A Very Talented Bear!

I could not resist posting this.
Yes, that is a bear playing a trumpet and mastering the hula hoop.

(For Raleigh Powell)


Tickler Ukulele #3 progress!

Tickler uke #3 progress showing green inlay and carved bridge, a photo by Amy Crehore on Flickr.

Here is the front of Tickler Uke #3 showing green and black inlay design and carved ebony bridge. Lou Reimuller has constructed this concert uke with amazing attention to detail. It is almost ready for me to paint the front. The back is made of beautiful figured mahogany. (See more progress shots in my Tickler Uke #3 2013 flickr set.)
Design: Amy Crehore, Luthier: Lou Reimuller

Shary Boyle represents Canada in Venice 2013

I've always liked Shary Boyles' surreal, imaginative art ever since I first saw it many years ago online. Well, I just discovered that she will represent Canada at the Venice Biennale 2013. Wow. What an amazing honor. It's wonderful to know that Canada recognizes this gifted woman as a major artist.
And, she's only 41.
The actual Venice preview opens tomorrow, May 29, 2013.
Here's a link to some of her work: Jessica Bradley Art + Projects
She paints, sculpts porcelain, does performances and installations. She made all brand new work for the Biennale. Can't wait to catch glimpses of it online. A Globe and Mail article says she worked 80 hour weeks, 14-hour days in Canada, preparing for this show, after visiting the location in Venice. She embraced the project for a year and I'm sure it will be a fabulous environment full of her own personal brand of wit, charm and artistry.
LINK 
I just wish I could see it in person.
UPDATE 5/29/13: A few photos and news story: LINK

 Virus, 2009, Shary Boyle

"Bad Boy"- a new memoir by Eric Fischl

I am spending my days working away on my new paintings and at night I am reading Eric Fischl's memoir. He starts out remembering the night of his retrospective at the Whitney Museum in the 80's. He mentions that Alex Katz had a show on the floor above. As soon as I read that, I realized that I had actually seen those shows in person just before moving out west.

I am reading it as an ibook (on my ipad) which enables me to look up paintings and people mentioned in the book as I go. So far, it's a fascinating read!

 

The Art of Amy Crehore

New Works in Progress by Amy Crehore

I'm working away to try and finish two new canvases on my easel.

Here are some glimpses of my progress.

 

The Art of Amy Crehore

 



Happy Birthday, Henri Rousseau!

Today is the day that Henri Rousseau was born in 1844. LINK 

He is shown above 8 years before his death.

Rousseaus' Sleeping Gypsy 1897 LINK 

One of my favorite paintings of all-time.



Is that my cat napping in a pot?

My cat today-, a photo by Amy Crehore on Flickr.

Or am I growing a furry-looking plant?

A Papa Charlie Jackson song performed by The Hokum Scorchers

This song is from 1929. Lou is playing the guitar-banjo and I am playing the washboard. I painted the portrait of Papa Charlie Jackson. We recorded this in 1995.
Here is the link to the Hokum Scorchers songs on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/hokumscorchers

The Art of Amy Crehore
 

Gibson Guitar Design Using Headstock for the Body

Clever guitar design using a large replica of Gibson headstock for the body and a
miniature of the same Les Paul guitar (upside-down) for the headstock. Early 50s-60s style.

I like this design. A switcheroo.

Thanks, American Blues Scene FB page



A Blue Ball for Today

"Blue Orb" by Amy Crehore 2005, oil on paper, image size 6 3/4"

 

Since artist Jeff Koons has a new show in NYC of blue balls (must be "in"), I am posting a painting that I did exactly 8 years (May 10, 2005) ago called "Blue Orb". It is part of my "Little Pierrot" series. Most of these paintings can be viewed HERE.

 

The Art of Amy Crehore

 

Yale Art Gallery Collection

Young Woman Reclining in Spanish Costume 1862-3 by Edouard Manet

This great Manet painting is in the Yale Art Gallery Collection. Check out the cat.

To see the collection online: LINK 

My grandfather went to Yale, but I have never been there.

Would love to visit this gallery in person, 

which has a superb collection of masterpieces, but for now,

I will be content to view the collection online.

Adam and Eve 1509 by Mariotto Albertinelli

LINK

 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Ray Harryhausen RIP

Thanks, boingboing.net

Father of the Modern Comic Strip: Wilhelm Busch 1832-1908

Max and Moritz (A Story of Seven Boyish Pranks)

Wilhelm Busch was a German painter and poet, best known for his drawings and funny verse. His sketches with verse for weekly magazines are considered precursors of the comic strip. He really wanted to be a great painter like the Flemish master painters and indeed he did execute 1,000 oil paintings over the course of his life, living like a hermit.

But by 1910 (2 years after his death), half a million copies of his Max and Moritz from 1865, a black comedy children's story about himself and a real life friend, were printed in German. 

The book was the forerunner of the Katzenjammer Kids and is still popular today in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

LINK

Covered in dough!

Read this book online.

(Thanks, Suzanne G for reminder)

This Says it All

Dorothy Lamour and chimp from Cult of Aphrodite Vintage