brings me very neatly to the wedding we attended on the weekend and also to the topic of opposites attract.  I love painting wedding scenes and going to a good wedding, well what can I say I am a party kinda girl!

THE ART OF A GOOD WEDDING

It was a beautiful occasion on the foreshore of Goolwa South Australia, the ceremony in a garden setting beautifully decorated, the only colors prominent being white and the lovely bridesmaids in pale yellow set against the green green color of the grass and trees. The bride; Stacey, Hillivi’s best friend had never looked lovelier with her hippy free flowing hair and in a stunning sparkly one shouldered dress. The day was full of wonderful memorable touches such as the bridal party arriving at the reception by boat and then going with the beachy feel we had to find our names on a colored thong (flip-flop shoe) and then match it to the one in a clear vase on the tables. Original and fun, relaxed and very Aussie beachy feel, we partied until midnight and had a great time. Thank you Eva and David and thank you to the beautiful Stacey and handsome groom Brad too and we wish you an amazing life together.

THE ART OF OPPOSITES ATTRACT

One thing I know for sure and that is you will not be bored together, for as often is the case, opposites attract. I can see that Brad is the steadying force, planning ahead and thoughtful, to Stacey’s exuberant, full of fun and vivaciousness.  Isn’t that just so often the case that we are drawn often to the qualities that we lack ourselves or that we only possess a little of. It is like the Universe has already decided for us to make a complete unit we need all the elements together as one. My own marriage is much the same although I probably have a little of the crazy thrown in as well but I plead artistic license on that LOL. The same is clearly evident in my daughters relationships and it is also rather fitting that for Hillivi’s 21st birthday Stacey delivered a very funny speech – most of which I cannot repeat here for risk of my daughters wrath. However I will share with you how Stacey described their first meeting and also her being instrumental in introducing Hillivi to her boyfriend Brett;

THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP

“We met when we were around 5 years old and Hilly and Kai had come over to ice gingerbread biscuits at Christmas time. At that age we didn’t understand the underlining reason for us kids to be playing together until later when we realize it was an evil plan of our mothers forcing us to be together just so they could brag about their daughters being best friends with another Swedish girl.

I’ll admit it definitely wasn’t love at first sight for me as it was for Hilly….who locked eyes with my little mermaid handbag as soon as she walked through the door. This was our one and only serious fight we’ve ever had. We didn’t see much of each other after that as we parted ways, until the first day of high school came round and we were both hassled by our mothers to find the other Swedish girl once again. Conveniently we were placed in the same home group. Our love blossomed but it was very early on that we realized that we were the complete opposite. Hillivi liked everything pink and pretty, doing her music and drama lessons, makeup and hairstyles and already talking about boys. While I was one of the boys and had no idea what mascara was? However we became inseparable.

THE ART OF ROMANCE

Hillivi and my cousin Brett will always have me to thank for their relationship! I introduced the lovers to begin with and played an active part in getting them together from organizing catch up days with Hilly and giving Brett the tip-off where she was. To taking Hillivi to tennis and football games and where her interest in these sports somehow came about after meeting Brett is anyone’s guess? I know what you all thought and still think about these two…how do they make it work? They are the complete opposite and to this day I still can’t tell you. It maybe because Brett has a secret love for fashion, hair, nails and the Kardashians? Or is it because Hillivi has a secret love affair with John Deer farm machinery, wife beater singlets and sculling jugs of beer?”

THE ART OF RELATIONSHIPS

So what is it that makes your own relationships work? I would be very interested in your thoughts and points of view?

I think the jury is still out on the subject so here is a quote along those lines by an unknown author;

“Opposites attract but the like-minded last”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all. Love Marie xxxx

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.

My husband and I have always had a happiness trick that we have used throughout the years and that is to play Saturday night!

The art of happiness, what is that I hear you ask – well it goes something like this;

You know when you have those days or weeks where life gets you down, the car won’t start in the morning and then you get the electricity bill which throws you and then you drop the jar of jam which makes a mess everywhere.  Mmmm… that is when my husband and I looks at each other and decide now we got to play “Saturday Night”.

Playing “Saturday Night” is great and the best thing about it is it can be any day of the week.  All you have to do is to make it cosy.  A yummy dinner is required but it can be as easy as a take away pizza or as fancy as a 3 course meal. Take away containers are not allowed in sight as it should feel special, so no plastic cups either just good glasses.  Setting the table in an artistic fashion adds to the mood, all the colors in the paint pallet makes me feel good.   Candle light is always nice, as is a roaring fire or sitting by a pool in summer or running water (even a small water feature will do.)

Now for us a bottle of red wine is a must but of course, use whatever drink is your favourite.  When we were having money problems early on in our marriage the budget would only stretch to a $4 dollar bottle of wine, but that didn’t spoil our fun one bit, it tasted just fine to me at the time.

If you feel like talking do so over dinner but if you need to just switch off get a good movie and just get lost in it.

When the kids were little we always had chip and dip and lollies on a Saturday and watched a family movie together before they went to bed and then we would continue with the adult version of our Saturday night!

THE ART OF BEING CREATIVE

Of course you could also schedule in a picnic or a day’s outing as you can see in this handmade ceramic and mosaic artwork – where we are going to Granite Island, South Australia.  Of course painting,sculpting and just creating anything has always helped me be happy too.  So I would really recommend that – a hobby of some kind, even cooking is creative.

If you have little kids they may enjoy an extra Saturday night every week too.  We swear by it, of course whatever problems you have are still there in the morning but to take a little vacation from the stress and worry even if it is only for a few hours, certainly has always helped us.

Oh before you think that our poor kids were fed a diet of chip and dip and lollies I have to say that during the week both at school and at home we all ate a very healthy diet, so once or twice a week to be able to have some “naughty” foods made it all the more special.

Just as sometimes if we went to an all you can eat type of place we would let the kids attack the dessert bar before their main course, lol.  This happened rarely mind you but it was so worth it just to see their excited little faces!

So here is a quote I think fits perfectly here by Jacques Torres;

“Life is short. Eat dessert first”. – Jacques Torres

Till next time, happy painting or sculpting!

Love Marie xxx

If you fancy reading another art blog about how to make yourself happy here is a link; 33. Art & Dont worry be happy

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.

This Artwork is called “Shop till you drop” but it should probably be named according to how we felt at the time lol but that would have to include some not so lady like words – you see if you look closely in the orange car on the left you will see us.

There is a Japanese exchange student in the back, next to her is Hillivi they are both happy and giggly and chatting away like girls do at the age of 13.  Then there is Bryan less pleased and me sitting next to Kai who is learning to drive….. need I say more, you get the picture?

THE ART OF DRIVING

I really should have painted me pulling my hair out and can you see the steam coming out from my ears?

Both  Bryan and I taught our 2 kids to drive, and for the most part they were really good students and careful drivers.  However there were always one or two days here and there when our patience was tested to the limit.

One night as we were leaving the city driving at 80 km on a straight road with not a car insight we saw the traffic lights up ahead and they were clearly red, however darling son for some unknown reason decided that RED meant go and just sailed straight through them.  Claiming that he never saw the red light at all, it actually worried us so much that we sent him to the Doctors to get checked to see if he was colour-blind, imagine that for the son of an artist!

Another time when it was our daughters turn to learn to drive and we had been out to dinner in the city and I again was sitting in the front seat supervising when we were pulled over by the Police.  This was a Random Breath test and Hillivi passed with flying colours of course, not so much fun when it was her mother’s turn.

In Australia you are allowed to have one or two drinks as long as you register under .05 and as I had only had one drink of wine with dinner I thought this would be a synch, however the police man looked at me sternly and insinuated that it was touch and go.

Lucky for me I was still under the required limit, but it did give me a fright.  Off we went again with baby girl at the helm for the one and a half hour drive home, and we had not gone too far before we were diverted by road works, very badly sign posted and confusing road works  which threw the “new driver” into a tizz.  However she managed well with the diversion and we were on our way again.

If you fancy seeing some more of my handmade ceramic and mosaic wall based sculptures here is a link MOSAIC & CERAMIC ARTWORKS

MORE ART IDEAS

By this time out of the city limits and laughing and talking about our adventures when I suddenly screamed at Hillivi to stop, luckily her reflexes were good because just as we go into a bend doing 80km there were 200 sheep standing there in the middle of the road.

So suddenly again we have to spring into action, two of us walking and herding the sheep in the pitch black night and Bryan in the car but to no avail so we get help from the nearest farm house (where as we found out the sheep belonged there anyway) We did have some extremely hairy moments when a couple of big trucks came ploughing through not seeing either us or the sheep as this bend is very dangerous in an otherwise straight road.  All is well that ends well and all the sheep lived to tell the tale.

Here is a qoute I like by Jean Kerr (writer)

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t grasped the situation.”

Happy painting and sculpting everyone!

Love Marie

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.

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