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.

At this stage I had signed with the Japanese Art gallery and then spent one year painting like crazy.

This painting “If I could turn back time” was one of the artworks that the Japanese Gallery wanted to see in real life before we signed the contract and it was sent over during the negotiating stage (available as a limited Giclee print).

My contract stipulated 40 acrylic artworks in various sizes from small 30cm x 40cm to the larger ones at 120cm x 90cm, luckily I had a few in stock but all the rest needed to be produced.

The problem for me is that all my artworks take a very long time as they are so very detailed and also the paint is layered with lumps and bumps (all bottoms and breasts stick out!)   At times I wish I was an abstract artist and could just slap the paint on and make at least one painting each day, but oh no life cannot be that easy, mine take at least a week for a small one and more like a minimum of 3 weeks for the larger works.

ART STUDIO

My studio is just outside the backdoor in a separate building with views of the paddocks and the trees along the river, so it’s just as well that I love being there and painting as that next year and the years following I nearly spent every waking moment in there.  My husband always jokes to friends that he keeps me locked up in there, and that is almost true, lol.

Finally the big day has come, I had an all expenses paid trip to Nagoya Japan Business class mind you, for me and for the two art gallery guys from Melbourne who were my art agents at that stage.  We get picked up from the airport and put up in one of the nicest hotels and wined and dined every night at some of the most wonderful and interesting restaurants in Nagoya.

However it was the actual opening of the exhibition that really threw me!  I am used to going to exhibitions obviously, lol with a drink of wine or champagne in your hand you stand around and chat to the clients and friends and have a merry old time, and that is what I was expecting.

ART EXHIBITION OPENING

Wrong!  Around an hour before the opening I get told that I am actually going to be sitting behind a desk and drawing little pictures for their clients.  So now I get really worried, I am really not very good at drawing on command like that.  As you know I am an naïve artist and my drawings look more like stick figures – so now I was really breaking out into a sweat.  If that wasn’t enough now I also find out that we have to sit in a tiny little room and wait for the gallery to fill up with people where I will be presented like the Queen, lol,  I have to walk through the crowd as they part ways and line the sides and clap, and present me with a huge bouquet of flowers before the speeches.

DRAWING

Then as promised I sit at a table with my translator and meet the people one by one as the clients stand single file in a big line which snakes along the room.  Each Japanese person has got a white board embossed with gold edge which they ask me to draw something on.  Most of them know what they would like me to draw, maybe a bird, a cat or a flog (well that’s how they pronounce FROG lol) and I am to write their names and a little message as well as well as sign it.   As paintings sold I also had to write a message on the back of them too.    So I was flat out working for a couple of hours straight and not a drink in sight (unless you count the glass of water lol, but that doesn’t count does it?)

I must say though that in the end I thoroughly enjoyed it and found the Japanese people so very lovely, warm and giving.

The exhibition was held over 4 days with four separate openings and each night we waited in that small room until it was time to start.  I felt like a movie star by the end of it and each day an average of 10 paintings sold until it was a sell out!  (I have now made many trips to Japan over the years, but I will tell you about them another time.)

Here is a saying by Michael Jordan (basketball player) that I can appreciate,

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games; 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.”

This Japanese family bought this painting at my first Japan show in 1993 and then came back for the 2006 exhibition.  They are holding up the drawings I was talking about.

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.

I had been painting for about 5 years when my gallery in Melbourne called me to let me know that a scout for a Japanese gallery had been in to see them and were very interested in showing my artwork in Nagoya.

This painting depicts my Qantas flight over to Nagoya in Japan for my first exhibition, however there was a lot of I’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed before that first trip.  You see the Japanese do not do things by half and it took more than six months before that first contract was signed.

So in the meantime I lived on hope, as during both my days as a model and then in the art business I have come to know that you win some and you lose some, and I didn’t know which category this was going to fall into.

Firstly I had to send pictures of my artwork to Japan, price lists, mediums and sizes etc, and then they wanted to see some of the actual paintings in real life so a couple of paintings had to be sent over to Nagoya.  Then there was lots of to-ing and fro-ing about the price I was to receive for each art work and the commission for the art gallery in Melbourne.

Eventually a representative from the gallery in Japan flew to Melbourne and they flew me from Adelaide for the final meeting and signing of the contract, which was held at the Melbourne gallery who were my agent in this new art venture.

ART & KIDS

I took one of my dearest friends Christina with me as well as my two kids, Kai and Hillivi.  So off we go; Miss Hillivi my daughter  was 2 years  old at the time and had just sat down in her seat on the plane and fastened the seatbelt before she threw up all over herself, (there are quite a few stories like that with little Miss Hillivi) luckily I had Christina there to help me out.

I do know that first impressions are really important and thought my chances with the Japanese would not be enhanced by being covered in baby spew, so by now I was getting a bit worried.

ART MEETING

The problem was we had to go virtually straight from the plane to the Japanese meeting, as typically the plane was delayed.  However as one door closes another one opened and I ran into an acquaintance on the plane that said we should come to his hotel and get changed.  Saved by the man on a white horse so to speak as both I and Hillivi did not smell so good by this stage(brave man), so that offer came in very handy.

Then there was another small problem with taxis.   Here in Australia you have to have children in seatbelts and in booster chairs when travelling if the child is under 7 and of course, I had not thought of that.( I am normally very safety conscious but tell me how you get around in a new city with kids and no car.)

We eventually found a taxi driver to take us (although we had to duck in the backseat all the way) and surprisingly enough still made it to the meeting on time.  Christina, bless her cotton socks amused the kids in a café down the road whilst I against all odds and with nothing left but hope finally had that contract signed and sealed.

If you would like to know what happened on my first trip to Nagoya to attend my art exhibition there here is a link;  64. Flying to Japan (continuation of Signing the Contract)

So here is a saying from Lu Xun (writer) that I think fits rather well here.

“Hope can neither be affirmed nor denied.  Hope is like a path in the countryside:  Originally there was no path-yet, as people are walking all the time in the same spot, a way appears.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting!

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.