110 Artists Lunch

mariejon — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 02:52:52 +0000

DISCUSSING ART

On Tuesday this week it was my very overdue turn to have “The Artist lunch” at my house. You see a bunch of us have been meeting every now and then for the last 20 years, getting together over a good meal and some drinks and talking shop! Well not just about art, life in general too and along the way we have shared in the ups and downs of life and as you would expect over time there has been plenty of those too.

THE NAIVE GROUP

We were trying to figure out how we met the other day – there were 3 of us “core” people, all 3 naive artists that initially got together, we think it came about when another naive artist Howard William Steer (Story Art) had wanted to meet the new kid on the block, moi! As he and I had a joint exhibition over in Melbourne very early on in my career, I did not attend the opening so Howard came to visit when we lived in the church and brought Ursula Kiessling with him.

ARTISTS OF ALL GENRES

Ursula paints bush and wildlife in a semi naive repeated pattern – her use of colors is second to none. How we then met Bronwen Roodenrys (who paints gorgeous sophisticated naive ladies and big cats) is for now a blank, lol but anyway glad we did, and we have added more “core” people to the group and not just naïf but all sorts of artists. Catherine Fitz-Gerald who paints mainly large succulent and delicious fruits that cover the whole canvas, which makes me hungry every time I see them and Lynley Cooper who can turn her hand to any medium and style and always experiments and surprises us every time often with large scale contemporary works. My image above is from another lunch that whoops, lol turned into midnight, funny how that happens. It is handmade ceramic and mosaic and if you look closely on the left hand side you can see me with the ponytail sticking up in the air and hubby a little worse for wear spilling his beer. Fun time had by all!

ARTISTS & ANIMATORS & WRITERS

The person that hosts the lunch can invite whoever they please and can add and subtract the invitation list as they chose which makes it very interesting. So in attendance on Tuesday at my place were apart from the aforementioned were Valli Palmgreen, a Finish/Estonian artist who I have admired from afar for many years, she paints quirky pictures with the feel of Beryl Cook but in her own way. Sarah Philip, the wife of our electrician that did our new house and as it turns out she lives on the same street as us and is a talented muralist and abstract artist. Jenni Mumford paints in oils in Post-Impressionistic styled landscapes and still life and lives in Encounter Bay with views to die for which no doubt inspires her work. Also in attendance was Suzie Flashman, my neighbour whose talents include animation (she did my animations on my website) and wildlife photography and she has also recently started drawing in pastels. Of course we cannot forget Nadine Williams, journalist and award winning Author of the book From France with Love, which is optioned for a movie. She also runs her own website which is in magazine style and always very interesting.

ART AND FOOD

The only problem now was what to feed these lovely people as I don’t cook, well unless you count burned toast and boiled water as a good menu for a dinner party! Lucky for them I had a flash of an idea – I am good at assembling, lol. So off to the supermarket I trot and with help from a great guy behind the counter, who was very amused at my lack of knowledge in the small goods section (as a vegetarian that is not my forte, lol ) I came home with shaved smoked ham, turkey, roast beef and salami. To that I added cheese, dolmades, boiled eggs, tossed salad, olives, broccoli and capsicum sticks, crackers and dip, red/white wine and sparkling red (my favorite). The artists brought dips and bread, chicken, coconut rice, fruit and cake, wine and champagne and so we had a feast fit for a king. Hubby who was supposed to have a rest day could not keep away and was like a bee in the honey pot! This time around all the artists was women, but that is not the rule! We finished up just before 5pm and I look forward to the next one!

Another naive artist I greatly admire is Grandma Moses who lived to the ripe old age of 101 and I named my darling dog Moses after her and just like his name sake Moses lived to the grand old age of 18 which for a dog is pretty good. Grandma Moses didn’t start painting until her late 70’s, a late bloomer so to speak and spent her old age as an American celebrity. Here is one of her quotes that I like:

“Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and whatever else you are doing,

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.

18. The Art of Listen to your Children

Marie — Sat, 29 May 2010 05:24:03 +0000

What’s that all about, why should we listen to them?

Don’t we as adults always know best? Sad to say, lol that I discovered probably when my daughter was around 4 years old that this was not the case. My son who is 4 years older than her, always accepted that we, the parents knew better, however our daughter challenged us on every occasion and boy I am glad she did.

ART BUSINESS CARD

We learned a lot of valuable lessons from both of them, and the one that stands out the most for me is listen to them, pay attention, we can learn and awful lot, not just about them but about ourselves and the world around us. Certainly also about technology, how many of us enlist the kids help when it comes to dvd recording, computers and the like.

So just the other night I had conveniently forgotten this fact, (Listen to your children), as I was showing my darling daughter the new art business card I had designed for myself.

You see I have been making my living rather successfully as an artist for the last 20 or so years painting, making sculptures and thought I was pretty good at graphic design too, when I was quickly taken down a peg or two.

ARTISTIC BACK-PEDDLING

Oh! Hillivi did it ever so gently but she did not like my card one bit, and guess what she was so totally right. I had niggling doubts too myself in the same areas that she pointed out. Although my first reaction was to defend my position, well that’s like a reflex isn’t it? None of us like to be told – however I soon came to my senses and realized she was completely right. So here is the front side of my card designed by my talented daughter Hillivi.

She is currently doing a nursing degree and also a model in her own right with a front cover of this bridal magazine.

She obviously does know more, as she was booked to do her first cover 2 weeks after joining her Agency, whereas her mother had to wait a year for that privilege many moons ago.

Here is another quote that I like this time by Walt Disney, whose drawings and cartoons are also favourites of mine.

“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

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

Love Marie xxx (c)

Marie Jonsson Harrison » magazine

110 Artists Lunch

18. The Art of Listen to your Children