The History of Mosaic seems to begin in the ancient near east, with some of the earliest known pieces made with pebbles of contrasting colors, coming from Greece.

It was the Romans however who really developed the art of mosaic.

The first most intricate mosaic from Pompeii was made in small panels, many of which have survived the volcanic eruptions of Mt Vesuvius.

Mosaics have been used as a decorative medium on walls and columns for nearly 5000 years.

After the renaissance, the art of mosaics went into decline, but was revived in the mid 19th century.

But even before mosaic became popular, man was creating images in clay from almost the beginning of his existence.

Sometimes the pieces were used for everyday purposes and other times just as a means of expressing his own artistic drive.

Either way it was the tactile quality of the clay that allowed the artist to combine from and texture and feelings to produce work that can be appreciated whether it was made 10000 years ago or last week.

It was in the 50s and 60s that form and function were really challenged by modern potters, experimenting with avant-gard work.

Funky pottery and individual approaches which now frees the artists own creativity and self expression.

I do believe that every human is artistic; it may just take a little time to find the medium that suits the individual.

I wish you all the best on your creative jouney, whether it is purely for pleasure or profit or both.

Put your heart and soul into it , develop your passions, work hard and stay focused.

Dont worry about setbacks, every one has them, believe in yourself and most of all enjoy creating and dreaming.

If you are passionate about your work and love doing it, then there can be no greater high, I believe.

When I had finished my first ever artwork (36. How it all began)my father bought me a set of acrylic paints and brushes as well as made me a painting case with the words “Dream on, because dreams are what art is made of” and darling dad – I couldn’t agree more.

Till next time,

Love Marie xxx  (c)

For being a mother is the most fantastic gift but at the same time a guilt ridden curse.  It was hard enough when the kids were little but at least then I was the boss and could tuck them safely into their beds at night and keep the monsters from the door.  Now I need a Lear jet and an Uzi to be of any use.

This acrylic on canvas board painting is called” It’s too late to turn back now” which is a quote equally appropriate to both parachute jumping and motherhood!

Kai our son is safely (LOL) living with us now but a year or two ago when he spent his gap year overseas  I was  driving him nuts with my various warnings of imminent danger.

Kai had been living and working at a hotel in Cheltenham and travelling around Europe on his days off so every car, bus or train accident and the like talked about on the news sent me scurrying to the phone to text and make sure he was oK.

Like Darth Vader against a terrorist bomb, that was me!  Suddenly the volcano erupted another thing to worry about, he already had his flight home with a Bangkok stopover cancelled for a week.  Let’s not forget there is also swine flu, Pick pockets, the Bangkok riots, sitting no further that 7 seats from an exit on the plane, drink spiking and gangs with knifes!

My mantra to myself was “Oh grow up girl and get a grip” I know I should, but my children are so precious, bad enough with baby girl here in Adelaide, I know I drive her crazy too.  Poor baby girl at 21 years old still has to text her mum after every car trip to say she is safe, never mind the fact that one could get ones eye poked out with a sharp stick (lol that was always my dad’s warning too, as soon as me or my brother did anything remotely dangerous).

The Swedes have a very good word for my behaviour and that is “Mesar” which is a bird in Sweden that is known as a little coward, wimpy, so that’s what an overprotective mother preaching excessive caution is called!

So Mums take a deep breath and enjoy your day, relax, permit yourself to get pampered and forget about the worries for one day.

Here is quote I think fits well her by Sophia Loren;

“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts.  A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.”

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Till next time,

Love Marie  xxxxx

]]> http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/05/134-mothers-day-and-mothers-guilt/feed/ 0 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/05/133-pie-floater/ http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/05/133-pie-floater/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 02:29:27 +0000 mariejon http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3351 This acrylic painting is called the Pie Cart and I have also made a similar one in ceramic and mosaic as a commission that hung at the Adelaide Airport.  Perhaps you also have some pie carts in your town?

Here in Adelaide we have had them since 1870 in Norwood and later in the city, at one stage there were 13 of them around town.   My memory of them does not stretch that far lol, but I do remember one on Franklin Street and the other in front of the Adelaide rail way station.

A Pie Cart is a caravan or trailer with a window along one side where you can sit and eat, although most people stand and eat, perhaps that is because you want to test yourself, to see if you still can.  Well that is because the pie cart is usually the place to go late at night after too many drinks, when you start to get hungry and need a little help to sober up.  Of course I had to paint from experience as usual – you know I had to stay up till 2am in the morning, have too much to drink and really gage the atmosphere right?  All in the name of research of course, suffering all the way!

Not that they sell too much that I could eat there anyway being a vegetarian and all.  The menu consists mainly of pies (funny about that) they did sell hot chips which I could eat and pea soup.  Speaking of which, pea soup that is, as you can see above not all people like it – or is that a reflection of too much to drink.  Here in Australia we call that a Technicolored  yawn. LOL.  If it also looks as if someone has Casino chips and throwing money around on the painting that is because our Casino is in the same building as the Railway Station in Adelaide.

Then there was Beef pie, Camel pie, Chicken and Vegetable Pie, Chilli Steak Pie, Egg, Bacon and Tomato Pie, Lamb Pie, Steak and Kidney Pie, Roo Pie, Tuna and Vegetable Pie, also ice coffees and soft drinks as well as hot tea and coffee, donuts and some cakes.  I do have a distant memory of scoffing down a vanilla slice early in the morning way before I even had my painting research to blame that on! I am reliably informed that more recently they were also offering vegetarian pasties, spinach and fetta triangles, but the most famous of all their dishes were the Pie Floater.

So what is that I hear you ask, well self explanatory really, a bowl of soup with a pie in the middle, often served with tomato sauce on top, you can also add other condiments such as Worcestershire sauce or vinegar.  We actually have it every Australia Day now at home, my hubby makes a great vego version with a vego pie and it is delicious.  As the Pie Floater was recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon in 2003 by the National Trust of Australia we think it is fitting to serve it when we have overseas visitors too.  You know a bit of Aussie fun and so far it has always been a big hit.

There are 2 trains of thought how the pie floater was originally created.  One story takes it back to the Great Depression, whereby pie manufacturers would donate their left-overs to soup kitchens, who in turn would add the pie to their soups to make the meals for the homeless more substantial.

The other thought goes back even longer than that – 130 years no less as early records held by the South Australian National Trust puts the Pie Floaters origin in Port Pirie where a man named Ern “Shorty” Bradley ate one.  It is not known if it was his intention to put the pie in the soup or perhaps he dropped it into the bowl by accident, no one really knows.  But I am glad he did.

Famous people who love the Pie Floater are Joe Cocker, Billy Connolly, Nigel Mansell, Shane Warne and Angus Young from one of my favorite bands AC/DC.

Here is a Jewish Proverb by that I think fits well here;

“Worries go down better with soup”.

Although perhaps this quote by Robert Byrne hits the mark a bit more;

“Anybody who believes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach flunked geography.”

Till next time,

Love Marie xxx  (c)

]]> http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/05/133-pie-floater/feed/ 0 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/04/132-age-is-just-a-state-of-mind/ http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/04/132-age-is-just-a-state-of-mind/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:15:20 +0000 mariejon http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3336 This artwork “Our Richest Treasures” made from handmade ceramic and mosaic is part of a public sculpture called the Federation Gateway Sculpture at the entrance to Balaklava a town in the Mid North, South Australia and celebrates the senior citizens which are among our richest treasures.   Here is some links to more about this Public Sculpture.

The 1901 wall depict 9 separate stories and the 2001 wall tells another 8 stories of both ordinary and famous people who have connections with our district.  Their tales are told in pictures and words with my hand-made ceramic tiles surrounded by mosaic and the words which has been etched on aluminium plaque.

As the Australian Government announced recently that they are going to pay employers a bonus for hiring and retaining older workers I thought this artwork of Mrs. Clare Bowers was topical for my blog this week. (More on Clare later).

The plan is to pay a $1000 bonus to employers that recruit workers aged 50 years or over for more than three months and the government are also extending programs that provide support  to employers who promote older workers and will put more funds toward career advice services and also education for mature workers.

I am one of these people that think that age is just a state of mind and the thought that there is that age discrimination in the workplace is just ridiculous.  A good mix of young and old and people from all different cultures and ways of life is the key.  You need young people who can look at a task or problem with fresh eyes and ideas and also the older person with life experience and some mileage under their belt to provide a balance in most work areas.

That said my first occupation as a Fashion Model was a very youth oriented profession, although I have looked on with amusement as there has been quite a movement there too into the older woman who still looks great. To me it does make a lot of sense to have the clothes that are aimed at the more mature bracket modelled by the women that are actually going to wear them.

From my observation it all started by Lauren Hutton being retained by Revlon during the 80’s and 90’s and then followed by the likes of Elle MacPherson, Christie Brinkley and Jerry Hall.  In the last couple of years the Couger trend has really caught on and the oldest model rumoured to be hitting the catwalk is Carmen Dell’Orefice who at 79 still looks fantastic (with a little help I presume).

Mia Freedman from Mama Mia said recently “ As far as I can tell, there are only two ages for female celebrities: Dame Judi Dench and 30. At Dame Judi’s end, it’s pretty lonely. Just her and Betty White. At the other end, it’s gridlock with everyone from Courtney Cox, 47, to Lindsay Lohan, 26, visually colliding at the age of 30.

This is weird. Especially when – like me – you fall into the twilight zone between 30 and Betty White.”

Mia does have a point and she is not suggesting that we stop dying our hair, fight wrinkles and go without makeup but she does go on to say that there is a time when you go from looking amazing for your age to looking a little weird and then seriously weird, lol.

These days the designers in New York and Paris are getting on the band wagon and hiring the older birds, much to the audiences delight who laughed,  clapped and chatted  throughout the shows which is not always the norm at these events.

What has made me cross in the last couple of months though is the flack that both Demi Moore and Madonna have been getting from some reporters.  In this day and age when so many of us are careful about what we eat and stay fit and healthy.  Why shouldn’t Madonna be up there on stage for the release of her new album, dancing as if her pants were on fire!  She is probably fitter now than ever, looks great and sounds great.  Maybe there is something in the saying; “ that you are only as old as the man you feel.”

Madonna had the last laugh though as her album has shot up the hits list and went straight to number one.  MDNA is Madonnas 12^th album to top the chart, beating Elvis Presley’s record which stands at 11.  So obviously she still resonates with both the young and the older demographic.  Demi Moores story on the other hand has been a little sad as we have watched her desperate attempt to keep up with her daughter and her young friends through a haze of alcohol and drugs after her very public breakup from her much younger man.

I would be the last person to cast a stone her way as I still love to party – if there is music playing I will still dance till the sun comes up and partake in a drink or two.

Chili Davis quote “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional”, which brings me back to this Centenary of Federation Sculpture and Clare Bowers.

When Clare was eighty years old she was most interested to see the silos being built in her home town of Balaklava.  So on one of her shopping trips she asked one of the builders if it was possible to go to the top of the silo.  The arrangements were made and at 5pm on the allotted day the residents to the local old folks home where Clare lived, were ushered outside to a prime viewing spot on the footpath.  They were all very surprised to see Clare hoisted to the top of the silo in a safety cage.

Clare certainly had a zest for life and at the age of eighty-seven she again soared to great heights, this time as the eldest passenger of the Balaklava Gliding Club.

I think these quote fits well here the first one by Judith Regan;

“The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible”

And the second from Henry David Thoreau who said;

“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm”.

Till next time,

Love Marie xxxx   (c)

]]> http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/04/132-age-is-just-a-state-of-mind/feed/ 0 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/04/131-kismet-kate/ http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/04/131-kismet-kate/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:32:15 +0000 mariejon http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3320 This story is about my dear friend and fellow artist Catherine Fitz-Gerald and for some reason the above musical has always come to mind when I think of her, so therefore it goes without saying that when Kate decided her next exhibition was going to be centred around songs, that seemed like a natural fit to me.

As a matter of fact this exhibition called “Inspiration and Memory” is a celebration not only of Kates wonderful paintings, songs and music that she remembers her mother singing and teaching her as a child but also to celebrate; Marjorie her mother’s 80^th birthday.

I have known the Fitz-Gerald family since I was 17 years old (just yesterday,lol)and somehow they all seem like close relatives to me, like cousins.  I first met Kate’s brother Lewis Fitz-Gerald while we were both appearing in a theatre production at the Festival Theatre in Adelaide.  If that name sounds familiar to you that is because Lewis went on to find fame and fortune as a sought after actor in such films as Breaker Morant, ABC’s “I can Jump Puddles” and just lately “Crownies” also on the ABC.  Of course Lewis also appeared in many other exciting films, theatre and television performances in between.

The rest of my “cousins” in the Fitz-Gerald family are Mark a photographer, Rosemary a lawyer and Leslie works as a teacher for Autism SA.  Their father Brian is now retired but for many years had a business and even employed my mum for a time.

That something extra that the whole Fitz-Gerald clan has in common is their incredible community spirit and fundraising – the old-fashioned values of pulling your sleeves up and getting stuck in!  If someone is down on their luck and need a helping hand – who you gonna call right?  To cater and make the food for a 200 people soiree would be just another day at the office for them all and particularly so for the matriarch of the family;  Marjorie Fitz-Gerald, O.A.M.,J.P  who really at 80 is still not showing any signs of slowing down.

She is currently raising funds for Adelaide Festival Centre Foundation, Independent Arts Foundation, supporting the Arts in S.A. and providing scholarships for young emerging artists.   Marjorie has been the chair for countless organizations such as Festival Fringe, South Australian Country Arts Trust, Adelaide City Ballet and was the Mayor of the Town of St.Peters.   In 2007 she was awarded the S.A. Great South Australian of the Year for the Arts and later the Premier’s Award for lifetime Achievement, the 2010 Ruby Award.

Springing from this family history it is no wonder that Kates career as an artist took off right from her first exhibition in 2004.

So when Kates new exhibition opens on Sunday at Greenhill’s Gallery it will be with the band Take 5, playing the music and Kates beautiful paintings will hang on the walls.  Kate in her own right is a celebrated artist and collected Australia wide, well known for her fruit paintings particularly which hang in at some of the best addresses around the country.  Her Artist Statement reads;

“Nature as inspiration is not a new concept to artists, but somehow it always feels new, fresh with something urging you to create.  To explore the tension between light and shadow, lost and found edges, texture, glaze, memory and the emerging expression of it.

We speak of memory being ‘green’ and my memories of gardens and the songs I learned from my mother as a child are forever intertwined.  So each of these paintings link to a word of inspiration and a song from my childhood.  Even now as I walk through the many gardens I have been privileged to share, melodies spring to mind as each vista or detail emerges.”

Each painting have names like; Renew, Inspiration, Home, Courage, Care, Promise, Serenity, Wonder and Joy.

For instance there is Enthusiasm with the lyrics from “Young at heart” by Carolyn Leigh – ‘Fairytales can come true…if you’re young at heart. For it’s hard you will find to be narrow of mind, if you’re young at heart…and life gets more exciting with each passing day..’

So come and see this extraordinary exhibition at………….

Greenhills galleries, 140 Barton Tce North Adealide

Opening ; Sunday 22nd April 2012 11.30am, Guest Speaker ; Cate fowler, Director/Producer

Concludes Tuesday 15th May 2012

Live Music by” Take Five”

Preview; Friday 20th April 10.00am to 5.00pm

Sat 21st April 2.00pm to 5.00pm

And I leave you with the words for the painting Resilience (lyrics by Bob Thiele & George Weiss) and made famous by Louis Armstrong “What a wonderful World”;

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces, of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, sayin’, “How do you do?”
They’re really sayin’, “I love you”

I hear babies cryin’, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more, than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Oh yeah

Till next time,

Love Marie xxxx  (c)

We often talked about our fantastic parenting skills and the lack of such in other people, lol and were smugly satisfied with ourselves.  Well how wrong you can be – you certainly gave us a run for our money!  From the minute you were born until you turned one year old, you screamed blue murder unless I was rocking you in my arms, no other arms would do either just mine!  Everyone around us now looked at us with pity, lol and wondering about our parenting skills.  Oh how quickly one falls from the pedestal!

But you know honey – you needed me just like I needed you and thank god you hung on to me for dear life.  You must have known that I was going to a rough patch in my life as I was struggling in my relationship with my own mother (which thankfully is much better now.) I craved to feel loved, needed and wanted so much and you gave me that – so THANK YOU baby girl you made me feel whole again.

Growing up with an Artist as a mother must have had its own trials and tribulations too.  Not being one for the normal lullabies you grew up listening to your mothers very bad renditions of Ry Cooders “Little Sister”, the Swedish “3 Wandering men” and the Beatles “Help”.  How people were amazed to hear a 2 year old child’s word perfect singing “Help” on top of her lungs “When I was younger so much younger than today.  I never needed anybodies help in any way……..

I still call you my “Little Uppas girl” but these days you do actually walk yourself, however until you were 10 years old you used to be able to convince me to carry you more often than not, I finally had to stop when your feet were dragging on the ground as I held you in my arms!

I am sorry I had to leave you sometimes, sorry about having to go to Japan or Japapan as you would say when I had to go over for another exhibition.  Sorry I was preoccupied with my artist thoughts and not listening at times.  One such incident springs to mind.

You were 3 years old dressed in a red dress and black patent leather shoes and I held your hand firmly as we negotiated traffic in the city on our way to a very important meeting.  You were saying: “Mummy, mummy, mummy” and I said “not now darling, just walk we are in a terrible hurry.”  So we rushed ahead with you barely keeping up, trying to walk as fast as you could with your little leggis.  Then you again said “but Mummy, mummy, mummy” and finally I had the good sense to listen.  That’s when you told me you had lost your shoe 2 traffic lights ago and there as we turned around and backtracked we found your little black shoe lying in the gutter of the footpath.

You have grown from a beautiful little girl into a stunning young woman and as lovely as you are to look at, it is the inside that I admire most.  You have a beautiful heart, treat everybody fairly and with respect, a champion for the underdogs and a lover of animals.  Your principals are so high you are a vegetarian and won’t even wear leather and chastised me so much I could hardly sit on the new leather lounge we had bought without thinking of the poor cows either.  You are the life of the party, the girl all the boys want to call their own and the girls want as a best friend.  You have the beauty to be a top model and the voice to pursue a singing career and also the smarts to go to university.  The world is your oyster darling – but even with all these assets you have your feet firmly planted on the ground and know that everything that glitters is not gold and so far you seem content living a country life and pursuing a life dedicated to others as an emergency nurse.

For me having you and your brother has been the best thing that I have EVER done in my life, there is nothing in my life either as a model or artist, travelling or in monetary terms that can ever measure up to the love I feel for you and the joy you have brought me every day of your life.

So Happy Birthday 21^st Birthday darling Hillivi and from the bottom of my heart I thank you for coming into my life when I needed you most and hearing my call for “Help”.

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these daya are gone, I’m not so self assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.

]]> http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/04/130-a-love-letter/feed/ 0 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/04/127-easter-2012-and-animated-paintings/ http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/04/127-easter-2012-and-animated-paintings/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:56:22 +0000 mariejon http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3257 So it’s the week of Easter and this year my Easter surprise was that my website crashed for 4 days!!  Apologies are in order to those of you who tried to unsuccessfully access it, nice to know that it was due to a lot of traffic, so thank you.

Anyway the story this week is of course about Easter and this will be our third one here by the sea, time flies when you are having fun.  The animated painting is of course a scene from my background as a Swede and the Swedish Easter painting is animated and set to music by my friend Susan Flashman.  I can sense the confusion on your faces as to what witches has to do with Easter so here is the story about that.

We Swedes are weird, you know in a nice way, and it wasn’t until we immigrated to Australia that I realized that fact.     I was originally commissioned to paint a Easter painting by my American gallery a few years ago.  The owner like me is Swedish and I had free reign to paint whatever I choose as long as it was to do with Easter.

Notice something strange about it, what’s with all the witches on broomsticks I hear you say?  Well that’s perfectly normal – no little cute bunnies for us Swedes, no we have witches flying around and flying off to Blakulla (the Blue Mountain) to meet the man downstairs, you know who I mean!

When I was little in Sweden we would dress up as Easter witches, raid mums or grandma’s wardrobe for long skirts.  We wore colourful head scarves and painted our cheeks red, and then we would go from house to house in our neighbourhood and knock on every door and be given lollies and sometimes fruit.  Much like the Americans do for Halloween.

We would also spend a day painting boiled eggs which would later be eaten during the Easter celebration together with a smorgasbord feast.  We would go and pick small branches and twigs of willow and birch (the ones with lots of soft little fury buds, so cute!) and then we would decorate it with feathers and small witches on broomsticks and other decorations much like a little Christmas tree.  Every Swedish household would have a vase of these on the table.

The original painting was framed with the Easter eggs on the side.  Yes we would receive an Easter egg too but not one made from chocolate, instead it was made from cardboard with bright pictures on it or from plastic and usually filled to the brim with lollies and chocolates.

But of course mine was a bit different, always being the eccentric (oh yes I do admit that).  So what do you think mine was filled with, something really yummy, that I could not usually eat as much of as I would like of course….a jar of peanut butter that’s what.  Weird kid, weird Swedish kid!

This quote by Matt Lauer made me laugh today:

“Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two but can’t remember what they are.”

Hope you are enjoying your chocolates!

Till next time

Love Marie xxx

The sculpture was officially opened on the 23^rd November 2001 by Neil Andrew MP, Member for Wakefield following a community celebration in Balaklava, South Australia.  The Centenary of Federation Gateway stands proudly as you enter into the township and is believed to be the largest Naive Sculpture in the Southern Hemisphere spanning 44 meters across.  The idea is that the whole sculpture looks like a Federation house, complete with roof and a veranda.  So in the centre are two six metre by three and a half metre walls, located at 22.2 degree angle to each other which are rendered to look like sandstone with red brick quoins on the corners and around the doors.

One wall represents 1901 and the other 2001.  In the 1901 doorway we see the back of a life-size woman, made from hand-made ceramic tiles and mosaic, strutting through the door in all her finery, long dress, hat and umbrella in hand.  Through the 2001 doorway, she emerges as the modern woman, complete with short skirt, sunglasses and a mobile phone.

My idea was of course to reflect the changes that our society has undergone in the last 100 years, but more particularly how much life has changed for women.

Women’s Suffrage is the right for women to both vote and run for office and the movement originated in France in the late 1700s’ and just think how brave and strong they had to be in those days to stand up for their rights in such a man’s world.  They actually used pretty strong tactics too with throwing small bombs, setting fire to letterboxes, chaining themselves to fences and smashing windows.  What they wanted was just a “say” about how the country was run without any restrictions, not to depend on whether the woman was married or worked and paid tax or owned property or land, as that was sometimes the case.

Shortly after Federation the government in Australia passed the act which allowed women to both vote and stand for federal election which then happened in 1903.  This was the case only for white women unfortunately, as the aboriginal women had to wait nearly another 60 years for that right, until 1962.  Australia was the first country to allow women to run for parliament, and now we finally have our first woman Prime minister, oh well Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Things changed again during the First World War when all the blokes went off to fight and the jobs they left behind still had to be done, so women rolled up their sleeves and went to work in a paid capacity and found out that in most cases they actually liked it!  So much so that when the blokes returned from war there were quite a few unhappy households I’d imagine.

Little by little the women chipped away at their cause and when World War 2 broke out and such a lot of men went to war the Australian women had to take over their jobs to keep the society going.  They also founded an Australian Women’s Land Army to work on farms where there were no men left.  By this stage thousands of women nurses also served overseas, some were taken as prisoners and 71 were killed while on duty.

By now the women could prove that they were able to do the same jobs as the men and some were very reluctant to be pushed out of the workforce when the men returned.  Many did stay on and work although the pay for women was still a long way of equal.

It wasn’t until the 1960’s that equality came to the bedroom with the availability of the PILL.   Now suddenly women could have the same sexual freedom as the men without fearing an unwanted pregnancy, which meant women could choose whether to have a relationship or a career.

Of course they had to fight to get the pill in some cases where the Doctors refused to prescribe them on grounds of it leading to promiscuity!

So it was fine for men to be promiscuous but not women – “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander” I say!

What followed was the Sex, Drugs and Rockn’Roll era so maybe they had a point, the free love and peace of the Flower Power Children.  The miniskirts and Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton , Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda were the women in the news.  However here in Australia women could still not go and have a drink in a bar without a man!  It took 2 strong willed women who chained themselves to a bar in Brisbane to change that law.

Then of course came the outspoken Germaine Greer and her book The Female Eunuch in the 70’s and the burning of the bras in the street.  In 1976 was the first Reclaim the Night protests held in Europe against violence and sexual assault.  This movement spread across the world.

In 1979 the first leader of a western country was elected – the Iron Lady; Margaret Thatcher as the British Prime Minister and later Benazir Bhutto became the first woman to be elected as the Prime Minister in Pakistan, the first woman to be elected to lead a Muslim country.

In anycase we have come a long way and us women living now have a lot to be thankful for and owe a great debt to the women who paved the way for us.

I have to say in all this that all the men that I have known without exception have been lovely and I have been lucky to grow up in an era where I have been able to follow my dreams without restrictions.  Here is a blog about the other side of the coin – 31. Men I Salute you (continuing Melbourne tales).

I think this quote fits well here by Dwight D. Eisenhower;

“Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him”.

Till next time.

Love Marie xxx

Always admire the people who can get straight up and get stuck into chores whilst I sit zombie like for at least an hour.  I think if I didn’t have the exercise routine going I would still be sitting on the couch still at 3 o’clock in the afternoon!

Anyway for most of my life it’s been aerobics that’s been my thing, in front of the telly, hopping skipping, side stepping and the like, clunking on the floorboards and driving everyone crazy as I won’t stop whilst anyone talks to me or when one of the kids shoes goes missing and we have to search or if the school excursion paper needs signing etc.

Goes without saying then that I have painted a lot of aerobic and sport paintings over the years and here is a acrylic on board one called “I must, I must improve my bust”.

These days of course the kids sort themselves out but now the 2 dogs want all the attention instead.  The minute I go down on the floor for a spot of stomach crunches they are right there ready for a cuddle and pat, climbing all over me, just like the kids did when they were little.

I used to also attend aerobic lessons as well as kickboxing for a while, water aerobic, step classes, yoga and go to the gym but always seem to find it easier to just do it myself first thing in the morning and then have the rest of the day in the studio.

At the farm I would also try to do some running, although I could never get to the runners euphoric state they all talk about – getting past the pain barrier and just going for it.  It just always seemed boring and a hard slog to me, it was better to get on my treadmill and run in front of the TV without having to fight the elements which included hundreds of flies on the farm, lol.  Not a good look when they hang on for dear life and try to climb into your nose, ears and eyes at the same time.  Probably less of a good look if you actually spotted me with an old onion bag on my head!!  A real model look that one!  Here we buy onions in bulk; in a big red bag made of netting and ingenious moi, decided that was just the trick to keep the flies off.  Hubby thought it also worked very well also as a “passion killer”, lol!

These days I walk everyday and my husband has joined in this endeavour (if injury allows) as we live in a very hilly area it is actually much harder than it sounds.  We have about 5 different routes that we alternate depending on weather and how we feel.  Very lucky to live by the sea so the choices are a plenty – beach walks, cliff walks, boardwalks, local parks some complete with dams and bird life and also along the streets looking at gardens and houses.

So you get the drift – I am quite fit, apart from a sore arm and neck.    The local Doctor thought I should go and see the physio, well I have been complaining about my neck and right arm for years, my painting arm!

Anyway trotted off to see the physio and was totally gobsmacked in the end – as she said I had absolutely no muscles whatsoever in my back, really my whole upper body strength was really weak!

How can someone exercise all their life, every day and be a total weakling at the end of it!

I may as well have been sitting on the couch eating chips for the last decade.

Here is a quote I think fits well here by Marsha Doble,

“I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing”.

Till next time,

Love Marie xxx

My brother Matt Jonsson a very talented artist in his own right and a former band member of the iconic Australian band Clowns of Decadence had just started work.  At the moment he is the head artist in charge of the sets for Cat Stevens upcoming musical “Moonshadow” which will soon be coming to the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.  The sets are designed by Cat or Yusuf as he is known by these days as he was a designer before his singer/songwriter career took off in the early seventies.

On the day in question my father was in his van en route to deliver some fruit in to my brother when suddenly the accident happened.   My father rear ended the car that suddenly came in front of him and the van proceeded out of control to the other side of the road.  His van was a right off and my darling dad was pinned by his leg in the wreck.

When my brother arrived at the accident scene he was confronted by 16 police, firemen and ambulance staff, police cars, one fire truck and two ambulances.  In the middle of all the commotion was my darling dad stuck and the firemen were cutting the van into two to try to remove him.

However the first things my father said to my brother was to get his fruit in the back of the van and that he is ok, his leg was numb by this stage and that my brother could go home because it would take a while to cut him out – as if!  I ask you who cares about fruit at a time like this!

So the phone call was from my brother who very gently said “Don’t worry sis, Dad is ok, but he has just been in a car crash and is pinned by the leg and the firemen are cutting him out as we speak”.  It goes without saying that I nearly collapsed right there and then.

My brother handled the situation admirably, made the appropriate calls, organized the tow truck and everything else and then went on to the hospital.

However as the story unfolded my brother said; “It appeared dad was ok from the start, if dad was bleeding or you had no idea if there was any internal damage or not then you would panic more thinking every second is vital in him getting to hospital, but when dad is more concerned about getting me to take my fruit out of the van that he was going to deliver then you have to ask yourself is he in shock or is he still your normal crazy caring loving dad. “

Now that typifies my dad, never concerned for himself but always caring how his kids and grandkids are, just one of the lovelies men you could ever meet.  My dad was home from hospital after a few hours with just a bandaid on his leg and a few bruises, lucky him and lucky us.

Matt made it back to work on the Cat Stevens “Moonshadow” set and that connection makes the full circle for me as many “moons” ago when I was modelling in Europe I had dinner with the manager of Cat Stevens in Chelsea, London.  We were having a Whisky Sour and he was bemoaning the fact that his very successful and famous client had decided to give it all away – change his name to Yusuf Islam and become a Muslim and drop out of the fame game.  At the time I nearly cried too, who can forget Tea for the Tillerman and the very poignant song “Cats in the Cradle” which has shaped my own way of raising my kids.

So I leave you then with those wonderful lyrics written by Harry Chapin (the song was based upon a poem written by Harry’s wife Sandy) which my parents kept in mind when they raised me and I in turn did the same with my kids.  So thank you Cat, Harry & Sandy, you shaped several generations!

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talkin’ ‘fore I knew it, and as he grew
He’d say “I’m gonna be like you dad
You know I’m gonna be like you”
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home dad?
I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then son
You know we’ll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, “Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let’s play
Can you teach me to throw”, I said “Not today
I got a lot to do”, he said, “That’s ok”
And he walked away but his smile never dimmed
And said, “I’m gonna be like him, yeah
You know I’m gonna be like him”

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home son?
I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then son
You know we’ll have a good time then

Well, he came home from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
“Son, I’m proud of you, can you sit for a while?”
He shook his head and said with a smile
“What I’d really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please?”

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home son?
I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then son
You know we’ll have a good time then

Till Next time,

Love Marie xxxx

The above Giclee print is my contribution called “Catch me if you can” where everybody are happy and having a wonderful time in a perfect ecosystem with clear blue water with healthy and abundant sea life.  Although I do have to admit, I myself would like my visit to the seashore a little less crowded than I have depicted it here, lol, and funny about that!

The artists in this show have been asked to submit work that reflects their own interpretation of the possible future effects on our fragile coastal and Gulf waters, either the beauty or the loss of beauty of the environment and the wild life.

The group themselves; Save Our Gulf Coalition joined forces in 2008 to protest against the then proposed desalination plant in Port Stanvac.  Their aim was to stop desalination plants from going ahead in the inappropriate locations in South Australia and they are not affiliated with any political party nor receive funding from  the government or businesses.  This intern they hope would help to reduce gulf pollution and promote storm water harvesting and waste water recycling.

I must say it is a real clog mire to try to decipher, what is government spin and which scientists we should believe in this debate as there are opposing camps here just like we find when talking about the question of global warming.  It seems to me that if you pay a scientist enough money he will attest to just about anything.  Just look at the tobacco industry and their so call scientists who have over many many years testified that there was no ill effect from nicotine, whilst people all along have been dying in droves.  It seems to me that the same thing is probably going on with the mobile phone – but how can we live without them now!  I wonder what the rate of brain tumours will be in the future?  (For a more light-hearted read on smoking see this blog Still Smoking Hot.)

My husband is very concerned about the desalination plant and is sure the extra salt that will be pumped out to sea will kill off any fish and sea creatures in the immediate vicinity.  The Save Our Gulf group view is that the gulf is a delicate environment and is being used as a giant garbage dump for industrial waste, chemicals, storm water and treated sewage and that the dumping of enormous volumes of hyper-saline brine will push the fragile marine ecosystem beyond its limits.

It actually is quite amazing to watch where the water from the river enters the sea after a big rain, for hundreds of meters out to shore the sea becomes the colour of mud instead of blue.  It does make more sense to try to harvest the rain water I would have thought.

So it is hoped that this exhibition will not only highlight some of the negative factors but also show some of the unique beauty of the South Australian aquatic life and coastal landscapes.   “Catch me if you can” is also available as a free e-card, I would love you to used it for an environmental message of protest and also as a “I wish you were here” card whilst on holiday of course.

Gallery M will be featuring “Gulf Talks” from 2pm, Sunday 18^th March & Sunday 25^th March free entry for anyone that is interested, all welcome.

Here is a quote by Havelock Ellis made in 1923 in The Dance of Life that I think fits very well here;

“The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago…had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.”

Till next time.

Love Marie xxx  (c)

The above paragraph is what is written on a plaque next to this ceramic and mosaic panel which is part of the Centenary of Federation Gateway Sculpture situated in Balaklava, South Australia.  If you would like to recap and see & read more about this sculpture use these links, “Stories behind the Wall”. & “Volunteers our backbone “

According to Alf Traeger’s stepdaughter Glenda Shepherd who still lives in Balaklava where Alf grew up, after moving there from Victoria.  He was very interested from an early age in anything mechanical and surprised the whole family by building a telephone line from his house to a shed on the property some fifty meters away, at that time 1907 he was only twelve.  He had used a pitchfork as a magnet for the telephone, the diaphragms were the tops of tobacco tins and to make the microphone carbon granules he used pieces of charcoal from the stove.   Alf went on to do a mechanical & electrical engineering course and set up a small electrical business making generators and radio transmitters.  In 1925 Alf met Padre John Flynn who travelled extensively in the outback of Australia and his dream was to be able to bring medical help where ever it was needed.  His vision was a communication system that would be able to bring “Flying Doctors” to the outback.  So Alf started working on this idea and after thee years of experimenting Alf was able to produce the “Pedal Wireless”.

I was actually very fortunate to have tried out this contraption myself many years ago.  You see very close friends of ours Bill & Lorna Wilson who at one stage were the largest landowners in the Southern Hemisphere had the “Pedal Wireless” both at Frome Downs Station and Werocata in Balaklava.  The original one was battery driven but that proved costly and unreliable so therefore the pedals from a bicycle was added.  So you could sit on this contraption and peddle with the legs and the hands could tap out the message by Morse code.  Alf set up a “mother station” in Cloncurry and then installed 6 smaller “baby sets” in cattle stations and at Birdsville Hospital.  The first message was from Augustus Downs station some 300 km away but the “pedal wireless” could send and receive messages at least 800 km away.

As the Morse code was a bit tedious Alf designed a keyboard in 1931 and later it was replaced by voice.  Now the isolated people of the outback were able to reach out for help and receive a diagnosis to their ailments and immediate instruction in first aid if that was needed.

From this initiative Alf was able to help John Flynn with the first Flying Doctor service called Aerial Medical Service which started in 1928 came into its own with the “pedal wireless” in 1929 and slowly found its feet.  Qantas supplied  them  with their first aircraft and in 1942 the service changed its name to the Flying Doctors Service, later on in 1955 added the Royal to the name; Royal Flying Doctors Service.

The “Pedal Wireless” also was instrumental in facilitating the long distance learning the kids of the outback enjoyed with School of the Air which started in 1951.  This meant that the school age children did not have to go away to boarding school but could be taught by teachers from far away.

So thank you very much Alfred Traeger, you did good!

So here is a quote I think fits well here by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg;

“Everyone is a genius at least once a year.  The real geniuses simply have their bright Ideas closer together”

Till next time,

Love Marie xxx   (c)

I woke myself up giggling this morning and just couldn’t stop, lol, you see my mother is in hospital – yes I know that in itself is not funny at all of course, but she is funny, so let me explain.

My mum is in her 70’s and not that you would ever think that to look at her and she is on the go all the time, still working and running around a million miles an hour.  There are lots of things that I like – yes love about my mum and one of those things is her sense of humour, she knows how to take the Mickey out of anything.  If there is some fun to be had she will find it and if she cannot find any fun she will make her own and grab me or whoever is near and have a little dance, her favourite the tango.

So backtrack to yesterday and my visit to my mother who is in hospital with pneumonia.  The pneumonia she has had for quite a few weeks but of course she has not taken to her bed but kept up all her engagements as usual, not missing a beat.  When she finally showed up to the Doctor to get her third lot of antibiotics, the Dr decided rather wisely that she had to be admitted to hospital.  So there she was in a ward of 6, coughing her lungs up and with oxygen mask attached to her face and a drip with antibiotics in her arm.  The other ladies around her seemed much older and some were decidedly ‘off with the fairies’ and that’s where my mum’s hilarious impressions come in.

You see the lady in the bed opposite must be suffering from some kind of dementia because there she is smoking in hospital – not just one cigarette, oh no she puffs on one after the other all day!

My mum did a sterling impression; you see of course you cannot smoke in the hospital so it’s done with either a straw or a red pen.  As mum showed, the cigarette is held elegantly in the right hand, and then a big drag of “smoke” is inhaled and blown out again, whereby the ash will then have to be flicked into an empty waterglass on the bedside table.  This scenario is repeated continuously throughout the day, so much so that when the TV man came by to see if my mother wanted the television connected she said she didn’t have time for that when there was such an interesting view across the room.

So Mum had my father, brother and I in stiches with her renditions of this smoking lady but of course there were more tricks to her repertoire!  There was of course the undressing – the lady in question obviously did not like clothes much, perhaps she was one who had enjoyed the freedom of the nudist clubs in her past.  Well either that or it is just one of these things as you get older and lose your faculties, the thing is at every opportunity the lady took her clothes off.  Much to the annoyance of the nurses, who had to turn up at her bedside 18 times a day and put her clothes back on.  My mum cried with laughter as she relayed the goings on, and as if that wasn’t bad enough the lady in question liked to lie in the bed with her legs far apart!  Mum said it was really lucky for them all that the lady was wearing nappies!

Now of course this in itself is very sad for the lady and her family – but I do think my mum is on to something with her attitude.  You can either get depressed and think how sad and tragic life is and worry for your own future, I mean my mum is in her 70’s  after all.  Or you can live everyday to the full and enjoy each minute and find a laugh where it lands without judgement or thought.  We all got to die sometime but until then let’s just celebrate and find the humour around every corner and remember that you only live once.

My mother in law also made me laugh last time she was in hospital, she was rushed in for another heart attack, number 4 thank you very much!  She spent the first few days in intensive care and then was supposed to be put in another ward.  However when she heard which ward, she put her foot down and said indignantly  “What, there is no way you are moving me up to that ward – that’s full of old people”  The funny thing is she is 82 years old, lol, that’s the spirit isn’t it!

So here is a quote that I love on the topic (author unknown)

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming; “WOW WHAT A RIDE!”

Till next time,

Love Marie xxx

Here is a link where the painting can be viewed on my website Paintings for sale.

(c)

]]> http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/02/still-smoking-hot/feed/ 1 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/02/122-its-not-over-till-the-fat-lady-sings/ http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/02/122-its-not-over-till-the-fat-lady-sings/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:50:45 +0000 mariejon http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3168 I have always loved that expression, so of course I had to paint the image one day and this (acrylic on board) painting is the result.  If you look closely in the first row on the left hand side by the stage you will see me and my family, hubby and me with our arms around each other and Kai and Hillivi standing enthusiastically with their arms up looking at the stage.

As the kids were growing up we believed it was part of their education to take them to all sorts of events and places, to try to expose them to as much culture as possible so this Opera in the Park was part of that.

I am not really an Opera lover myself but I do enjoy the spectacle of it once in a while and when the South Australian Opera company were presenting the free entertainment of “Opera in the Park” it was a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of.   It was held in Elder Park on a stage and the audience sat on the lawn in the grass, just wonderful as the sun set and the stars came out to play.

We are very lucky in Adelaide to have the whole city surrounded by parklands, the city itself was set out by Colonel  William Light, a British military officer who designed it in a grid pattern with wide streets and lots of little town squares whilst he was the Surveyor –General of South Australia.  He is famous for choosing this area to put Adelaide on and his lovely design, which works very well even today some 170 years after his death of tuberculosis in 1839.  Today he rests in Light Square the only person legally buried within the town square.

Elder Park is in between the Torrens Lake and the Festival Theatre and has a famous rotunda in the middle of it which was built in 1882, one which constantly is debated whether it should be moved to make place for some new idea and concept of the day.  It is very lovely and quite big with ornate lace and roof and is very popular for wedding s and photo opportunities of every sort.  My brothers band the Clowns of Decadence also played in the rotunda for a very worthy cause; against Vivisection during the 1990’s.

Elders Park is a very popular place to have picnics with lots to do for the whole family with cycling trails and cycles and paddleboats for hire.  The river is usually full of water birds of different varieties and some interesting looking sculptures are now in the water – made to look like giant origami newspaper boats which add a childish playfulness that I love.

My philosophy has always been “to look on the bright side of things” and the “cup is always half full”  “It isn’t over till the fat lady sings” which has kept my spirits up during some harder times that we all have in life.  I was reminded of another great saying from Dev Patels character in the new movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which by the way looks really great and  follows a bunch of English retirees adventures in exotic India.

Any way what his always optimistic character Sonny says;

“Everything will be alright in the end, so if it is not alright, it is not yet the end”

Till next time,

Love Marie xxxx   (c)

You may want to recap to Stories of the Wall, to see main structure of this sculpture, although images of the sculptured fence are yet to come, in another blog.

This ceramic and mosaic artwork depict of some of the individuals, schools and service clubs they represent, on parade and without them this project would never have been possible at all.   Because there were so many individuals who selflessly spent hours and hours helping on this project I cannot mention each one individually but you all know who you are – and I Thank you so very much.

There literally were groups all over the district doing their bit towards the project, all the way from school children who interviewed the old folk in the age care facilities and homes.   Schools, child care,  kindies, church groups and others who got together to mosaic the farm animals on the fences (that lead out from the sculptured wall) to a regular bunch of arts and craft enthusiasts that regularly met at my studio to mosaic the background to my ceramic images.  We got a lot of work done all the while chatting and laughing and drinking cups of coffee together, a nice little interlude for me a normally solitary artist to have some company.

Not to mention the team of dedicated individuals that poured and fired the tiles that made up the “veranda’ area in front of the sculpture and also ran workshops where the towns people could paint their own stories on individual tiles.  Yes nearly everyone in the local district was involved in this project from the tiniest babies who had their hands and feet imprinted on the tiles to the CEO of the Wakefield Council Phil Barry who so enthusiastically supported it.

I must say that I was very saddened indeed to hear that Phil just recently lost his fight against a brain tumour, something that shocked the whole town.  Phil Barry truly was a wonderful and caring man not only to his own family and friends but to the whole town.  Rest in peace Phil, we will always remember you.

That community spirit is something that I miss now that I live in the “big smoke” again, everyone are always ready to lend a hand.  There were so many times I was surprised at the generosity of the country people, just imagine the surprise a bunch of us got when the lady living opposite the sculpture (who also worked as a full time primary school teacher, mind you) suddenly appeared with afternoon tea and freshly baked scones, lashings of cream and jam for all the workers.

Dale Gathercole the project co-ordinator whose book “Stories behind the wall” which was published to coincide with the opening of the sculpture said; “ In 2001, the International Year of the Volunteer, to each and every one of you who has selflessly served, a sincere Thank you.”

So here is another quote about volunteering by Elizabeth Andrew that I think fits in perfectly here;

“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.

Till next time,

Love Marie xxxx

We as usual had the most marvellous time, spent much of it laughing and the other making ourselves sick on Devonshire tea and scones which is something they sold in quaint little cafes at what seemed to be around every corner of the Tasmanian forest.  That “one” had to go on a diet when we got home was a given!

In Hobart where we visited the former women’s prison called the “Female Factory” which had been turned into a fudge factory, go figure!  In the 1800s there had been some 12,000 women and children imprisoned there, it later became a “House for imperial lunatics” and a hospital for contagious diseases and a boys reformatory.  With such a history it seems strange that it now produces yummy tasting fudge and truffles and the like.

We also visited Port Arthur which was the prison that the hardest of the British and Irish criminals were sent to during the 1800s.  It is situated some 60 km along the coast from Hobart and is Tasmania’s top tourist attraction.  What makes this an even eerier experience is that it is also the place of Australia’s worst mass murder in 1996, when Martin Bryant went berserk and killed 35 women, children and men and wounded another 21 people.   A very tragic and fascinating story that had the whole country holding it’s collective breath for a couple of days.  If you would like to read more about that here is the link on Wikipedia

We had a hire car and visited Bicheno where they run nightly Fairy Penguin tours and you can see the little creatures returning from a day out at sea and coming back to their nest at night, so very cute waddling up their burrows.  Another interesting bit was the spectacular iridescent light that was moving and flickering all around in the water, which was some sort of sea lice from what I remember.

On our travels we also went to a brilliant maze made for adults where we ran around and had so much fun and of course there were some Devonshire tea and scones involved as well, lol.  We also visited a seahorse farm which fascinated me, but the rest of the family remembers that as a bit ho hum!  Well you cannot please all the people all the time.

One adventure we all rate as first class was the days spent at Cradle Mountain where we stayed in a cabin and whilst hubby made the dinner, the kids and I were playing detectives in the dark searching by torch light for the Tasmanian Devils which we thought we saw around every bush but never actually found in the wild.  Cradle Mountain is found in the St Clair National park, a mountain of 1,545 meters above the sea level and has a beautiful ruggered terrain and Australia’s deepest lake.  Dove Lake has a boardwalk right around it which makes it an easy 2.45 hour walk that we cut our teeth on, so to speak.

Then we decided to do the Cradle Mountain Summit Bush Walk which is a 5 and a half hours return, why not, this bush walking business is easy isn’t it?  We were warned that the weather could all of a sudden become inclement and snow, but we thought they were going overboard with their warnings as it was a summers day warm with the temperature in the 20’s.  So hubby made us all sandwiches and other delights and we reluctantly took a jacket each and set off on the adventure.

We were cursing the jacket advice as it was boiling hot climbing up huge dolerite boulders like a mountain goats and contemplating leaving them somewhere to pick up later.  Anyway we persevered and finally got to Marions Lookout with a magnificent view over much of northern Tasmania, where we decided to eat our picnic.  We were thoroughly enjoying the scenery and watching some other hikers along the path when suddenly without a warning the weather turned treacherous and an icy cold wind came from nowhere and it started to rain and hail.  What the?  How could this be, we scrambled to take shelter amongst the rocks and the only thing we could put on our heads were 4 plastic sandwich bags, lol.  All the while the other hikers pulled out very fancy professional hiker’s ultra light pants and jackets from their backpacks, goggles, hats and gloves – whilst we sat shivering behind some rocks like idiots with bread bags on our heads!  My husband even had a little pile of crumbs on his head when he took the bag off!

The temperature must have gotten below zero and we were seriously considering our options when just as suddenly the bad weather past by and turned to spring.  This time we took more notice of all the signs and marked cabins should we need to seek shelter again, and thanked our lucky stars at least we had taken the jackets with us.  All’s well that ends well.

Here is a quote by Patrick Young which fits in here:

“The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.”

Till next time,

Love Marie xxx   (c)

Redbacks and other creepy crawlies is something we have an abundance of here in Australia, although on this acrylic on board painting “The Snake Pit” snakes are shown in the zoo, in the everyday backyard there also lurks many dangers.  Something we take great delight with in scaring the wits out of any tourists that comes to stay, lol, well just a bit of teasing really.

Lets start with the Redback which is considered one of the most dangerous spiders in Australia and has a neurotoxin venom that causes severe pain.  There have been only 14 deaths recorded from the Redback spider bite which is quite low compared to the numbers of people that get bitten by them each year thought to be in the thousands.  Only about 20 percent of people bitten require hospital treatment and get the antivenin, after experiencing severe pain and swelling spreading from the site.  This can then lead to nausea, vomiting, abdominal and chest pain, headache, fever, tremors, coma, and of course death.

However spare a thought for the male spider as he is the one who almost never comes out of the sexual encounter alive!  The female who is much bigger than the male spider consumes the male spider in 2 out of 3 cases while the mating continues.  He is one of only 2 species of animals who actively assist the female in sexual cannibalism.  The advantage for the male spider is that he is able to copulate for a longer time whilst he is being eaten!!!  You men just don’t know when to stop!! LOL

“Stop” being the operative word here as it brings me to my daughter’s boyfriend Brett and his itching, lol which I will tell you about in a minute.   We had actually decided in having a quite Australia day as we had done such a lot of partying in the weeks and days leading up to it.  However we quickly got into gear after Hillivi called to say she wanted to celebrate with us, much the same as Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis from Christmas with the Kransks.

So they arrived fresh from the Chemist with a bag full of potions and lotions to try to sooth Brett’s feet.  He had managed to get a thousand little bites all over his feet which were suspected ant or sandflies bites and they were driving him crazy.  The poor boy could hardly concentrate on anything other than the itching and tried to discreetly itch them with anything he could find all the while being told off by Hillivi.  The conversation over the dinner table pretty much became a 3 way deal whilst Brett was alternating his attention between the itching or Googleing cures for his ailment on the Iphone.

Every now and then he would pipe up and say “Did you know they suggest smearing vegemite on the bites or maybe marmite” or “They say here I should pop them with a needle and put on some alcohol”.   So watch out all of you planning a trip down under and come prepared.

Here is a quote I think fits well here by Bill Vaughan;

“We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics.”

Till next time,

Love Marie xxx  (c)

Their friends would from time to time ask when they were getting married, but all was sweet and they were happy – so why tamper with perfection?

Well as time moved on Shayne decided that he better make an honest woman out of her, the problem was they run a small business together and most days are spent side by side, so there is little time for surprises.

Firstly there was the problem of buying the ring.  He knew just what she liked but she was also the one doing the books of the business and “miss eagle eye” was always butting her nose in when he took a cash job!  Diamonds are a girl’s best friend right? So pretty tricky to siphon of enough cash without making the little missus suspicious, Shayne had to use all the excuses in the world as to what he was doing with the extra money.

“D-Day” (proposal day) was looming closer and by this stage Samantha was thinking he was acting really odd, so for him to get the restaurant booked and flowers ordered he needed help and enlisted Samantha’s best friend into the secret.

All was set – ring bought, restaurant booked, flowers ordered, babysitter organized.   So at the end of a long hard day at the business Shayne out of the blue suggests that they should go out to dinner.

Samantha does not think so… she is tired after slaving away all day, then came home and sorted 4 kids home work and various dramas no doubt, then started their dinner and just wants to flop by the telly, as you do!  Shayne won’t be put off and insists that they should have a date night, so Samantha reluctantly agrees, makes a minimum amount of effort to get ready as she grumbles about having to go out.

So off they drive in the car, then Shayne suggests a little drink is in order and pulls into the bottle shop drive-though and Samantha is thinking this is so out of character, I mean really can’t he wait 15 minutes till they get to the restaurant ? What’s wrong with him?

Anyway they get to their favourite restaurant and the staff looks at them blankly when they say the name;  “No sir, there is no booking in that name”.   The waiters are running around in a flap, then the manager appears and gives Shayne a big wink and a nod to the huge arrangements of roses on the counter “Well of course we have your table all ready for you, Sir.  Shayne is mortified as the game is nearly given away but luckily Samantha is taken with the celebrity pictures on the wall and misses all the goings on.

A bottle of champagne is ordered as soon as they sit down and Shayne hops into it by this time he is perspiring profusely and skulls a couple down, Sam is feeling a bit cross and says that “I suppose I WILL have to DRIVE home now”.

Also normally they would order an entree each and no dessert but this night as Shayne has arranged for the flowers and ring to come out with the dessert he is insistent that they have that too.  Sam tells him he is being queer but if he insists she will reluctantly go along with it.  She has been looking forward to the scallops for entree but as they now have to share one entree she reluctantly settles for Shaynes choice of oysters.  However after all the fuss about sharing entree Shayne can only manage a couple of oysters in between all the glasses of champagne.  He leaves the rest for a fuming partner, who now obviously will also have to drive them both home and more than likely also tuck him into bed, the way things are going!

But wait there is more that is bothering Shayne…. there just happens to be a light shining brightly from the ceiling exactly above their table spoiling the romantic mood.  So Shayne is plotting how to turn that off and finally enlists a waiter to climb up on a chair and take the globe down.  Meanwhile he is having another champagne and Samantha is thinking he has really lost the plot – when finally dessert appears with the beautiful roses and a gorgeous diamond ring.  She cries and says YES and he utters a big sigh in relief, all is forgiven and they live happily ever after!

So here is a quote by Rita Rudner, that I think fits pretty well here;

“It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.”

Till next time.

Love Marie xxx   (c)

]]> http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/01/118-put-a-ring-on-it/feed/ 0 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/01/117-henri-rousseau-naive-artist/ http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/index.php/2012/01/117-henri-rousseau-naive-artist/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:34:32 +0000 mariejon http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=3072 Ever since I started painting I have been a big fan of Henri Rousseau,s work. My father said that the art I was producing had something in common with the naifs and bought me a couple of art books; one on Grandma Moses and the other on Henri Rousseau.

So Henri has been one of my heros for such a long time, so you can imagine my joy when I was invited by the organizers of the annual Henri Rousseau exhibition in France to participate. I jumped for joy! The curator is Jacques Dubois who also is involved in the Art Naif Festival in Katowice, Poland which I took part in last year. Jac is very heavily involved in promoting Naive art in Europe and throughout the world really and his wife Martha Dubois is a very well known and talented naive artist herself.

This year the Henri Rousseau exhibition will take place in the Abbey of Montivilliers in Normandy opening on Saturday 21st January until 19th February with an auction of the paintings being held on 12th February at 3pm. The exhibition itself is open 7 days a week and it is not to be missed.
Henri Rousseau was called Le Douanier which translates to the customs (or customs officer)a name he got from his job as a tax collector on goods entering Paris. Henry married twice, first Clemence Boitard with whom he had six children and after she died he married Josephine Noury.
Henri also tried his hand at music and writing but it was painting that was his first love, which he started doing seriously in his early forties and by the time he was 49 he retired from his job to pursue the art on a full time basis. Rousseau was represented in the exhibitions of the Salon des Independants from 1886 onwards, and his pictures hung side by side with Matisse, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Picasso.

This year 2012 there were 88 artists invited from around the world with 20 different countries represented among them France of course and Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Cuba, Belgium, Italy, Japan and “moi” from Australia just to name a few.
As this is an exhibition in homage of Henri, most artists are sticking to that theme and I had so much fun painting “You Rock, Henri Rousseau”. I wanted to do a contemporary celebration and incorporated elements of Henri’s art into it by putting in a detail of “The Dream of Yadwigha” (the naked lady lying on the couch).
The Dream of Yadwigha was the last painting that Henri painted before his death in 1910, in it the lady in question is laying on a red velvet sofa with a luxurious jungle behind her listening to the notes of a single magic flute. I of course painted a myriad of musicians and singers, artistic license and all that, LOL. If you look a little closer at my painting you will also see the influences of two other of Rousseau’s work in “The Sleeping Gipsy” which is the woman sharing the couch in the striped outfit.

In Henri’s original artwork a lion is standing over her as she lies dreaming under an ancient green sky in the solitude of the desert. Some say this is the lyrical prelude to Surrealism, with a mandolin and a jug which stands beside the sleeping figure, these objects would inhabit the dreams of the Surrealists and the space of the Cubists.
The third painting of Henri’s represented in my artwork is of Henri himself, from his self portrait painted in 1890 “I – Myself Portrait-Landscape”, he is holding a palette of paints and a brush and in the original painting he is standing on a road in front of a bridge, although he does look like he is standing in mid air, lol.
That is the naive charm, us naives are so lucky that we can just paint whatever we feel and see without having to worry about rules and other people’s perception of how things should look. As the whole idea of perspective is totally lost on me that is really lucky!!
Thank you Henri Rousseau – you gave me the freedom to be me, to paint in my own style and not to be embarrassed by the child in me. Instead my childishness it is something that I celebrate and hope that I will never grow up, or out off- but wake each day full of wonder and excitement.
So Henri I hope you approve of me painting you like a Rock Star, complete with women swooning at your feet and throwing their knickers at you. There is wild music supplied by a rock band and a brass band as well as the choir and Can Can girls dancing and pirouettes by ballerinas and of course no party is complete without balloons.

So here is a quote I like by another Henri – Henry Ward Beecher who said;
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures”
Till next time,
Love Marie xxxx

This time the song is called “Ghost” and I actually like it even better than “I’ll be a Bird” if that’s possible.

I find that the melody to Ghost just stays in my mind for hours after I have heard it and I hope that all of you like it too, as well as the paintings, sculptures, prints and public sculptures that the images shows too of course.

James Abberley says that “Ghost is a very dark song.  I wanted it to be confronting but still relevant.  Sometimes we can end up in a place that we never wanted to be in.  Sometimes you can feel like a Ghost, but there is always love and there is always someone that can see you.”

This song is also from the new album called “Some kind of Relief” and in the Indie genre as he is becoming known for and if you would like to find out more about James go to this link and have a little read.  Indie Music & James Abberley.  Also if you are in Adelaide, do not forget to catch up with James every Friday night in the front bar of the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, known just as the Gov to us locals.

I had made a couple of Youtube video clips before which also featured our two dogs Cheech and Vegas whilst we still lived at the farm and we dressed them up in all sorts of doggy clothes and put the photos in between the artwork, as I told you before you have to be a little bit crazy to be an artist!

The new changes to YouTube, means that you can personalize the look of your YouTube site and create the feel that you want.  They have also included a new “feed” to make it more interactive as well, something I think may have been inspired by Face book.   It seems to me that a lot of the Social Networking sites are rolling out new changes at the moment, and just as quickly there are groups that form who are against that, just check out all the “I hate the changes to Face book” groups.   As someone who has only in the last couple of years learned the ropes so to speak, any new changes always take a little time to get used too.  However I read somewhere that Cyberspace is the only place in modern culture there should be nothing BUT change, it is necessary to keep the innovation alive.  So hey we better get used to it!

The younger generation take to it like ducks to water and if you Google to find some advice half the time it will be a 6 year old, lol well maybe a 10 year old that is doing the tutorial on how to use a certain function.  It reminds me of what Dolly Parton said about computers “Truth is, I wouldn’t know a gigabyte from a snakebite”, lol but she can afford to employ someone to do all the computer work for her it’s the rest of us that have to try to keep up.  I like my new telephone, my computer works just fine, my calculator is perfect, but Lord, I miss my mind!

So if you just like me need some time out and just chill why don’t you pour yourself a nice glass of wine click on my new YouTube contribution and relax with James and I.

So here is a quote just in case wine is not your drink of choice by an unknown author;

“Take life with a grain of salt, a slice of lime, and a shot of tequila.”

Till next time,

Love Marie xxx