Smoke #2

Smoke #2
Originally uploaded by stevechasmar

Here's the follow up.
Thanks, Steve!

Smoke #1

Smoke #1
Originally uploaded by stevechasmar

Another cool smoking image
from flickr.

Photos and a Collage

"Metropolis" collage by Paul Citroen 1923

inspired Fritz Lang to create the film, "Metropolis"

These photos are by Paul Citroen, too.

Read about him here

The Art of Amy Crehore

Paul Newman

With wife Joanne.

A creative and full life lived. Rest in peace. You are missed by all.

New Paintings by Thomas Woodruff

"Saturn" by Thomas Woodruff
"Uranus" by Thomas Woodruff

Ever since I went to NYC in July, I have been anticipating the Thomas Woodruff show at PPOW. It opens Oct. 10, 2008, but the images are up on the gallery website already. It's called "Solar System (The Turning Heads)". And, leave it to Thomas Woodruff to come up with something even more sparkly and fantastic than he's already done. These images can be turned upside down in an old-fashioned topsy turvy way. He's cool. His technical abiIities are nothing short of amazing. I'll never forget when he showed in Eugene at the museum here. I've been a fan of his forever. He's got a website now: www.thomaswoodruff.com . It's still being worked on, but his "Freak Parade" images are up and you can read his bio. Meanwhile, have a look at his new "Solar System" show online here:

PPOW

Thanks, Phantasmaphile.

The Art of Amy Crehore

smoking. . .

smoking. . .
Originally uploaded by undream

This is very strange.

Click on the photo to see the animated version at flickr.

posted by undream

Mysterious Cottingley Fairies

"The Cottingley Fairies are a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two young cousins living in Cottingley, near Bradford in England, depicting the two in various activities with supposed fairies. In 1917, when the first two photos were taken, Elsie was 16 years old and Frances was 10. In 1981 the two women admitted to faking all but one of the photographs, but insisted that they really had seen fairies."

Read more at Wikipedia

And see the rest of the remarkable photos here

The Art of Amy Crehore

Hokum Music

I just posted some Hokum Scorchers songs to a myspace page where you can download them if you want to:

LINK

I will upload new ones periodically.

The Art and Music of Amy Crehore

The Hokum Scorchers Perform Mississippi Sheiks' Song

Mississippi Sheiks image from Wikipedia

Listen to "Please Don't Wake It Up" (original version by the Mississippi Sheiks 1931) performed by The Hokum Scorchers for our "Feed the Kitty" tape of 1992. Lou Reimuller is on the National guitar w/ vocals. I had fun playing a snare drum and singing on this one. Yazoo Records says that the Mississippi Sheiks were the "most popular blues artists of the 1930's" .

Follow this link and scroll down for the song:

The Hokum Scorchers

The Art of Amy Crehore

Photo of the Day

Click to enlarge- "Miss Time"

Thanks to Steve Chasmar on FLICKR .

Follow the link for a whole set of "notable portraiture".

I could not resist blogging this one.

The Art of Amy Crehore

People I Met in NYC at My Show

"Black Sheep" painting by Jenn Porreca

"Megan" painting by Esao Andrews

"Stasis" painting by Martin Wittfooth

Martin Wittfooth standing in front of Jenn Porreca's paintings at our show in Brooklyn
Esao Andrews and Jenn Porreca on that hot, summer night
Speaking of NYC - while I was visiting over the summer, I was lucky enough to meet three very special painters at my art opening in Brooklyn: Jenn Porreca, Esao Andrews and Martin Wittfooth. Jenn, of course, was part of my show at Ad Hoc. Meeting Martin and Esao was an added bonus. I greatly enjoyed seeing Jenn's work in person. It has an art nouveau flavor and a whole lot of soul. I hear she likes Lotte Reiniger's silhouette animations and so do I. Not a bad influence to have!
Esao arrived on the scene minutes before closing time and the gallery director, Andrew, brought out a wonderful painting by him to show us before the gallery closed for the night. I have been a fan of his for some time now. You never know where his art will take you, from fantasy to reality and back again. His paintings of women are among my favorites. His pure talent is endless.
At the end of the evening, a group of us made our way over to Martin Wittfooth's studio where we all got to see a sneak preview of the paintings for his show, "Sandcastles in the Tide", just before he shipped them to Santa Monica. That was a thrill. His paintings are dream-like and surreal, victorian and modern all at the same time.
What a great group of people. Have a look at their websites to view more art. I am still blogging my NYC stories. My trip was so fun-packed that it's hard to remember them all.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Jad Fair at Cake Shop

Heads Up: Jad Fair's papercuts are on display for the month of September in NYC at Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow. It looks like he will be giving a performance as well on Sept. 26.

Jad Fair

That reminds me, I received the best stuff from his brother, David Fair, in the mail not that long ago and I've been meaning to write a special post about him, too. These brothers are both so talented at paper cutting, it must be in the genes! David is also a great writer of clever stories.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Tiny Little Top Hats

Creepsuela has a sweet little assortment of tiny little top hats on etsy. These hats get the Hokum Rag Seal of Approval.
Creepsuela Switchletto

The Art of Amy Crehore

Portrait of a Clown

Portrait of a Clown
Originally uploaded by sMacshot

Have a look at this antique toy collection slide show on flickr and you will be truly inspired, not only by the way they are photographed, but by the soulfulness of the objects themselves.
Link to complete antique toy slide show on flickr by sMacshot

Louise Brooks, Muse of Artist, Guido Crepax

Louise Brooks
Art by Crepax, from "Valentina"
I am honored to have my bio and my "Caged Wonder" painting included in a new German language art encyclopedia of 1,000 fantastic/surreal/visionary/symbolic artists throughout art history and the world (due out later this year). The publisher in Vienna sent me an impressive list of "C" names chosen for the book (I will write more about this book later):
Cáceres, Cadmus, CAESAR, Cahun, Callot, Caltia, Calvet, Camacho, Campbell, Cañamares, Capova, Cardenas, Carra, Carrà, Carrington, Caruana, CASTIGLIA,, Cebis, Celan, Chab, Chagall, Char, Charnine, Charusa, Chavée, Chebotarev:, Chef, Cheval M. , Chibbaro, Chido, Christensen J, Christian antony, Chromy, Ciurlionis, Clerici, Cocteau, Coe, COEN, Cogollo, colinet, Collien, COLOMBINO, Colquhoun, Conner, Corben, CORCUERA, Cornell, Coudenhove, Coutaud, Crepax, Crepaz, Crevel, Criste , Croy, Csech, CUEVAS, Culmann, Cummings, CZERNIAWSKI, Crehore, Citroen, Cronin, Cristòfol, Ceccoli, Czerwinski.
I am having fun looking up some of the names on this list. For instance, here is artist, Guido Crepax. At least, I assume it's the very same person. Miss Louise Brooks was his muse. That woman inspired so many! I like his line work very much. "Guido Crepax (born Guido Crepas in Milan, 1933-2003) was an Italian comics artist, who deeply influenced the European adult comics world in the second half of 20th century. He is most famous for his character Valentina, created in 1965 and very representative of the spirit of the sixties." More about Crepax(or Crepas) on wikipedia. He's big in Italy according to my friend who lives over there. There is a cool video of him on YouTUBE, but it's all in Italian. And, if you want to read all about Louise Brooks follow this link.
The Art of Amy Crehore

"Art of the Nude" Exhibit, South Wales

This painting is in the "Art of the Nude" exhibit at the Newport Museum and Art Gallery in South Wales. It made headlines back in 1947 and it made headlines again in the Daily Mirror in July, 2008. It is Gerald Festus Kelly's "Newport Nude". I guess the model with a cigarette in hand sitting on the bed is considered a bit risque by some. The show runs until Sept. 20, 2008. Here is a glimpse of the exhibit in slide show form on

FLICKR

I absolutely adore a lithograph by Harry Holland (1982) called "Homage to Electricity". There are also a couple of paintings by him that I can't see very well due to flash or distortion. Now I'm intrigued! I will have to research him.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Monkey Cartoons

STWALLSKULL has collected links to all kinds of Vintage Monkey Cartoons.

Go HERE.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Buy the "Oxford American"

"Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore (click to enlarge)

The current issue (shown here) of that great southern literary magazine, The Oxford American, has a big, beautiful spread of my painting, "Deja Vu Waltz" in it. It looks positively "southern gothic" in this context. They chose my fine art painting to advertise their upcoming music issue. If you have ever bought one of their music issues before, you know it's something special. My "Memphis Minnie" painting was featured in one of those once. They love their southern roots and so do I.

Oxford American

The Art of Amy Crehore

Nagi Noda

Yuki - Sentimental Journey

In memory of artist, designer and director

Nagi Noda.

Also her creation: Hair Hats

I Got Good Things in the Mail

Here's the original ink drawing I bought from Robot Johnny's store.

"Sob, Sob" by John Martz.
Nice personalized autograph depicting a monkey with a sailor hat, drawn by Martz in the front of my copy of "Warm-Up Drawings". (Gee, I almost like it better than my own monkeys. Those ears and teeth are so great.) Here is the cover of John Martz's new collection of warm-up drawings in small, adorable book form.

Sometimes I get good things in the mail. Like my Nate Williams pillows or an original drawing and book from illustrator/cartoonist John Martz.

Martz does the funniest little drawings and I picked this one out ("Sob, Sob") because it reminds me of myself. A little crybaby. Always crying the blues. It reminds me to wipe those tears and keep on drawing because each new drawing is the key to happiness. There are quite a few cool things in Robot Johnny's store. You will have to go see for yourself. Everyone has an opportunity to own an original Martz drawing. Thanks, Johnny!

Robot Johnny's Store

The Art of Amy Crehore

Sunday Night Song featuring a National Mandolin

Lou Reimuller made a special recording in 1992 of the song "Blue Heaven Blues", originally done by Charlie McCoy, Bo Chatman and Walter Vincent in 1930. On this cut, Lou plays the National guitar and the National mandolin by laying one track over another. He is also singing. This is a Hokum Scorcher's song from their "Feed the Kitty" album.

LINK

The Art of Amy Crehore

This song changes every Sunday or Monday on my website, so it will be different by the time you read this post.

Varnishing Paintings

Windsor Newton has information about varnishing fine art paintings on their website. I can't help but notice that some of the paintings in the art shows I have been in are very shiny and intense. Mine, on the other hand, are more matte because I have not varnished them. Why did I not varnish? Because I use thick paint layers and oil paint normally takes 6 months to a year to thoroughly dry. You are not really supposed to varnish a painting before that. Still, I know that my paintings would be much more vibrant in color if I varnished them. So, before every show, I debate whether I should varnish or not. Is it dry enough, I ask myself? I usually decide not to. Besides, varnishing is very difficult to get just right. The Windsor Newton website also says that acrylic paintings actually need varnish more than oil paintings do. I never knew that!

My Progress

Okay, it's time to blog about myself again. What's a personal blog for if I'm not using it keep people informed about what I am doing? I've been working hard at paintings for my next big show. The show is not until Feb, but it will take tons of time to get everything ready for it. My art is not quick art and I don't just "crank it out" (read that somewhere on a blog), although lately I have been working on some things simultaneously out of necessity. I don't want to reveal too much about my plans yet because I have some surprises in store. Let's just say, I am incorporating more music into my art daily.

Also, my number two Tickler Ukulele has been a long time coming, but it is definitely coming soon. I can almost taste it now. Good things come to those who wait!

And, I have been thinking about which prints to release next. I have a hard time deciding these things. I don't release a lot of prints, but plenty of people have asked me about certain images, so I have been batting it around in my head. Feel free to drop a note to me if you have any favorites. Thanks, as always, for your support and nice feedback. You have no idea what it means to me.

The Art of Amy Crehore

P.S. Look for 5 pages of paintings by me in Prevention Magazine, Nov. issue... and for my "Deja Vu Waltz" painting in the new issue of The Oxford American which I just got in the mail today! The painting is a spread.

Vintage Arcade & Souvenir Photo Collection

I have blogged about his collection of vintage paper moon portraits before, but Steve Chasmar has now organized them into 3-page set on flickr with additional souvenir portraits such as the ones shown here. They are hilarious and lovely. For more, visit this link:
Arcade and Souvenir Photos

ameta 1903

ameta
Originally uploaded by undream

A silent film posted on flickr by undream

Paintings of Gottfried Helnwein

His paintings are very intense and unforgettable. Like war itself.

Here are two from 2005. More here:

Helnwein

Audrey Kawasaki Does it Again

"Stare"by Kawasaki

"Uria" by Kawasaki

It's really nice to see someone's art develop in front of your eyes, only to get more mature and fluid as she goes. I think these are my favorite Kawasaki paintings and drawings to date. She is following a great tradition of Japanese masters of the fine line. The design quality of these new pieces is really nice: abstract, simplified, mysterious, making use of snowy drips and calligraphy only to enhance the whole. Her paint drips add texture and atmosphere, they are not frivolous. These are exciting times for Audrey K. who is in Rome, Italy as we speak getting ready for her show at Mondo Bizarro. (via boingboing) LINK to more images

The Art of Amy Crehore

100 Year Old Uke Man, Bill Tapia

Here is Bill Tapia in 1939 testing out a pineapple uke. He loooks pretty spiffy in his 30's attire."Young Willy, age 10, gave ukulele lessons to grown men. Willy was the first in the Hawaiian islands, or, for that matter, anywhere, to produce divine jazz from, yes, a ukulele.
He became Bill Tapia, the accomplished jazz guitarist, who jammed with such all-time greats as Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Billy Holiday, Fats Waller and Charlie Barnett. Now he's 100 years old, still elegant, in his tuxedo and shimmering silver hair and beard"...read the rest of the story at the

OC Register and be sure to check out the amazing slide show of Bill performing in Honolulu. (Thanks, Ukulele Hero )

The Art of Amy Crehore