As part of our trip to the US we were going to Las Vegas and having always heard about the Little White Wedding Chapel  and the celebrities who got married there which include Britney Spears, Demi Moore & Bruce Willis, Joan Collins, Michael Jordon, The Who, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Patty Duke, Mickey Rooney, we thought it would be lots of fun to renew our vows there too.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

This naive painting is part of my Cat & Dog series and I have actually painted two very similar works but in different colors as it evoked such happy memories, one which sold in my Japanese exhibition and the other just recently here.

You see hubby was finally taking me to America something he promised to do 25 years prior, so you can’t say he doesn’t keep his promises.  The promise was made in a weak moment, lol when he was trying to get me to marry him – I had been in Europe modeling for the best part of two years and had come home to Australia to spend Christmas with my parents.  Bryan and I had taken a break from our relationship which had begun when I was 14 and I had full intention of fulfilling my potential and going on to New York where I had been offered a six month contract to model in the Big Apple.   Well the rest is history; I never made it to New York that time, instead stayed put, married the love of my life and instead was eventually crowned the’ Australian Model of the Year’ which was a pretty good compensation anyway.

Finally he makes good on his promise (lol, you know how kids, houses and life gets in the way) and after a week of Disney land and all the things LA has to offer we are on the plane for Vegas.  Kai and Hillivi our children are with us for the big family holiday, and the wedding is all planned and booked.  I have a beautiful pink dress,  Hillivi my bridesmaid will be in a matching dress, and  Bryan and Kai have suits with matching pink ties.  Every detail thought of.

ART OF THE WELL DRESSED HOBO

So we arrive in Vegas and are in awe already, all the lights are flashing and there are slot machines all around even at the airport.  We do meander a bit but not too long and get to the baggage collection area, and wait and wait.  Everyone’s bags turn up apart from Bryans, which just happens to be the one with all the important stuff in it – just bought Christmas presents, film camera, wedding shirt, as well as every single bit of Bryans clothing including the winter clothes for New York (where it’s snowing &  minus 11).

Luckily the suits were in a separate carryon bag and I had the ties in mine, as the wedding was that afternoon at 5pm with not much time to dally around.  We had to improvise and he wore a white striped shirt, which if he had taken his jacket off would have made you laugh with a huge emblem on the back! We never did find out what happened to the bag as it never turned up.  We imagine there is a very well dressed hobo wandering around filming at the airport!   Bryan had to buy a whole lot of clothes in Vegas – and we just couldn’t stop stirring him about the souvenir style gear he got with “I Love Vegas” on every item!

I am happy to say the rest of the day went off without a hitch, we stayed in a couple of gorgeous rooms at the very flash Monte Carlo.  The limousine picked us up and took us down the strip past all the iconic Casinos with a million people milling around and lights flashing.  The wedding chapel even has a Drive-through section but we had the ceremony in an intimate little room with a Negro celebrant who was fantastic and added to the atmosphere.

ART, ROMANCE AND WHOOPS!

It was really emotional and romantic and such a marvelous occasion to share with our two kids who looked just so beautiful and handsome respectively. After all the photos we returned to the hotel in the limo and found a wonderful  trolley laden with all kinds of cheeses, crackers, fruits,  nuts and a bottle of red in our room, which we thought the hotel had so kindly provided us with. So we hoed into that and had a wow of a time until we found a little card tucked under a napkin with a middle eastern name on it (now we got worried about the mafia, lol) but then found out luckily it was actually for the guest that had already vacated our room earlier in the day.

Whoops, lol, but the hotel were very good and just let us have it. Then still in our glad rags we went and caught the Monorail and explored Vegas and then finally at 11pm thought we better have our wedding dinner (we had stuffed ourselves silly on that cheese platter!).  Anyway we had our celebration dinner in a gorgeous little Italian restaurant in the Stratosphere Casino, and it was one of those nights were everything just fell into place and was wonderful.

Four very tired little vegemites caught the last Monorail back to the Monte Carlo at 2 am, exhausted with sore feet but very happy.  You may enjoy another travel and art blog, here is a link;90 I Miss New York and  137 ICE SKATING IN CENTRAL PARK

I will repeat this quote here as it fits so perfectly said by someone I greatly admire, Oprah Winfrey (Television host and Philanthropist)

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”

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.

ARTISTIC WEDDINGS

There are weddings and then there are good weddings and I went to one of the Great ones just recently, and no not conducted by a magpie like in my naive painting here!   Now I may be biased as this was my darling nephew (who is just the coolest guitar playing guy around) and his beautiful Fiona, who already has been part of our lives for the past 7 years.    Although I thought it was longer than that as I liked her lots right from the start and she is a person with a kind heart and easy manner and positive attitude that you enjoy sharing time with.

So that being said, I don’t know how you feel, but I know from my own personal experience, all weddings are different.  Some you enjoy because the food is great, others because of the band or location or as in this case because you can see and you know in your heart that these two people are so right for each other that they will last a life time.

That’s not to say that at this particular wedding all those other elements weren’t there too because they were, if I have to pick on anything it would be they had the ceremony starting at 11.30 on a Sunday morning!  Just as well the Hens night was a week earlier is all I can say to that.  (I do believe I was nursing a rather large headache the Sunday before, and it was all Fiona’s fault.)  If you fancy a read about the goings on at her Bachelorette party here is a link to the paintings and art blog, but do keep in mind the P… word is mentioned 53. Art & Bachelorette – A Hens night out

The ceremony was held overlooking the water at West Lakes Resort and then followed by a Greek Feast at Zacs, where every wish was catered for.  Such a memorable day!

This acrylic on canvas board painting depicts the ceremony of birds of a different feather completely, the artwork sold in Japan, and I had lots of fun painting it!  Oh and in the pretend story of this acrylic painting of course the birds were let out of their cages and lived happily ever after in the wild.  That goes without saying!

In my own case people predicted our marriage would last six months tops (they of little faith!)Oh I do love proving people wrong, as we just celebrated our 28^th wedding anniversary, so you never can quite tell.

ART INSPIRATIONS

That reminds me of another friend of mine, who got married in the 80’s, this marriage unfortunately only lasted a year.  The wedding itself was a rather splendid production at the finest locations and no expense spared and a total bill of $60.000.00 which for the 80’s was a rather large amount to pay for a wedding.   Rather a waste of money, just for one night I thought at the time, but hey we had a fantastic night!

We have been to a lot of wedding over the years and another one that springs to mind was also a splendid affair at a seaside location followed by the reception in the top hotel of the time in Adelaide with a 20 piece orchestra and silver service all the way.

So there we were at this glitzy Do with half of Adelaide’s “who is who” in attendance and what do I  do- well klutzy me had to go and spoil it, lol – I managed to dribble half my dinner on my taffeta dress (you do remember the taffeta dresses of the 80’s?)  The spill was not somewhere low down where it could be hidden, but right up top on my chest, where some sticky mess looked mighty unsightly.

FABRIC PAINTER

Long suffering Bryan takes quite a delight in his wife’s history of food dribbles, as he thinks it is all rather funny to see this model looking bird dressed to kill with food stains, isn’t he mean! LOL

Off to the ladies loo I go as I thought I better try to wash it off, easier said than done!  Have you ever tried to wash a dark purple taffeta gown in a public toilet (well a Hilton toilet but still!)  There I was trying ever so hard to get rid of this stain but instead of making it smaller it actually seemed to be spreading all over the dress, no matter what I did.   Who ever invented those horrible hand dryers that you have in toilets, they are absolutely useless when it counts, or should I say absolutely useless at anytime, especially useless at drying hands for which they were invented I do believe.

I missed some of the speeches and the cutting of the cake as this procedure took half an hour to accomplish.   Needless to say I spent the rest of the night with my hair covering the stain, thank god for long hair!

So here is a bit of wisdom for you who may be contemplating marriage from Pythagoras (philosopher)

“The oldest, shortest words – “yes” and “no” – are those which require the most thought.

Oh and by the way if I find any advice from any other philosopher on “How to avoid food stains” I will be sure to let you know.

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 SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.