I have always loved quotations, clever things people have said over the years that resonate with me.  They feel like a painting put into words, much like a poem with music or for that matter the perfume of flowers – yes and of course I have a painting that fits right here called “Potted Perfume”.

QUOTATIONS AN INSPIRATIONS FOR ARTWORKS

I have often used quotations as the titles of my artwork.  Such as “It’s too late to turn back now”,  or “You and me and baby makes three” or “The grass is always greener on the other side”.

I find quotes are inspirational, funny and wise and it turns out that so many people over the years were so clever with the things they said.

THE ART OF BEING OSCAR WILDE

One of my favorites is the Wit and Wisdom of Oscar Wilde an Irish writer and poet who lived from 1854 until the 1900 and become one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890’s.  I am sure you have heard of his novel “The picture of Dorian Gray” which was made into a movie of the same name about a corrupt young man who somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.  Another piece of his writing that you may be familiar with is his play “The Importance of Being Earnest” which still today plays around the world somewhere.  Oscar Wilde lived up to his name and was known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversation and truly was one of the most well-known personalities of his day.

Some of my favourite quotations from Oscar is “I always pass on good advice.  It is the only thing to do with it.  It is never of any use to oneself” and “I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability” and one thing which I am trying to avoid with all my might is “Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes”.

My daughter Hillivi sent this to me the author is unknown but it so speaks volumes;

Your car is German. Your vodka is Russian. Your pizza is Italian. Your vegetables are Spanish. Your kebab is Turkish. Your democracy is Greek. Your coffee is Brazilian. Your tobacco is Macedonian. Your tea is Indian. Your shirt is Chinese. Your oil is Saudi Arabian. Your electronics are Korean. Your movies are English. Your mini-series are American. Your numbers Arabic, your letters Latin. And you complain that your neighbor is an immigrant? Pull yourself together!

The way I live my life is always with the attitude that the “Cup is half full” so here are a few more for you to contemplate.  Of course they really do cross over from one category to another too.

I painted this acrylic on canvas board painting several years ago after going to the Manpower show.  For those of you who are uninitiated in the goings on of Manpower, let me fill you in; they were a highly successful male striptease dance troupe here in Australia similar to the Chippendales, all male, all very good looking and all great dancers.   Jamie Durie was one of the members who later made his fame and fortune on the Oprah show as a Life Style Guru and outdoor makeover man.

SACRIFICE FOR THE SAKE OF ART

So it goes without saying that when my girlfriend suggested we should go I said yes.  We had a 3 hour round trip to get there from the country but that was a small price to pay the three of us thought – the other enthusiastic member to our evening was a lovely male gay friend of ours.  Don’t know who was the most excited him or us,lol. Anyway we finally got there and had to line up, it was packed and what struck me was the crowd:  they were ordinary women, short, skinny, tall, plump, old, young, all dressed in their finest frocks, faces full of makeup with hair that looked professionally styled.  The age bracket was also an eye-opener as it reached from 18-70 something! However that revelation was nothing, my biggest surprise was just before the show started when this group of mainly middle age women got excited and started hollering and whistling for the show to start.  These women then went completely nuts, randomly leaping from their chairs to touch and fondle these poor dancers; I had never seen anything like it.  Manpower took it all in their stride and did a fab job and kept smiling whilst they tried to complete their very well choreographed dance routines.

If you liked this topic you may also enjoy a look at these art blogs 53. Art & Bachelorette – A Hens night out and 72. Mae West “Come up and see me some time” & Art and 158. Fifty Shades of Grey in Art

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

As you know I don’t mind a bit of eye-candy but I almost forgot to look at these handsome men as I was totally fascinated by the behavior of what looked like everybody’s mothers and grandmothers turning into crazed sex maniacs. I laughed when I found this article on the net from the Telegraph Herald ( Dubuque Iowa 9.3.87) which describes what happened when the Manpower show was cancelled, lol and after my experience I am not surprised.  (I have shortened the article slightly but not altered it otherwise)

NO STRIPPERS; WOMEN GO ON RAMPAGE

Pittsburg – Wine and beer bottles shattered on the dance floor.  Beer bottles and chairs turned into missiles.  Some women swung purses into the air, striking anything and everyone in their way.  The word was out: a group of male strippers left shortly before they were to entertain about 600 women in the motels Ritz disco Saturday night.

“Those weren’t ladies – they were animals” said the motel owner Al Monzo.  Officers from seven police agencies – several with canines, responded to the two hour mele that began at 10pm.Saturday.  Three ambulances arrived one taking a women to a nearby hospital for cuts and suspected back and neck injuries.

There were no arrests. But hundreds of women were angry they got nothing but frustration for their $10 and $12 tickets they bought to see five featured dancers come out in assorted costumes then strip down to their briefs doing the bump and grind routines.  They were demanding a refund.

Here then is a wit and wisdom from Oscar Wilde (from The mammoth book of useless information) perhaps this is food for thought.

“Woman begins by resisting a man’s advances and ends by blocking his retreat.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting 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 SALEand SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

This painting is of my brother Matt’s band Clowns of Decadence, they all came from the Northern suburbs of Adelaide South Australia and the music grew out of the punk genre and they became a very well known pub band during the early 80’s and 90’s touring around Australia and also New Zealand.

A very Arty band of course due in part to my brothers influence. The Clowns of Decadence ensemble was large scale which also included fire eaters and other various artistic acts in its repertoire.

Matt Jonsson was the drummer and in charge of designs of backdrops and album covers and other visual influences, however all the band members were all very creative and talented and they made a fantastic team.

They still have a fan group on Face book all these years later.  So this painting was obviously a lot of fun to create.

BANDS & ART

This particular night was at the Entertainment Centre in Adelaide where they had a live cross to Hey Hey It’s Saturday, (television show) and an interview by Molly Meldrum.

There was another 3 bands I think performing that night as well. I went there with Bryan (husband) and met my mum and dad in the car park.

ARTISTIC MOTHER

What made me laugh was that my darling mother had been to a Melbourne cup luncheon recently and had made herself a rather unusual hat. My mum is very good at sewing and not afraid of standing out in the crowd even though at this stage she was in her 60’s.   You can spot her in the left hand corner with the rather tall top hat with a horse on it, a real artwork.

My Dad was mortified and tried to talk her out of this hat before we went in,  but mother would not be convinced of otherwise.  She was going to wear this hat come hell or high water to her son’s concert.

I must say I applaud her courage.  It is a fantastic thing to be and individual and proud of it and most probably some of my getting out on a limb also comes from mum, although most people say the artistic side is from my father’s side but I think it’s a bit of both. So the man with the beard is my father and then there is my husband and me dancing next to them.

Check out the action under the sound guys table.

What a wonderful night.

From the wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde here is another saying that I like,

“All women are like their mothers.  That is their tragedy.

No man does.  That’s his.”

Hope you come and visit me soon again till then happy painting and sculpting everyone!

Love Marie xxxx                                                     (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.

If you have just joined my art blog recently, you may want to check out numbers 6 &7 in the Blog archive for the start of the San Francisco travel tales.

You can’t go past the wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde who quotes; “It is an odd thing, but everyone who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco.  It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world.”

ARTISTS INSPIRATION

And yes it is, utterly delightful and full of interesting places and people; you can even surf under the Golden Gate Bridge, but only for the most experienced!  These images are details of my San Fran painting and going here has really inspired me as an artist, the ideas are swirling in my head of future sculptures in mosaic & ceramic and lots of paintings.

A day after we went on our Golden Gate Bridge bike ride, we decided to go down to the bay and catch the boat over to Alcatraz which we were told was like a village where some Prison guards and the Warden and his family lived and the kids went to school there too.

ALCATRAZ THE ART BLOG

What an experience that was, the prisoners long gone but their former home just as eerie as if they were still there. In one way they still were, because as soon as you got up to the main prison building, you went to the place where the prisoners used to exchange their clothes for the snazzy black and white numbers.    We were handed a set of head phones, whereby the former INMATES, PRISON GUARDS and WARDENS started talking to you, about their trials and tribulations.

Now I should tell you that I’m not one for old houses and museums as I’ve said before I’m a party kind of gal with a penchant for dancing, so Bryan did well to talk me into this and besides as I had already painted Alcatraz, I did feel the need to see it in real life and I did not regret that for a second.

They walked you around the whole prison and it was absolutely fascinating. We were perhaps 400 people wandering about totally in silence engrossed in the Alcatraz tales.

Half way through I stopped my recording, took off the headphones and to my amazement,  you could have heard a pin drop.  Never have I ever been with that many people at one time, where not a sound was uttered.

Here is a saying which you can contemplate by Charles Bukowski (writer);

“If you want to know who your friends are, get yourself a jail sentence.”

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.

As a lot of you know by now we live on a farm, although recently we have reduced said farm’s acreage substantially.  However it is and has been a wonderful place to live and for our children to grow up on, and with so many tales to tell. The farm and the country side in general was a wonderful and inspirational setting for an artist, supplying vistas that I never got tired of recreating in artworks or paintings or writing about in Art blogs.  Here is a painting which sold in America which pictures the country side here, not quite our farm but a romantic view of it.  What it does show is the White Ute (pickup truck) and that is what this story is all about.

One of our friends had a sheep called Smokey, not your normal type of sheep, no this one was the potato chip eating variety, that had been hand raised in a Hotel, all you had to do was to rattle a chip packet and Smokey would come running and nearly bowl you over whilst licking her lips.  The Publican and his wife were now moving away, the cute but by now Big sheep was looking for a new home.  Yep and that was us, so Bryan dear hubby of mine thought he would swing past said friend and pick Smokey up.

WHAT A PICTURE

He rolled up in his White ute and now with a bit of blokey discussion back and forth they decided that the only way they could transport this sheep (as he was you know, more like a family member than a sheep) in the FRONT Seat of the ute.

Yep that’s right, that’s where Smokey sat for the 25 minute drive from Mallala to Balaklava.  Oh did I forget to tell you, of course he had his seat belt done up, that’s the road rules you know.

So here is little wifey-poo patiently waiting for hubby and sheep to arrive home, you know on the back of the ute like, and I cannot tell you of the fright I got when they arrived home late after dark and I looked into the passenger window and saw this very strange creature sitting there looking at me, sitting on her bum mind you, upright with the seatbelt across her and looking out the window.

Crazy men, I just thank the lucky stars that she sat perfectly still the entire trip cause otherwise neither of them would probably have made it home that night. Lol

Here is some more of the wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde with his quote:

“I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability”

I hope you will come and visit me again, till next time, happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie                                                                (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.

People often ask me where I get my inspiration for my paintings and sculpture, well all artwork from.  And my answer is usually – from absolutely everywhere.  And I truly mean that, driving in the car, seeing an advertising sign, going to a birthday celebration, or a wedding or any festive occasion at all.  Going to the movies or seeing a play, opera, band or performance of any kind.  Eating out, eating in (by now you probably know I do like my food, Lol) . Also getting together with friends,  holidays and travelling of any kind, going for a walk, to the gym, listening  to songs, reading books, reading magazines, watching TV and doing just about anything.  My problem is more- so little time and so many images to create.

PUBLIC SCULPTURE

If you would like to see some of my public sculptures here is a link to one of the art blogs 109 Stories behind the Wall

CERAMIC & MOSAIC

This Artwork ( which is hand made ceramic and mosaic), IF YOU REMEMBER THE SIXTIES YOU WEREN’T THERE (check out the action under the table) came to me whilst listening to the local ABC Radio Station here in Adelaide Radio 891,  A couple of my favourite radio announcers Matt Abraham and David Bevin was doing their usual funny banter back and forward and this line came up If you remember…….. And instantly in my mind I saw the whole picture.

I must remind you that I was but a small child in the sixties so this is not autobiographical, although to be fair I did pass through a bit of a naughty stage in my youth too. I remember being totally fascinated by a tomato sauce bottle and thinking that was the funniest thing I had ever seen in my life and for some reason had the munchies something shocking.

Lucky for me I soon came to my senses and pursued more healthy paths ,and even luckier than that my darling children seem to be a whole lot more focused and  are pursuing very worthwhile areas as a psychology and a nursing student .  Or is that so that they can take care of their dear old parents in our twilight year’s lol;

Here is another quote I like from Oscar Wilde

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting to 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.