Magic Eight Ball

I am currently working on a painting that happens to have an eight ball in it. What does the eight ball symbolize? I found this: "Eight ball symbolizes risk, the willingness to take a chance and the possibility of good luck or misfortune." Eight Ball is a pocket billiards game, a fortune telling game and even a drug. Would you like your fortune told? Click here and ask a question:

Magic Eight Ball

The Art of Amy Crehore

More Gems from Casino De Paris

Why is it that I can't get enough of these hand-colored postcards of dancers from the Casino De Paris? Maybe because they inspire me to create. They are so darn imaginative and fun; combining women, art and theater. The colors are gorgeous, too. Hey, girls look good with lampshades on their heads...there is no denying that fact.

To view a really nice page of them (listing the names of the dancers, too):

Bikini Science

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Hundred Year Old Blog

This groovy image of a devil-thumbing-his-nose radiator cap from the late 1930's was found on Shorpy Blog

Thanks boingboing . I love this. Follow the Shorpy link for more nice photos.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Dinosaurs and Robots Blog

Girl Repairing Car (link to more)

Dinosaurs and Robots, a blog created by Mr. Jalopy and Mark Frauenfelder, with special guest blogger Steve Lodefink, is shaping up to be a fun bag of tricks. I found this vintage photo of there- which made me laugh. You can also find Houdini's straightjacket and PDF's of Andrew Loomis' how-to-draw art books and lots of other tidbits including "dusty tape cassette Friday".
Dinosaurs and Robots
The Art of Amy Crehore

The Word "Flower" Will Find Me

"The Flower Muncher", painting by Amy Crehore

Someone pointed out to me a while back that if you do an image search on google for the word "flower", my painting "The Flower Muncher" is right there on the first page. In fact, if you google the names of my series or the individual titles of my paintings, they can often be found on the first page of web listings and/or images. That's pretty nifty.

Here's my news: I now have a show lined up in NYC (July 2008) and a solo show in L.A. in Feb. 2009 and various group shows in-between in other places, so I am currently painting away on new works. The # 2 Tickler Uke is still in production, unfortunately. Sometimes really good things take longer than expected. It's a nice spring day here in Oregon after a week of craaaazy weather. And...this is the last day of a 20% off print sale at Pressure Printing.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Carnival in Rio

Angelo Sartori has an amazing set of photos on flickr of the 2008 Carnival in Rio De Janeiro. Have a look at more here. This parade has massive surreal babies, beauty parlors on wheels, brightly colored costumes, beautiful dancing women and a wild sense of humor and fun. Thanks, Angelo, for capturing the carnival in photos - it's a sight to behold.

The Art of Amy Crehore

More Chicks in B&W

Shirley Temple
Gene Tierney
Marceline Day

I borrowed these lovely B&W vintage images from

Dr. X

Classic photographs all.

The Art of Amy Crehore

New Hokum Scorcher's Song, A Day Late

Snare Drum
There's a new song on my website player: "20 Second Man", original song by Billy Ward and His Dominoes from the 1950's ("60 Minute Man"), adapted by the Hokum Scorchers. Lou Reimuller on the National Guitar w/kazoo, vocals and Amy Crehore (me) on the snare drum this time w/vocals. (Recorded in 1992 - from "Feed the Kitty" by Hokum Scorchers). Scroll down for music player on my website:

The Art of Amy Crehore - Music

Read about Billy Ward and the Dominoes

This song will change every Sunday Night, so it might be different when you read this post.

Meg Hunt's Sketchbook

Page from Meg Hunt's Sketchbook

Julia Rothman ,an artist from Brooklyn, has a cool blog called "Book by it's Cover" . She regularly features artist sketchbooks and today she did a thing on Meg Hunt , a really great cartoonist/illustrator. Have a look:

Book By It's Cover

You might also want to check out the archives for some other fascinating sketchbooks.

(Thanks to Drawn! )

The Art of Amy Crehore

Where is Tickler Uke #2?

Well, it ain't done yet. The weather just simply isn't cooperating. Tickler Uke #2 is at the final stages, but things don't dry very well in these damp, cold conditions. So, it's taking longer than expected. This one has a special inlay on the front, a unique headstock design, a crazy-beautiful fingerboard, and a different shape than the first Tickler. There is a lot of binding on it as well. One has to wait around sometimes for the right conditions to finish things (especially wood). And my paints aren't cooperating lately either, so I have been drawing instead. Got plenty to do. Shows lined up, etc.

But, you can still get a t-shirt while you wait to see Tickler Uke #2. :)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Female Form - Angles and Curves

Painting by Paul Cuvelier

"Composition" by Paul Cuvelier


Magritte's "The Dangerous Liason"
(Thanks to Art Deco blog )

I've been painting today, but the weather is acting up, so my oil paint is not going on very smoothly. It's frustrating. Had to wipe it down again. I decided that I had better quit for the day so as not to ruin what I've already got down. I thought we were well into spring, but the weather is not cooperating. It almost snowed earlier.
Anyhow, I thought I'd post these titillating images that I found. The top two are by Paul Cuvelier who was a comics artist (he created a series called Corentin, commissioned by Tin Tin's Herge). He was also an incredible painter. It looks like he had that "two women" composition thing down. More of his art to be found here. He did not live very long, unfortunately, and Corentin was not that successful and it ultimately wore him down and he quit comics. He spent the last 5 years of his life painting. The bottom painting is by Magritte, who did some very unusual things with the female form.

The Art of Amy Crehore

B & W Photos - So Beautiful

Be-Bop en cave, Saint-Germain-des-Près 1951 - photo by Robert Doisneau (1912-1994)

I love this photo by Robert Doisneau. Femme Femme Femme is blogging some classic B&W photos. They also just blogged my Memphis Minnie painting along with some photos of her.
I basically majored in photography and film in college and I really love the drama of black and white images! Perhaps I will upload a Memphis Minnie song (by the Hokum Scorchers) to my website music player next Sunday. Meanwhile, it looks like my music page has recently gotten "stumbled upon" which is always a nice bonus.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Dance Me to the End of Love

Still from music video, "Dance Me to the End of Love" song by Leonard Cohen

There are some beautiful black and white music videos of Leonard Cohen songs on YouTube. My favorite is this one,

"Dance Me to the End of Love".

Check it out. It's gorgeous and surreal.

The B& W videos for "Closing Time" and "First We Take Mahattan" are nice as well. I have mentioned this before, but I'll say it again - I listened to Leonard Cohen albums non-stop when I painted my "Little Pierrot" series paintings. So, thanks for helping me along, Mr. Cohen. He was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (about time) and he recently got a mention on American Idol when Jason Castro did a heart-felt version of his incredible song "Hallelujah". Leonard Cohen will set out on a world tour in June, 2008.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Easter Cards from Germany

These three embossed lithograph postcards with gold highlights were made by John Finkenrath of Berlin (P.F.B.) 1908. (Green Castle Museum Easter Exhibit - collection of Bonnie A. Shockey).

I like how they show surrealistic scenes of lambs pulling big eggs instead of the usual cliche (children with bunnies).

The Art of Amy Crehore

PLease click "vote for me" if you like this blog! Gracias!

Bad links, what can ya do?

Blab Show paintings 2006 by Amy Crehore

I noticed that a heck of a lot of old links going to pages on my website are not working. That's because my website host made us change to a new template program a few months ago. I have tried to go back into my blog archive and correct some of these links, but I know that a lot of external links from other blogs and such are dead now. Hopefully people will google my name and find my new website if they are interested enough. Maybe some of these blogs will correct their links.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Gazette Du Bon Ton

La Gazette du Bon Ton was a leading French fashion magazine that was published from November 1912 to 1925 and founded by Lucien Vogel. There is an amazing digital archive of the pages from this magazine on a Japanese library website and it is guaranteed to fascinate illustrators and painters alike - featuring the artwork of :

Georges Barbier, Erté, Paul Iribe, Pierre Brissaud, and Georges Lepape

Gazette du Bon Ton

The Art of Amy Crehore

One Cool Blog Leads to Another

Painting by Meredith Frampton - British Painter 1894-1984.

I found some of these images on a wonderful blog that specializes in art deco things from the 1920's and 1930's:

Art Deco

That blog lead me to another blog that has many beautifully illustrated vintage travel posters, cigarette advertisements and magazine covers:

Trouble in Paradise

The Art of Amy Crehore

Howard and Barbara Armstrong's Art

Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong

"That was under the house where I lived. The cat thinks I'm disturbing his domain. There wasn't a cat in the neighborhood that liked me. I'd pull the hair out of a cat's tail to make a paint brush. I'd tie it to a goose quill with thread." -Howard Armstrong, drawing by Howard Armstrong
"I always made clothes and dolls, and it was nothing new. I was focused on dance and theater and never in my wildest imagination did I take what I was doing as an ‘art form.' And all of a sudden, the dolls that were sitting in my backyard appeared in the Museum of Fine Arts and they had a new term, ‘soft sculpture.'" -Barbara Ward Armstrong, Dolls by Barbara Ward Armstrong
"My goal is to use soft sculpture imagery to visually state our experiences, to expand the knowledge about ourselves and others from different racial backgrounds. My inspiration comes from living."- Barbara Ward Armstrong

There is so much more to this story, just follow the link.

Read all about Howard and Barbara Armstrong's amazing art and music at:

POV

The Art of Amy Crehore

Awaiting "Tickler" Uke Number Two

My Tickler Uke #1

My Tickler T-shirt design

Gary over at Ukulelia blog wrote up a nice post about Tickler Ukes,

the t-shirt and my art. Thanks, Gary! Written from the perspective of a uke-playing clown (or hanging from the sound hole of a girl's uke):

LINK

The Art of Amy Crehore

Barefoot Girl

"The Delegate's Daughter" by Aron Wiesenfeld

I like this painting of a young woman by Aron Wiesenfeld. Wish I could view it larger. Looks like she's got a slingshot in her hand. Is she a barefoot huntress? The rabbit is not a stuffed toy? I like the simplicity of the composition, her super long legs, the spindly tree on top of the bluff that she is holding onto. The mysterious grey sky. The title suggests that she should not be out hunting in barefeet. More of his work online at:

Timmons Galleries

The Art of Amy Crehore

Fan

French Beauties

I am posting these images just because they are so "me". Right now, I am painting a standing nude figure and some other characters on stage - using a tall format - it's a take-off of one of my "little pierrots". I am tempted to try some paintings with casino costumes next.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Clever Coconut Amp by Steve Lodefink

Steve Lodefink of Finkbuilt blog is always coming up with clever things to make at home. I especially love this cool little uke amp he designed and made out of a coconut. Steve writes Finkbuilt blog, but he is now a guest blogger at Dinosaurs and Robots , a new blog by Mark Frauenfelder and Mr. Jalopy which I read about on boingboing yesterday. (Read even more about that here .)

Speaking of ukes, my #2 Tickler uke is still in production. It will be worth the wait when it finally appears. The luthier is adding so many nice little details to this uke.

The Art of Amy Crehore

New Art Print by Mark Frauenfelder

Slingshot Press has a sweet deal today. You can get a signed print of Mark Frauenfelders' "Map of Everything" (10.5" x 11") for $50. Only 50 in the edition. I really like this design. One of Mark's best! (boingboing)

Slingshot Press

The Art of Amy Crehore

Polka-Dot Entertainers

Mr. Little's Company of Pierrots photo by A. Breach

Polka-dot costumed pierrot troupes were all the rage once upon a time, especially on the coast of England. To paint them is traditional. I never really thought about it the first time I painted one, though. I wasn't even really aware of the history of the pierrot. I had an old family photo of my grandma's uncle, an actor dressed in a pierrot outfit, and I used it as reference because I liked it. That's how the pierrot became one of my characters. Later, I noticed pierrots could be found all over the place - in all kinds of art, music, and theater images. They still look good in their polka-dots. Classic.

The art of Amy Crehore