Virtual Museum of Creative Design (Spain)

My friend Valerie in Barcelona, who loves vintage illustrations and packaging design like I do, sent me this great link to a virtual museum the other day : LINK The two images above are from the 1930s (Spain). Gotta love the European clowns with the pointy hats. Bellhop outfits are rad, too.

Valerie has started her own flickr stream of images from Spain that she finds and scans herself. They are wonderful and unusual. Please have a look: Valeshel on flickr.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Two pierrots in a studio

Two pierrots in a studio
Originally uploaded by lovedaylemon

Cool Pop Music from 1960s Malaysia

Help Xeni's brother get to Malaysia to research and archive psychedelic '60s pop.

Boingboing LINK , kickstarter link

My Dirty Blond Banjo-uke (Crehore)

Click on image to enlarge. Original design by Amy Crehore.

This vintage banjo-uke still needs some varnish, tuners, tailpiece and strings. But, here's a direct scan of my original painting, because I couldn't wait to show you. (The scan has some glare, but you can get the idea.) It's called "Dirty Blond" and it's a Slingerland from the 1920s with birdseye maple veneer on the sides. It's in excellent shape, restored to a natural shine by the luthier. I will take slides when it's all done. Stay tuned....I also have some slides coming of two new canvases.

The Art of Amy Crehore

This uke is on boingboing.net!

(Huge thanks to A. Barrett of CA for the generous uke donation.)

See more of my ukes here: flickr

Plus, Tickler #2 Uke built from scratch.

Julie's New Boy Paintings

Self Portrait as Boy in Flight 2010, oil on canvas, 52 x 68 inches by Julie Heffernan

Julie Heffernan is painting herself as a boy now and I quite like them. Her works are ambitious and visionary. There's a nice sense of order to her dream-chaos. She's got the painting chops to pull off complicated imagery such as the one above - from her "Boy, Oh Boy" exhibit which opens April 29-June 5, 2010 at PPOW Gallery, 511 West 25th Street, Room 301, NYC. Here's a LINK to the gallery and a few more images.

The Art of Amy Crehore

This is Ska!

Rocket Boy

rocket boy
Originally uploaded by hastingsgraham

from hastingsgraham's
OUT OF THIS WORLD set on flickr

Anniversary of SF Earthquake 1906

f_sf1906eq_mktst3
Originally uploaded by ricksoloway

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906
April 18, 1906- anniversary today.
Set of images on flickr.
Thanks Ricksoloway.

Jan Svankmajer's Alice

I already blogged about the original Alice manuscript in the British Library and the first Alice film from 1903. John Cusack, guest-blogger on BoingBoing, recently blogged this wonderfully surreal clip of Alice by Czech animator Jan Svankmajer. Love it.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Images from the Circus

Spider Woman and friend.
Originally uploaded by DoubleM2

Most of these images are advertisements for circus and theatrical acts, primarily French, circa 1885-1925.
Thanks to DoubleM2 for an incredible collection
on flickr.

Seeing the End in Sight

Detail of not-quite finished painting by Amy Crehore (click to enlarge)

I've been playing around with my new camera. This is a quick macro close-up shot of just a portion of one my new paintings. It's a distorted photo, but the face on the larger figure is pretty sharp, so I like it. I am still touching up her hair, but basically this painting is done. I am now seeing the end in sight to a few new pieces of art which took me quite a while to paint. Hope to be blogging them in the near future. I think this one is called "The Angel at Gossamer Creek" ...if I don't change my mind.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Hand-lettered Gibson logo on UB-1

I took this close-up with my new, little digital camera. The Gibson

UB-1 banjo-uke that I have at home (above) has a logo on the headstock that is hand-lettered in what looks to be metallic gold enamel paint. This uke is probably from around 1926. Some earlier, higher grade models of the Gibson banjo uke have lettering made of pearl inlay (placed on a slant). Later models of this same uke have what appears to be "The Gibson" in a stenciled typeface which looks different than this typeface.

The L-1 Gibson guitars from this period have hand-lettered silver logos.

The thickness of the lettering varies on these instruments and there is no mistaking that a small brush and a steady hand did this work. I can just picture the artist sitting in the factory doing this particular job as I have done it myself on my own fine art ukes (link, Tickler link)

In the late 20s, Gibson also offered a few fully hand-painted models such as the Pointsettia Uke (recently on ebay) and a guitar with an Italian street scene painted on it.

I love the fonts and hand-lettering of the 1920s. And I love the early vintage instruments of Gibson.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Angel Zarraga, Painter of Nudes 1886-1946

Desnudo de Espalda con Caracol. 1926.

La femme et le pantin. 1909.

La bailarina desnuda. 1907.
Angel Zarraga was a sensitive Mexican painter in the classical tradition. His symbolist compositions were exhibited all over Europe and, later, in New York. He lived in France for a long time, but returned to his homeland in 1941 after an economic downturn in the art market. LINK, LINK
I like these nudes. Very interesting. He liked Giotto and so do I.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Venus Planet of the Year

Venus Planet of the Year
Originally uploaded by Valeshel

Image of the day

"I Got Your Ice Cold NuGrape" performed by the Hokum Scorchers

Okay, this song is a jingle written for a brand of soda that came out in 1921 called NuGrape. The Hokum Scorchers are both singing with Lou playing the National guitar (the NuGrape Twins did the original version). Lou and I recorded this in 1995 for our "Yanna's Donut" tape.

Have a listen and find out "what makes your lips go flippity-floppa" in 1926: Hokum Scorchers

(follow this link and scroll down for music player)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Happy Easter!

This is the most perfect "Easter chick" Via wackystuff on flickr.

I've been super busy finishing up a couple of paintings and a couple of painted instruments.

I have a new camera and some ideas, so stay tuned. Happy Easter weekend to everyone.

Remember, you can carve your own niche just like this girl in the egg.

The Art of Amy Crehore

April Fools French Postcards

April Fools
Originally uploaded by wackystuff

wackystuff has some great
vintage images on flickr.
Some French fish.

WACKYSTUFF