Sunday, January 30, 2011

Dali Loved Harpo Marx


Top photo shows a harp with barb-wire strings that Dali gave to Harpo Marx as a gift. In 1937, Dali wrote a surreal screenplay, Giraffes on Horseback Salads (LINK), for the Marx Brothers. It never got produced. The drawing "Surrealist Gondola Above Burning Bicycles" is connected with that script. READ a fascinating article about Dali's love for Harpo and see more pictures at :


Friday, January 28, 2011

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

Via Boingboing comes this beautiful collection of worn down and weathered children's playground folk art (from Russia with love) : LINK
Scroll and pick your favorite.

Dyed Potato Starch Grains Produced This Color

"Auguste and Louis Lumière, inventors of the motion picture camera, also invented autochromes in 1904. The process used a screen of tiny potato starch grains dyed orange-red, green and violet. Dusted onto a glass plate, the dyed grains were covered with a layer of sensitive panchromatic silver bromide emulsion. As light entered the camera, it was filtered by the dyed grains before it reached the emulsion. While the exposure time was very long, the plate could be processed easily by a photographer familiar with standard darkroom procedures. The result was a unique, realistic, positive color image on glass that required no further printing." Check out Autochromes set on the George Eastman House flickr.
(Thanks, Mr. Powell)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Got A Ukulele?

Baz, a guy from UK, has got a ukulele blog called Got A Ukulele Blog . He wrote a nice little piece about my hand-painted fine art ukes (shown above lined up on the floor of gallery in L.A. ). Thanks, Baz. Gotta love those Brits.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Black is Beautiful

Some really nice clips of Josephine Baker on this mini-film.


This is for my pal, Ruth.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Martin, Bogan and Armstrong with Jethro Burns

A couple of videos on YouTube from University of Chicago Folk Festival in late 1970's. Produced by David Affelder.
(Thanks for the tip, Jad Fair)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Miss Alma's Tattoos


Miss Alma
Originally uploaded by josefnovak33
The emperor Franz Joseph I. devotee.
RPPC

Photo is copyrighted by
josefnovak33 flickr.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Dark Pop 3.0 Show NYC, Opened Jan 15, 2011

"A Moonlit Ride", oil on linen by Amy Crehore

Here are some photos of the show I'm in at Last Rites Gallery (NYC). These two photos show my painting on the wall hanging next to Esao Andrews "Hare" piece. Looks like a great show! More photos on this
(Thanks, arrested motion blog!!)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Paintings Sold (Crehore)

"The Waiting Pool", oil on linen by Amy Crehore 24" x 12" (sold)
(Please click on image to enlarge for full effect- this is a much larger painting than I can show here.)
"Mystery Song", oil on linen by Amy Crehore 5"x7" (sold)
"French Bubble Gum Encore" oil on linen by Amy Crehore 18"x12" (sold)
"Black Ball Finale" oil on linen by Amy Crehore 16"x 16" (sold)
"A Curious Shelter" oil on linen by Amy Crehore 5"x7" (sold)
"Wild Cat Fever" oil on linen by Amy Crehore 8 3/4" x 8 3/4" (sold)
Please click on images to enlarge.

These paintings have all found wonderful new homes.
Here's a list of SOLD works from a year ago: LINK

Go see my "Moonlit Ride" painting at Last Rites Gallery, Dark Pop 3 show, if you are in NYC opens tonight 7-11pm!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Blond Slingerland Painted Banjo-uke Photos (Crehore)

Click photos to enlarge:
Side view of painted banjo-uke by Amy Crehore showing birdseye maple veneer.
Front of "Dirty Blond" Banjo-uke by Amy Crehore 2010
Headstock with authentic antique uke tuners.
Close up of painting with little pierrot on banjo head by Amy Crehore
(note: this photo does not show the original tailpiece which comes with this uke)

I finally got around to taking some real photos of my "Dirty Blond" (Slingerland) banjo-uke from the 20s. I still need to add the original tailpiece and bridge, string it up and take another photo. But, here, you can at least see a shot of the entire instrument. It's been restored and shined up by the luthier and painted by me. I've now added these photos and the photos of my green "Nip-Cat" uke to my set on flickr called Hand-painted Antique Ukes (have a look!)
Each Uke is a one-of-a-kind fine art object and playable musical instrument. Quite a few are from the 1920s which makes them quite old and rare at the same time.
(Thanks again A. Barrett)
Also check out my 2 ukes built from scratch by a luthier:

Thursday, January 13, 2011

My Green "Nip-Cat" Ukulele (Crehore)

"Nip-Cat" fine art ukulele, hand-painted design by Amy Crehore 2011
Back of Nip-Cat Ukulele showing green and silver duco finish from the late 1920s
Headstock design on Nip-Cat with gold letters (matching gold colored frets)
Design on front of Nip-Cat (devil-woman cat perched on top of brick wall, chewing on catnip-like plant)
Side-view of Nip-Cat ukulele (originally painted duco finish from 1920s)
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Here's is my finished "Nip-Cat" fine art ukulele. I believe this model is a Regal from the late 1920s. It was stored in it's original Montgomery Ward mail order box and had never been played. There was no label or name on it. It has original tuners. The original finish is a wonderful green and silver (or grey) duco finish. I enhanced this antique ukulele with my own design. I had previously painted a black duco model called "The Demon" for my "Dreamgirls and Ukes" art show in Los Angeles. This one is a lot like it, although the headstock is shaped a little differently.

Reminder: If you happen to be in NYC this weekend, you are invited to Last Rites Gallery for the Dark Pop 3.0 Group Show (a group of artists who don't normally do dark art were asked to tap into their dark side). It opens Saturday, Jan. 15th, 2011 (from 7-11pm) and continues until Feb. 12, 2011. I did a special painting for it called "A Moonlit Ride" and I blogged about it here: LINK
View the show's online preview. Contact Last Rites for more info: LINK

Monday, January 10, 2011

Juxtapoz has a new website

"Second Fiddle Infatuation" oil painting 2009 by Amy Crehore
Juxtapoz Magazine has a clean new website. I can make a search for my name and revisit some posts about my art.

Friday, January 07, 2011

Gauguin's "Still Life has Hope" up for auction

"Hope" by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (see reference to Gauguin on this link)
"Nature Morte à L'Espérance" by Paul Gauguin
A painting by Paul Gauguin will be up for auction at Christies in February. They say it is a tribute to his friend Vincent Van Gogh who had committed suicide 11 years earlier. The main subject is sunflowers (shown above), but the painting's title, "Nature Morte a L'Esperance", means "Still Life has Hope" and in the upper left hand corner is a reproduction of my favorite Pierre Puvis De Chavannes' painting called "Hope" (1872). Gauguin painted this nude with a slight turn of the head, but the title of his painting and the nude on the wall definitely pay tribute to Pierre Puvis De Chavannes. There is also a small B & W image on the wall that looks a little like a french nude postcard, but one article says it is a nod to Degas. We can only ponder the meanings. The year Gauguin painted it (in Tahiti), 1901, there was also a retrospective of Van Gogh's work in Paris. Two years after painting it, Gauguin died at age 54. LINK

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Photographer Vivian Maier

Thousands and thousands of images shot by a nanny who lived in Chicago and captured it's essence from the 50s through the 90s. Read about the incredible photographer Vivian Maier who was discovered after her death by John Maloof at an antique auction, watch a news video of her story and look for an upcoming exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. Here's the link to John's blog with more of Vivian's memorable and artistic photos such as the one shown above: LINK (Thanks, Raleigh Powell!)

Saturday, January 01, 2011

New Painting- "A Moonlit Ride"(Crehore) for NYC show

"A Moonlit Ride" oil on linen, showing frame
Click to Enlarge
New! "A Moonlit Ride" by Amy Crehore (direct scan)
Please Click to Enlarge
You may remember the drawing I did. Well, here's the finished painting, "A Moonlit Ride". It's oil on stretched linen, 12" x 10" (with 15 1/4" x 13 1/8" chocolate-colored carved frame). The painting will be part of the "Dark Pop 3" fine art show in NYC.
Looks like a good show: includes me, Buff Monster, Esao Andrews (art shown), Scott Musgrove, Mark Dean Veca, Daniel Hyun Lim, Glenn Barr, the Pizz, Brian Despain, Mr. Christopher, Beau Stanton, Molly Crabapple, Michael Page, Mark Elliot, Mark Garro, Gaia, Nouar, and more! Opens Jan 15th, 2011 (7- 11 pm) at Last Rites Gallery, NYC.
P.S. Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!

I like the way my "favorites page" looks on flickr: LINK
Here, I can collect inspiring images from my flickr friends.