As Tears Go By...

Marianne Faithfull 1965. Watch the giant tear go by on this video

towards the end of the song.

Give this artwork a title and I'll give it away!

Click on Image to Enlarge
A few weeks ago, I painted this oil sketch as an experiment on handmade paper. My idea was about "trumpets" and there are 3 kinds of trumpets in this image. I will give this little 7 5/8" x 8 5/8" painting away to the person who gives me the perfect title for it. Rules: Use the comments section of this blog to enter this contest. Leave only ONE comment per person, but you may submit up to 3 possible titles in your comment area. Be creative, be poetic and be funny. I will announce the winner on Sunday October 4, 2009 on my blog at 6pm pacific time and ask that person to get in touch with me by email. Thanks in advance for participating in my little contest!
Important: You'll have until 12 noon (pacific time) Oct. 4 to leave your submission on my blog.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Time for the Blues

Here's Lonnie Johnson in 1963 still going strong- "Another Night to Cry"

The audience shot at the end is quite surreal looking.

link: kindofbluedaniel

Kiki Says...

Woman with Snake 2003 Kiki Smith
Ginzer 200 by Kiki Smith

"Just do your work. And if the world needs your work it will come and get you. And if it doesn't, do your work anyway.....I'm always taken care of by my work. You let go of your own idea and let the work go where it needs to go. And that's sometimes very uncomfortable. One learns to linger in discontent and not be judgmental, but to have faith."

from article Kiki Smith on Creative Struggle

KIKI SMITH

The Art of Amy Crehore

Schoolgirl Hats 1890

These are my great, great aunt Jesse Louise Forde's friends. It looks like she had many friends. I have her old autograph book, plus lots of little photos. It must have been a standard procedure in 1890 for the girls to have their portraits taken with hats and coats on. I like the girl in the top photo. She seems like more of a tomboy and I love her hat. CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE. (Photos from Crehore family archive.)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Tennis Anyone? 1890

Jesse Louise Forde around 1890 (Stanley H. Forde's sister)Jesse Louise Forde 1890 posing with Tennis Racket

Jesse Louise Forde on the far right, bottom with tennis club of 1890

Group shot at Lotus Point 1891, (Ms. Forde is second from left)

CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
If you have been following my blog, you'll remember that I posted some interesting family camping photos of 1890 & 1891 a little while ago ("Lotus Point", NY). Steampunk enthusiasts really seemed to enjoy them. Here is that same group of camping women from 1891(bottom photo) posing in country hats with fans, a tea kettle and dolls out in the field. These must be silly costumes for the photo...I can't believe they would normally wear these outfits, would they? My great, great aunt Jesse Louise Forde is in this photo (second from left).

Jesse Louise Forde was Stanley H. Forde's sister. I blogged about him, too.
They were both stage performers/singers in NYC and elsewhere, but Jesse Louise ended up moving to Italy to sing in operettas. I have more old photos of her friends and career, but here she is as a young girl with her tennis buddies and posing with a tennis racket. It's interesting to see what the girls were wearing back then to play tennis in. I'm still playing history detective!
The Art of Amy Crehore

Tim Burton at MOMA

(photo from Harpers Bazaar magazine)

Fashionista Diary blogged some pages from October's Harpers Bazaar magazine featuring fashions that celebrate Tim Burton, the artist/film director. Tim Burton will be having a major retrospective of artwork and films at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC from November 22, 2009-April 26, 2010!

I could not resist blogging this fashion photo - it's so crazy-looking.

I love Tim Burton films. They are crazy-fun and incredibly imaginative.

TIM BURTON

The Art of Amy Crehore

Stolen: Beautiful "Olympia" Painting by Magritte

" 'Olympia', a nude inspired by Magritte’s wife and muse Georgette, was taken off the wall of the small gallery in the artist’s former home while museum staff and visitors were ordered to lie down in the back garden." read the whole story at TIMES ONLINE UK

I was not aware of this painting before. It's absolutely gorgeous. More personal than some of his other work. It is like a snapshot taken on vacation of a very real, intimate moment shared by Magritte and his wife. Yet, it is also surreal. The article says that an x-ray of the painting revealed a toad on her stomach that he had painted over. I am so glad he changed the toad into a large shell! However, now that I know that, I keep expecting a toad to crawl out of there.

I do hope the painting is found and returned to the museum. Sounds like the museum staff had quite an unfortunate scare.

The Art of Amy Crehore

(thanks, boingboing)

Colorful Vintage Seed Catalog Covers

The Smithsonian Institution Libraries have a collection that includes about 10,000 illustrated seed and nursery catalogs dating from 1830 to the present. Here are a couple of examples. Zooming in on the crowd scene of Buckbee's county fair reveals a very tall clown in a great outfit. Reid's catalog cover has a cupid eating grapes. 500 images are documented in digital form on their website. Here's the

LINK

Thanks boingboing and cityfarmer.info

The Art of Amy Crehore

Wild Costume Party on the S.S.Conte Rosso, 1920's

CLICK to ENLARGE for details.

CLICK TO ENLARGE
In my old box of family tricks, I found a couple of interesting group shots of people who are dressed in Halloween costumes. They are on board a ship called the S.S. Conte Rosso (the Red Count). My great, great aunt Louise Forde is probably in one of these photos. She lived in Italy for many years. My grandmother could also be in the photos. She went to visit her aunt in Italy and was a flapper during this time period.
Wikipedia says, "the SS Conte Rosso was an Italian ocean liner active in the early 20th century and noted for her lavish Italian interior decoration. Because much of its sailing would be in warmer waters, the designers included an outdoor dining area, unusual for ships of this era. The ship entered service in 1922 carrying passengers between Italy and New York. She was the first new transatlantic liner built after World War I and the largest Italian liner to date."
The Art of Amy Crehore

Leslie Illingworth, Cartoonist 1902-1979

Leslie Gilbert Illingworth was born in 1902 and died in 1979. "Illingworth joined the Daily Mail in 1939, and drew cartoons that were to lift Britain's morale during the Second World War, commenting on Churchill's leadership and Allied military victories. After the war ended, Illingworth was able to concentrate more on domestic issues in his cartoons, but kept a keen eye on foreign affairs, especially when they related to Britain. He became Chief Cartoonist for the satirical magazine Punch in 1945, but remained with the Daily Mail until his retirement in 1969." The Illingworth cartoon collection at the National Library contains 4,563 images! I have spent all morning checking out their website. I like his style, sense of humor, intelligence and fine draftsmanship. Not to mention the prolific amount of ink drawings (some quite complex) that he executed in his 40+ years on the job. He covered & recorded so much world history in the space of his life. I have been playing around with brush and ink recently and these cartoons inspire me.

For plenty more, have a look:

Leslie Illingworth

The Art of Amy Crehore

Playing History Detective

Stanley Forde as a kid in Buffalo (I think)
Ink Drawing of Stanley Forde by "Sabro" 1925

Small watercolor by H. Hilton 1911 of Stanley Forde
(probably painted by Mrs. Helen Hilton Story during his affair with her)

Stanley Forde, baritone 1878-1929

I am playing history detective with a box of crumbled old clippings and fragile photos that my grandmother had saved. Above is a photo of my great, great uncle Stanley Forde who stood 6ft 2 inches (without the top hat). He was an actor and singer on Broadway between 1909 and 1927. The plays that he appeared in are listed here: Broadway

He also appeared in a B&W silent film called "The Great White Way". Upon researching this film, I found that it was a comedy/romance from 1924 produced by Cosmopolitan Productions. It "includes brief appearances by several prominent newspapermen, cartoonists and society figures of this period: Winsor McCay, George McManus, Billy DeBeck and Harry Hershfield, Tex Rickard, Arthur Brisbane, Nell Brinkley, Bugs Baer, Irvin S. Cobb, Damon Runyon. Also Oscar Shaw, actor, and Pete Hartley, boxer." LINK to more about this film.

I found a number of stills from this film in the box amongst yellowed newspaper clippings and other physical evidence of Stanley Forde and his career. He married Mrs. Helen Hilton Story in 1912, after a scandalous affair with her at the Jersey shore (an affair which ended up in the Supreme Court). She was "an heir to millions" according to the newspaper article: the granddaughter of Judge Henry Hilton. It seems they travelled back and forth to London for a few years, but I'm not sure that the marriage lasted. I am starting to scan and archive some of the puzzle pieces of Stanley's life onto a set on flickr, including the film stills from "The Great White Way". Stanley Forde died at the age of 51 in NYC.

It's fun playing history detective. Here is the link to my flickr set about Stanley:

Stanley Forde

The Art of Amy Crehore

P.S. For anyone who is following my blog: Stanley Forde's family was in the 1890 Camping photos that I posted earlier. The photos that boingboing so kindly blogged about.(Thanks, Mark)

Vintage Photos of Twins

(Vintage family photos, Amy Crehore)

(Vintage family photos, Amy Crehore)

I found these two photos in my box of old stuff. Twins make great subjects for photos especially when wearing the same outfts. Perhaps the ladies in the top photo are mama and auntie of the kids in the bottom photo. I think it's around 1910 Italy because I found a postcard with those same kids on the front (dressed in the same outfits) and it had a postmark. It was addressed to one of my relatives who lived in Florence, Italy at the time (signed "love from Filippo"). People liked to have postcards made of their personal photos back then and send them to all their friends.

The Art of Amy Crehore
P.S. The people shown above are not my relatives. They are just friends of relatives.

My Demon Ukulele

Back of the Demon Uke

"Demon", A painted vintage ukulele by Amy Crehore
CLICK TO ENLARGE
Recently, I have had a few inquiries about my "Demon" ukulele. So, I thought I would blog it again. It has racked up a few thousand hits on my flickr account, thanks to stumbleupon. Not sure why everyone is fascinated by it, but maybe it's because this uke is a near mint Stella with an art deco "duco" finish from the 1930's. You can see the back of this uke in the top photo. It has an almost pinkish color in the light areas. It's a very natural-looking textured design. Absolutely beautiful. Here's an example of a rare National tenor guitar with a duco finish: LINK . Nice, eh?

I painted an original design of a girl struggling with a demon over flames on the body of my uke. And, on the headstock, I did a little logo of a demon's face and some hand-lettering.
The Art of Amy Crehore

See more of my painted ukes here with links to close-ups: FLICKR

Juggling in Brazil and Florida

Nice scenery. Watch for the shot of the juggler on the cliff with the raccoon.

Cat Mummy

Brooklyn Museum

blog has some fascinating cat mummy pictures (above).

I brought a "cat mummy" to an art party once. I guess it was more of a petrified cat "sculpture" - in a special box with leopard fabric lining titled "Eartha Kitt". Long time ago.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Beautiful Art Rugs

"Nathalie Lete lives and works in Paris. She works in many ways, mixing different techniques and mediums, illustration, ceramics, textile and painting."

I like these rugs, but you should see the rest of her output, including books and plates:
Nathalie Lete

(Thanks, Janet)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Cloudy Collection, Set Number 3!

This is a teaser preview. There are seven new letterpress prints that will be available for purchase on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 9:09 AM Pacific Time.
“The Scarlet Lettering” edition of the Cloudy Collection is made up of wonderful lettering art by Marian Bantjes, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Ray Fenwick, Ray Frenden, Linzie Hunter, Nate Williams, and David Huyck.
They have done something a little different this time: they are printed with a “blind deboss” (see above, photo by Boxcar press). This should appeal to designers and illustrators alike...and regular people who appreciate fine things like letterpress prints.

CLOUDY COLLECTION

The Art of Amy Crehore
By the way, I was honored to be part of the first Cloudy Collection Set!

"Jesus Loves Me" Banner is Sold

The "Jesus Loves Me" Banner has sold, but there are many other fun things you can buy from Supermarket Sarah. Just go to her website, move your mouse over an item and click for a close-up view. She is located in West London and must ship from the UK. But, isn't this clever? A wall of wonderful flea market items.

Supermarket Sarah

(seen on swiss-miss)

P.S. I just got word that there are more "Jesus Loves Me" banners available!

Exciting Show at Casino De Paris! Opens Sept 7, 2009

Vintage postcard from Casino De Paris

From Steve Chasmar's Opium Museum flickr set

Opium on Film "Dandy-Pacha" (France; 1908-1918)

DitaVonTeese http://twitpic.com/gpzug -

The shoes Christian Louboutin made especially for Dita's Opium Den show.

From Sept 7- 17, 2009 "Gentry de Paris Revue with Dita Von Teese" will be at the Casino de Paris - the birthplace of La Grande Revue - it's the first Revue in 50 years!
"Miss Gentry de Paris who not only wrote the show, stars in the show and is its creative director is on a mission to revive the Ziegfeld-follies in its purest form - with original song and dance production, a narrative storyline in two acts and 18 tableaux not to mention the lushest of lush costumes!" For an interview with Miss Gentry please read:

PARIS POPCORN

CASINO DE PARIS
Anyone who reads my blog knows that I love the Casino De Paris vintage postcards, the Ziegfeld Follies and Steve Chasmar's flickr images. I am currently following Dita Von Teese on twitter as she tweets about her show LIVE at the Casino de Paris and tells us how uncomfortable her shoes are!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Follow me on Twitter

U900 Japanese Ukulele Duo

Here's "Diamond Head" and "Walk Don't Run" performed by U900. I could not decide which one I liked better! So funny. http://www.myspace.com/ukuleleduou900

(thanks, kerokerokingDX and boingboing)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vaux's Swifts on YouTube

On Sunday, August 30th, 2009, I happened to see an amazing sight at the twilight hour. I was walking past old Agate Hall (an elementary/junior high school building that was built in 1924 and is now part of the U. of Oregon) with a couple of friends when I saw an odd group of people standing in the alley. They were looking toward the old smoke stack and staring up at the sky. A big hawk flew out of the chimney and, pretty soon, tens of thousands of smaller cigar-like birds started to circle the sky in swirling tornado formation. Around and around they flew until one of them said, "let's go in" and they followed the leader into that dark hole until there were none left. It seemed to take forever and it reminded me of a David Lynch film. It was a truly surreal sight to behold. I never heard of Vaux's Swifts before, but I was lucky enough to be walking by that night. Apparently, there are other cities with old schools and large chimneys (like the Chapman School in Portland, OR) where these particular birds go to roost or nest. Not sure what they are doing down there- I'm still learning. Anyway, here's a film made in Portland that I found on YouTUBE that clues you in to what I'm talking about. The action happens near the end, so keep watching until you see the birds do their thing. Crazy man.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Crehore Sketchbook Pages

Here are some pages from my current sketchbook. Some of these compositions will become paintings. I work out ideas in my sketchbook without putting any pressure on myself....they are images that come to me at that particular moment. I erase and re-draw. It's hard to describe, but I tend to "feel it all out". My method is pretty spontaneous. One just has to be in a drawing mood. I will blog some small paintings from these sketches later on, as I finish them.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Childrens Book Covers 1860-1920

I have this book at home: 'From Mother Goose to Dr Seuss: Children's Book Covers 1860-1960' by Harold Darling, 1999 (with a forward by Seymour Chwast). It's one of those books that I look at over and over again. There are a few more covers in BibliOdyssey's flickr set.

The Art of Amy Crehore