1883 Circus in Vermont

Photo courtesy Shelburne Museum
Colchester, Vermont, 1991- the removal of siding revealed five beautiful circus posters pasted onto the boards beneath the siding of a house. The posters were mounted on the house when a circus came to town in 1883, and they remained hidden for the next 108 years. The home owners, Gladys and Harold Degree, donated the posters to the Shelburne Museum, boards and all.
The newly conserved posters will be one of the centerpieces of Shelburne Museum’s new exhibit, "Circus Day in America", (May 16 through October 24)
Shelburne Museum
(Rt. 7, Vermont)
Have a look at these fascinating images:
Flickr set Shelburne- preserving the posters
Read Story: Northeast Document Conservation Center website

Thanks, Tom!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Girl on a Miniature Horse and a Clown-child (Crehore)

Background detail of "The Angel at Gossamer Creek"painting by Amy Crehore 2010 (direct scan)

Background detail of "The Waiting Pool" painting by Amy Crehore 2010 (direct scan)

Here's just a glimpse of my two new paintings. They have lots of layers of paint. I am waiting for the weather to clear before I can take slides of the completed paintings. Then I will scan the slides for you. "The Waiting Pool" has 10 figures in it. I allowed myself to work on them for as long as I wanted to and they took me... a long time! I scanned these small details directly from the paintings.

The Art of Amy Crehore

She Demons

Mrs. Crehore is Mentioned in Shaw's Civil War Letter

I knew we had ancestors in Milton, MA (Benjamin Crehore -maker of the first pianos in America). In the film "Glory", Matthew Broderick plays Col. Robert Gould Shaw, white commander of the black 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the Civil War. In a letter written by the real Col. Shaw to his mother on May 17, 1863, he indicates that he is staying with a "Mrs. Crehore" in Readville, MA which is very close to Milton.

Blue Eyed Child of Fortune is a a book of letters by Shaw.(shown above-amazon) I came across a few of these letters on Written in Glory , a website with letters by the soldiers of the 54th Regiment. A letter by Shaw to his sister states- " Will you please tell Mrs. Crehore to expect us on Tuesday? No matter whether she wants us or not, we are coming."

1863, Readville, MA

This is so interesting! There are 3 letters mentioning Mrs. Crehore on this website.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Steamship Travel Posters from Japan

Early 20th century travel posters for Japanese steamship companies (from the book Miwaku no Funatabi, published by the Museum of Maritime Science, 1993) via pinktentacle

Aren't these cool? The expressions of the people are a bit blank, except for the one at the top with the handkerchief and daisy. That might be my favorite because it shows emotion. The rendering is beautiful. Most are from 1909-1919.

Thanks, Internet Weekly for pointing them out.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Legs

Willy Ronis, Dessous de l'Opera, 1948
Originally uploaded by kraftgenie

Photo by Willy Ronis, Dessous de l'Opera, 1948.
kraftgenie has some interesting sets
on flickr including this one called "legs".
This reminds me- my own paintings
have a lot of legs.
Love this photo.

Winner of My Contest

Okay. I've decided. The winner of my "Name the Monkey in the Sailor Hat" contest is Sugarpie with the name "Romeo". Please contact me by email for your prize.

I really enjoyed reading all of the entries. Very clever and creative. Thank you all for playing.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Thanks...

Detail of face from new painting- enlarged- painting 2010 Amy Crehore

Thanks to everyone for entering my contest. And, thanks to all of the people who have ordered prints and t-shirts, bought my original art, and shown interest in my art. I really appreciate your support. I am planning more surprises in the future, so stay tuned. I will sort through all of the names and pick one for my little monkey in the sailor hat. I hope to have the results very soon!
The Art of Amy Crehore

Spring Portrait

Spring Portrait
Originally uploaded by AtypicalArt

mom

mom
Originally uploaded by Amy Crehore

giving thanks to my mom

New Interview and "Banana Eater" Give Away!

"The Banana Eater" painting by Amy Crehore 2005

I want to tell you about a brand new, fun interview with me over at

Uke Can Play. (Thanks, Beatnik!)

In celebration of this new interview, I'd like to give away an artist signed, framed giclee on canvas by the famous printers at Pressure Printing. (printer of Porterhouse/Mark Ryden) This print has a value of $750. and there are only 23 framed prints in existence. (product shown above, click to enlarge)

This oil painting was the first painting in my Monkey Love series. It appeared in the very first Blab! Art Show at Track 16 in Santa Monica in 2005. It was also published in Blab! 17 by Fantagraphics.

MY MONKEY IN THE SAILOR HAT NEEDS A NAME.

NOTE: This particular contest is only for people who are located in the USA (preferably mainland due to shipping concerns). Please leave only ONE comment per person (if you leave more than one comment you will be disqualified). You can enter up to 3 names for my monkey in the sailor hat. The name that I like best will win the framed print (#21, unopened-mint condition-in the box it came in). You have until Wed, May 12th midnight pst to leave your entry in the comment section of this blog. Thank you and good luck. I will announce the winner on this blog by the end of next week. The winner will need to contact me by email.

The Art of Amy Crehore

recent boingboing about my ukes: here and here

Lady Gaga Shoes

The Shoes
Originally uploaded by joe holmes

Lady Gaga was at MOMA with
these shoes on.
Thanks, joe holmes.

Banjo World

I can't even begin to describe the goodies on this website.

BANJO WORLD

Etchings as Illustrations 1922

I like these. They are illustrations by Stefan Eggeler for a 1922 edition of Gustav Meyrink's Walpurgisnacht. From the collection of Richard Sica.

Read more at A JOURNEY ROUND MY SKULL blog. Thanks, Will.

The Art of Amy Crehore

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

New Comic Art by John Martz

Illustration Copyright John Martz

Here is a page from a mini-comic by John Martz called "It's Snowing Outside...We Should Go For a Walk". This humorous little gem was just nominated for Best Emerging Talent, 2010 Doug Wright Awards. It's temporarily sold out, but John will have some copies at MoCCA (April 10, and 11) and then he'll restock it. You can read it online here. I got my copy this week and it's wonderful. There's no doubt why it was nominated- the elegant simplicity of it's snowy design and it's perfect little story. I hope it wins, but meanwhile he has another little treat in his shop (top photo): "Heaven All Day", an even more ambitious comic without words. You can read it and, also, buy it: here and here.
He also has art prints for sale on his newly designed website:
John Martz
What is it about Canada that breeds great comic artists, writers, musicians. The snow?

The Art of Amy Crehore

New Book by Mark Frauenfelder- "Made by Hand"

"Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World" (Hardcover) by Mark Frauenfelder is available for pre-order at Amazon and elsewhere. I'm looking forward to this! Here's a link to more info about the book: LINK

The Jungle Nymph

A friend sent one of these to the house the other day.

Only it was a dried specimen under glass (aka heteropteryx dilatata female).

Pretty amazing. Video courtesy of gallan30 (Bug Boy).

My Green Duco Vintage Ukulele

Nip-Cat Design for headstock of vintage green duco ukulele 1920's, copyright Amy Crehore

Back of my green duco-finish uke from the late 1920s. Click to enlarge.
There's a beautiful green duco-finish vintage ukulele in my collection that I am getting ready to enhance. I won't touch the back and sides, but I have something in mind for the headstock and part of the front. Here's my pencil sketch for the headstock design. I call it my "Nip-Cat" uke. I scanned the back of the actual uke on my scanner bed. You can see the gray and green crystallized finish. This baby was found in it's original Montgomery Ward mail order box and had never been played.
More of my hand-painted fine art ukes can be found here , here and here. Some are vintage and some are built from scratch. My Dreamgirl's gallery show in L.A. last year featured 13 of them including another duco (a black one) called The Demon.

The Art of Amy Crehore

My Mobile site

People and Their Houses

Photo copyright lovedaylemon

Lovedaylemon has the most beautiful vintage set on flickr of people standing in front of their houses (such as the gothic victorian house above).
Us Outside Our House

(flickr)

A Grandfather's Trip Around the World, 1926

click on image to enlarge (detail of larger photo, copyright Mark Lowrie)

Hawaii, 1927. One of the girls is playing a pineapple uke. This photo looks as fresh as if it were taken yesterday. And, in a way, it is that fresh. My good friend, photographer Mark Lowrie from L.A., recently found a treasure box of negatives of his grandfather's trip around the world. His grandfather's name was Robert Henry Lowrie and they called him "Bulldog". He was an engineering teacher in Honolulu. When he got divorced in 1926, he decided to take a trip around the world. Mark had read his grandfather's journal many times, but he didn't realize there were photos, too. The contents of the box were so amazing, that Mark decided to put together a book:

"This book is a combination of his day to day journal entries and recently discovered photographs of the journey. Following the trade routes by ship around the globe, there are period photos of Japan, China, the Philippines, Ceylon, the Mid East, Europe, and a road trip across the United States. He flies across the English Channel, (the year before Lindy crosses the Atlantic), meets the President at the White House and the Pope at the Vatican (refusing to kiss his ring)."

How cool is that? Here's the link to Mark's book:

"The Voyage of 'Bulldog' Lowrie"

The Art of Amy Crehore

Gus Cannon,100 years old, playing banjo

thanks, suprovalco — A mini-documentary with a short clip of Gus Cannon playing ragtime banjo- "Walk Right In"- at age 100! He had a jug band called Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers in the 20's and 30's. Read more about his career and life: LINK

New Crehore Artwork

Above is a quick (distorted) scan of a recently painted headstock. I tried to scan the painted banjo head, but it didn't work. This banjo-uke is finished except for the varnish, tuners, etc. When done, I will take complete photos. I am drawing up designs for more ukes, plus working on some complicated canvases at the moment. More often than not, art takes longer than you would imagine. I experience many ups and downs during the process, especially when I'm charting new territory for myself. It can be frustrating and exhilarating...from one day to the next. Just like the weather.

The Art of Amy Crehore