Where Did My Monkeys Come From?

Squirrel monkey
This is the kind of monkey that I use in my art. Isn't he cute? It's the squirrel monkey from South America. I first painted this monkey back in 2002 in my "Organ Grinder"oil painting. I used a photo from an old, musty book as reference for the monkey on top of the organ. I put a sailor hat on another monkey (that I made up) to add some humor to the painting. Little did I know that I would be painting this monkey over and over again in 2005-2007
as a recurring character in my art.
My native girls (I made all of the girls and their poses up) are supposed to be from Devil's Island ,but alot of people think they are Hawaiian. However, they do not have this type of monkey in Hawaii! And my girls are often seen playing around in inappropriate ways with these creatures.
Or are they? No, everything is fine. :)
The sailor hat is my little addition, but it gives people a sense of deja vu and they think they have seen this monkey before somewhere. My monkey has now become more of a character, drawn from memory. It's half human/half cartoon. But, it's still undeniably a squirrel monkey. From South America. It's the "monkey with the largest brain in relation to it's body size".
My art is painted and drawn from my head, the landscape is made up, but it has a vintage feeling about it. It flows from my intuition, instincts and memory of everything in the world that I have ever seen in a lifetime. It is all about design, composition and making an entertaining picture. The narrative is about ambiguous relationships and what will happen next. It's all a mystery.
Squirrel Monkey
The Art of Amy Crehore

Banjo History

Twin Minstrels playing banjos behind their heads
S S Stewart's Sons Professional by Rettberg and Lange 1902
Click to Enlarge

S.S. Stewart factory illustrations 1883

Banjos are important American instruments. Banjos descended from gourd instruments brought to the New World by enslaved Africans as early as the 17th century. By the 1840's white musicians were playing them in minstrel shows. Later on they were heard in the Victorian parlor. Later still, banjos were used in hokum, ragtime, jazz and bluegrass music.

Primitive Banjos, Guitar Banjos, Mandolin Banjos, Banjo Ukes, Tenor Banjos, 5-string Banjos.

I always loved the details on the S.S. Stewart banjos. There are many wonderful vintage images of banjo players.

I found these pictures by following the links at

Classic Banjos

to Dr. Horsehair's Site and Mugwumps Online

Read up on the history of the banjo. A great American instrument. I have used them in my artwork because I love them.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Tickler Ukes

Tickler Brand Uke 2007 -Back design by Amy Crehore
Tickler Brand Uke 2007- Front design by Amy Crehore

It looks like the very first Tickler Brand Ukulele (built by Lou Reimuller, designed and painted by Amy Crehore) has now sold. There will never be another one like it. It's one-of-a-kind. The number two Tickler Uke is slowly being built and should be finished around the first of the new year. It has completely different features- a different shape, an exciting mother-of-toilet-seat fingerboard and a carved headstock. It won't be fully painted on all sides like the first one. Instead, it will have more wood showing and some other details. I hope to be finishing up the Tickler T-shirt design this week. I have to upgrade my website before Jan 1, also. Lots to do!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vegetarian Museum

I had tofu turkey this year at Govinda's restaurant in Eugene, OR. I often eat regular turkey for Thanksgiving, but sometimes I don't. I was vegetarian for a couple of years after I got out of college. "Diet for a Small Planet" was my guide book and I had a macrobiotic cookbook. My pure vegetarianism didn't last long, but I never went back to eating red meat.

"The Vegetarian Museum"

is a website founded by Karen Iacobbo and Michael Iacobbo, authors of "Vegetarian America: A History" (Praeger, 2004- book shown above which you can order right on the website). In the "museum" you can find all kinds of tidbits, articles and images about the history of vegetarianism from the 18th century on in America. That is where I found the holiday postcard and the vegetarian muscleman. Interesting!

Thanks for the link Internet Weekly.

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Honeybee" Painting by Amy Crehore- Finished!

"Honeybee" copyright 2007 Amy Crehore 8"x8"

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Here is my little "Honeybee" painting all finished. I just shipped it off to Mark Murphy who will take it to Art Basel Miami and exhibit it in the "KNOW" exhibition where he will be selling his art books, plus original art from over 40 artists.

F E A T U R I N G: Robert Bellm + Cathie Bleck + Marc Burckhardt + Cynthia von Buhler + William Buzzell + Luke Chueh + David Chung + Amy Crehore + Warren Dykeman + P-Jay Fidler + AJ Fosik + Keith Greiman + Matt Haber + Brent Harada + Ryan Heshka + Jordin Isip + James Kirkpatrick + Pamela Jaeger + Travis Lampe + Lola + Daniel Lim + Tommii Lim + Anthony Lister + Jen Lobo + Jason Murphy + Mark Murphy + Joel Nakamura + Kathie Olivas + Brandt Peters + Chris Pyle + Jermain Rogers + Chris Ryniak + Erik Sandberg + Greg Simkins/Craola + Kim Scott + Keith Shore + Jeff Soto + Matt Stallings + Peter Taylor + Mark Todd + Jonathan Viner + Amanda Wachob + Esther Pearl Watson + Damien Weinkrantz + Gord Wiebe + John YanokI

KNOW: Art Exhibition Curated by Mark Murphy : Art Now Fair : Art Basel Miami : Murphy Design : Booth No. 215 December 6 – 9 : 2007 Thursday – Saturday : 10 am - 8 pm : Sunday : 10 am – 6 pm

Claremont Hotel, 1700 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FLA

If you are interested in acquiring this small painting please contact Mark Murphy: murphy@murphydesign.com

See more art and a blurb about each artist in this exhibition on: Scribble

This is the final version of the painting that boingboing posted about earlier ("Amy Crehore Paintblogging"), for those who were following my progress.

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore on view until December 22, 2007 at Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

"Deja Vu Waltz" copyright 2007 Amy Crehore 28" x 28" framed, oil on linen

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE FOR THE FULL EFFECT

I just want to remind anyone who missed the opening of the GREEN Show curated by Mark Murphy at Robert Berman Gallery last Saturday night, that my painting will be on display until Dec 22, 2007 alongside of lots of other wonderful paintings by many great artists. If you live near Santa Monica, try to see it in person. This is my first major large-size canvas combining all of my characters from my series work of the last couple of years: the blues gal, the little pierrot, the monkey with sailor hat, the cat, and the demon. Go see it in it's custom frame.

Contact:

Robert Berman Gallery

I want to thank some people for mentioning or reviewing my painting and this show: Ert at Juxtapoz , Marshall at Art New York City , Chris at Daily Dreamtime, Mark at boingboing and some others that I linked to in earlier posts.

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Exquisite Drawings of Seurat

Georges-Pierre Seurat was only 31 years old when he died in 1891. Everyone knows his 10 foot long pointillist masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, which took him two years to complete. He apparently made over 60 studies for this painting. It is now hanging in the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago .

He also did many drawings during the last ten years of his life. He used conte crayon on hand-made French paper and the effects he obtained are unique and quite beautiful. He loved to draw the theater and you can see a pierrot dancing in the top image. These drawings are the focus of a new show at MOMA that recently opened Oct 28, 2007-Jan 7, 2008. You can purchase the exhibition catalogue here. And here is a link to the

Seurat Drawings online exhibit at MOMA. It's worth a trip to NYC.

(Thanks for the heads up artnewyorkcity and drawn!)

The Art of Amy Crehore

The GREEN Art Opening, Robert Berman Gallery

The Modlins photo by Mark Murphy
I am slow to get my photos up, but Mark Murphy (I finally got to meet the man -very friendly and nice!) has posted lots of photos from the Green Show opening on his blog. So, follow that link and have a look. Bergamot Station in Santa Monica (where the show was held at Robert Berman Gallery) has dozens of galleries all in one complex. Saturday night, Nov 17, was fully packed with people as there were many other openings that night and people walked from gallery to gallery. Erling Wold, the composer from S.F., was in town and stopped in at the show. He has blogged about meeting me here. (Flattery will get you everywhere, Erling.)
I also talked with Mark Frauenfelder and my friend George from Eugene. I met Bob Dob, Cathie Bleck, Nathan Ota and more. I just missed Lisa Mertins (who drove all the way out to meet me, but didn't know what I looked like) and who knows who else. It was so packed that it was hard to meet everyone. Mr. Robert Berman, the gallery owner, was absolutely the coolest guy. The Modlins entertained us with their music.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Back From L.A.

Sketch of "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore 2007
I just got back from L.A. and I had a wonderful time. It was hot down there! I'm going to tell you more about it as soon as I unpack and catch my breath. Meanwhile... here is the original pencil sketch for my "Deja Vu Waltz" painting.
I will post photos of the Green Show art opening in a few days.

The Art of Amy Crehore
P.S. Click on "vote for me" if you enjoy this blog. I'm back!

Going Down South

Detail from new "Deja Vu Waltz" painting by Amy Crehore

I'll be back on Monday. Stay tuned for my report from La La Land.

The Art of Amy Crehore

GREEN Art Exhibition-Robert Berman Gallery opens Nov 17

Mark Murphy, the curator, has posted more images from the upcoming GREEN Art Exhibition on his blog. I will be headed down to L.A. tomorrow for a few days. I can't wait for the opening on Saturday night (7-10pm). I'm excited to be a part of this show.

Contact info: Robert Berman Gallery

Have a look:

Green Show Art

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Bananas!

Detail of Monkey stealing a banana from new painting, "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore

"Banana Eater" painting by Amy Crehore (click to enlarge)

Dan Koeppel has written an interesting book called "Banana, The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World". It's about the history of the banana.
He posted my "Banana Eater" painting the other day on his blog. Check out his books and his blog here:

Dan Koeppel

The Art of Amy Crehore

Mardecortesbaja Blog

This is one of my favorite blogs about art and the cinema. Lloyd has reviewed my new painting and I love the way he writes about art. See what he has to say:

Mardecortesbaja

The Art of Amy Crehore

Back to Work

Sketch on Canvas "Honeybee" painting by Amy Crehore

I'm back to work on my little "Honeybee" canvas today. This painting is for the Know Exhibition with Murphy Art Books at the Art Now Fair, Art Basel Miami. It will take place on December 6-9, 2007, 10am-8pm, Claremont Hotel, 1700 Collins Ave. (17th St.), Miami Beach, FLORIDA. There will be a special website for this show and I will blog about it later. Once again, Mark Murphy has invited a list of amazing artists to participate.

I will head down to L.A. this Thursday for the GREEN show opening on Saturday where I will exhibit my "Deja Vu Waltz" , a large painting that includes all of my recent characters.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Murphy's Scribble Blog

Here's a beautiful painting by Scott Musgrove for the upcoming GREEN Show at Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (Opening - Nov. 17, 2007). The paintings in the show are now being revealed on Mark Murphy's "Scribble" Blog. Mark has a cool piece in the show as well. Take a look:

Scribble

The Art of Amy Crehore

Thanks Boingboing!

Pierrot Detail from "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore 2007

My little pierrot thanks you, my cat thanks you, teenar thanks you, the girl with the guitar thanks you, the monkey thanks you, I thank you and even the devil thanks you....for blogging my new painting, "Deja Vu Waltz".

BOINGBOING

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Deja Vu Waltz", New Oil Painting by Amy Crehore

Carved Frame for "Deja Vu Waltz" Painting by Amy Crehore"Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore copyright 2007, oil painting on stretched linen, 24"x24"

Here is my new painting, "Deja Vu Waltz".

Click on image to enlarge for the full effect.

This painting will be exhibited in the "GREEN" art show that opens Saturday, November 17 from 7pm-10pm at the

Robert Berman Gallery

Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Avenue C2, Santa Monica, California.
Over 40 artists were invited to participate in the upcoming exhibition "GREEN",curated by publisher/designer Mark Murphy. GREEN will feature original paintings, (24" x 24" and 24" x 36") that look to explore human interaction with nature. Featuring traveling artists, inspired artworks,and the music of SSI and the Modlins. The exhibition will continue until December 22, 2007.

Featuring the inspired talents of: Jason D Aquino + Jordan Awan + Andrew Brandou + Cathie Bleck+ Marc Burckhardt + William Buzzell + Luke Chueh + David Chung + Amy Crehore +Kevin Christy + Sas Christian + John Copeland + Bob Dob + andrew foster + Douglas Fraser + P-Jay Fidler + Joseph Daniel Fiedler + AJ Fosik + Robert Hardgrove + Jody Hewgill + Michael Hussar + Tim Hussey + Jordin Isip + Rich Jacobs + Pamela Jaeger + james jean + David Choong Lee + Anthony Lister + Jen Lobo + Mars-1 + Chris Mostyn + Mark Murphy + Scott Musgrove + JoelNakamura : Christian Northeast + Martha Rich and Esther Pearl Watson Collaboration + Kathie Olivas + Nathan Ota + Brandt Peters + JermaineRogers + Kim Scott + Keith Shore + Jeff Soto + Damon Soule + Matt Stallings + Gary Taxali + Amanda Wachab + Justin Wood

I will be flying down to Santa Monica for this event. I hope to see you there!
The Art of Amy Crehore

Detail of Girl From "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore

Detail of Girl from "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore 2007

Gotta have a girl. Girls are so important. And if she plays a guitar, more power to her, eh?

I will show you more tomorrow. Stay Tuned.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Birdbaths are cool - Another detail from "Deja Vu Waltz"

Birdbath Detail from "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore 2007

You know, I saw a birdbath kind of like this in someone's front yard not long ago. I think it was their prize possession. Made me want to paint it. More details are coming and then the whole painting....

The Art of Amy Crehore

Cat Detail from"Deja Vu Waltz", Painting by Amy Crehore

Cat Detail from painting, "Deja Vu Waltz", by Amy Crehore 2007

You've gotta have a cat in there... going wild...scratching a tree now, don't ya? I'll blog a couple more details and then I'll show you the entire painting. Stay tuned.

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Devil is in the Details-"Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore

Detail from "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore 2007, oil on linen

Here's another teaser for you from my brand spanking new painting for the "GREEN Show". The art exhibit opens November 17th at Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. Curated by the fabulous Mark Murphy, there will be about 40 artists in this show.

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Deja Vu Waltz"-Another Detail

Monkey Detail from "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore 2007

Here's another piece of the puzzle. More coming soon!

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Deja Vu Waltz": New Painting by Amy Crehore Unveiled Bit by Bit

Detail from "Deja Vu Waltz" by Amy Crehore 2007

Okay, I am going to show you pieces of my new painting, "Deja Vu Waltz". This painting is for the GREEN SHOW (opening November 17th in Santa Monica, CA). Here is the first detail. This painting has everything. All of my characters. Here you can see my little pierrot.

Stay tuned as I unveil the rest bit by bit.

This is a large oil painting on linen, 24"x 24".

The Art of Amy Crehore

Freaky Nude with Perfect Boobs

Got this wicked creature from an image search of

Ectomo.com

John Brownlee must have it stashed under his pillow for cold, rainy nights.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Ruth Marten's Art (and Me)

" Tableau" Painting by Amy Crehore 1990
Native Girl, ink on old engraving by Ruth Marten 2007

Hair by Ruth Marten 2005 NYTimes article

I have always admired Ruth Marten's art. She's a wonderful painter and illustrator. She has a thing for hair and has made some beautiful and humorous paintings using this theme (above).
Recently, she has been drawing in ink on old prints. "Native Girl" is an example. There are many more on her website:
Ruth Marten
I picked out "Native Girl" from her site because I immediately recognized it as an old engraving that I used in 1990 as reference material for my painting called "Tableau". I have a big, fat book at home that is full of these engravings and it is one of my favorite things. It's called, "The Complete Encyclopedia of Illustration" by J.G. Heck (Park Lane publishers) which contains all of the original illustrations from the 1851 edition of "The Iconographic Encyclopedia of Science, Literature and Art". It is full of birds, beasts, people, landscapes, weather patterns, sea shells, you name it. I can't even describe how amazing this book is.
I think that Ruth Marten and I may have some interests in common.
The Art of Amy Crehore

The Three Graces Interpreted

"The Three Graces" is a theme which appears time and time again throughout art history. Here is a spoof of that theme called "The Three Friends", painted in 1998, by John Currin which takes it's cue from this statue by John-Baptiste Regnault, 1799. Currin's work has a style not unlike Lucas Cranach. I like Currin's work of the late nineties. See more paintings here:

Femme Femme Femme

The Art of Amy Crehore

P.S. If you like this blog, click on "Vote for me". Thanks!

Race Record Ads of the 1920's

Here are a couple of Race Record Ads from the

Main Spring Press

website. I have had that nightmare before! Yipes! I love the graphics and hand-lettering of the race record ads from the 1920's.

I am back to blogging again. Today, I finished my painting for the Green Show (opens Nov 17 at Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA). Yippeee.

I am so tired, that I am giddy. I will not have nightmares tonight. I will sleep well from exhaustion. Tomorrow I will have the painting photographed. Then, I can show you. I'm really proud of it. It has all of my characters in it and more. I think I will call it "Deja Vu Waltz".

The Art of Amy Crehore

BibliOdyssey, The Book

Here are two pages from the new book, "BibliOdyssey". It looks great.

" We first met blogger PK and BibliOdyssey, his remarkable blog devoted to visual materia obscura two years ago. BibliOdyssey is the starting point on the net for uncovering eclectic archival imagery and the fascinating wealth of ephemera offered by libraries, universities and other institutions.
Now the blog has become a book, BibliOdyssey: Amazing Archival Images from the Internet, and it’s a perfect companion to the site."

Read more of this post by Johnny at Drawn! , The Illustration and Cartooning Blog.

I might have to get this book. I love this stuff!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Japanese Woodblock Prints

Here's a nice flickr set: Japanese prints (Mando Maniac)

This one is a cover by Uemura Shoen . I love the colors. I am using that green in my new painting. (Thanks, Internet Weekly for the art link)

I have been painting non-stop for days now and have not had time to attend to my blog. It looks like I lost some subscribers and I hope you will all come back.Tomorrow is my final day of work on my new painting for the Green Show. I've been painting a couple of months on this one and I will be glad to be done. Then I can get back to blogging and preparing for my trip to Santa Monica and finishing the "Honeybee" painting.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Where Have I Been?

This is one of the roads where I take my daily hike. Since I have been painting 12 or 13 hour days, I have had to squeeze my little hike in just before dark. Emails are piling up and everything else is a mess. My little "Honeybee" painting is still not finished, so I can't show it to you yet. I had to put it aside to concentrate on a large painting that I am doing for the Green Show in Santa Monica, CA (opening November 17). The theme of the Green Show is nature and it will be very interesting to see the different interpretations. I'm sure it will be a show to remember. That reminds me, I need to reserve my plane tickets.

The Art of Amy Crehore