Saying Goodbye to Weed Smoker's Dream

A nice collector from Texas just bought my "Weed Smoker's Dream" painting. It was part of my "Dreamgirls and Ukes"solo show in L.A. (2009). I spent the day packing it up for shipment.

(painting shown above ©Amy Crehore)

The Art of Amy Crehore

 

For my next post, I'm going to pass along some cool and funny links that I have collected.

Stay tuned.

 

Girls with Ukes

"Song of the Wind" (SOLD) 2009 6" x 6" oil on linen by Amy Crehore

 

Another new collector came along and snagged this little painting last week. One of the girls in the painting is holding a round camp uke. This piece was part of my Dreamgirls and Ukes solo show in Los Angeles.
This week, I am working on an illustration job and trying to finish up the new "Twitch" ukulele. I will show my finished paint job soon, so please stay tuned!

The Art of Amy Crehore 

 

Girl and Bogeyman photos 1920s

More photos on Hyperallergic blog (photos via ebay listing)



Girl on Beach Autochrome 1913

Isn't this lovely? An autochrome from 1913 showing a girl in her bathing outfit looking just so contemporary. I live for images like these.
More by Mervyn Joseph Pius O' Gorman: LINK

(Thanks Kim Deitch facebook and Carlos Lara twitter )

Tickler # 3 Uke: The "Twitch" headstock

I'm still working away on the paint job of Tickler #3. Here's a glimpse of the progress. See the cat wood fingerboard with the green and black binding (which continues around the headstock)? And the carved bow tie on the cat? I will show you the rest soon. Still not quite done, but getting there....

 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Painting Progress: Tickler Uke #3 (Crehore)

I sketched out my idea on the body of the uke and blocked in some color. I have a general idea of how this will go, but things can always can change as I paint. I will strive for a harmonious design, yet the main image will be very much like one of my oil paintings. I am using the green inlay, the carved bridge and the shape of the headstock as an integral part of my painted design. This photo shows some of the side wood (gorgeous mahogany), black binding and green/black inlay at bottom.

The Art of Amy Crehore

(See previous posts for earlier steps in progress)

Painting Tickler Uke #3 (Crehore)

I sketched this design out for the body of the new "TWITCH" concert ukulele that Lou

Reimuller built. See my earlier post for the headstock design. More to come.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Progress - Painting Tickler Uke #3 (Crehore)

Painting a custom ukulele is a delicate process- especially a uke that I designed and that took more than a few years to realize. I am slowly working my way down from the headstock to the body.

See the tiny green bow tie that Lou carved? It will be mounted under the cat's chin. It is only one of the sculptural details on this very special concert uke. P.S. This cat is far from finished, this is just a progress photo taken with my ipad.

The Art of Amy Crehore

 



Tickler Ukulele #3 -Paint Job (Crehore)

I've already shown you glimpses of my custom-built Tickler Ukulele #3 in progress, but here's a peek of the actual headstock being painted.

The bottom photo shows a test strip of a few do-dads painted on a sample piece of maple.
 Lou Reimuller (luthier) did the most beautiful job building this wonderful concert ukulele and it is really getting to the final stages now. Yes, it has been slow going, but this uke is special.
I just hope my paint job will live up to the rest of the amazing and intricate details on this uke.
 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Gorgeous Sepia Tone Photos of London 1877

Photographer: John Thomson
Recruiting Sergeants At Westminster
[Street Life in London] 1877
WoodburytypeLondon School of Economics - Digital Library

Photographer: John Thomson
Italian Street Musicians
[Street Life in London] 1877
WoodburytypeLondon School of Economics - Digital Library

 

Design Observer's John Foster has posted a whole bunch of amazing photographs taken by photographer John Thomson of the street life in London in the late 1800s. Thomson's bio and photos were found via Luminous Lint, a website that specializes in fine photography.

Follow the link below to view more of these spectacular street photos

and read the article at Design Observer:

LINK

Also, John Thomson at Luminous Lint

 

The Art of Amy Crehore



More cool links from Little Hokum Rag

Amy Crehore Studio July 2013

As I begin to start the next two paintings in new my series, I am blogging a new list of links that might be of interest-

1.  Amazing ukulele w/flashing lights (youtube)Le Le AvantGarde by lighting ukulele LINK !
2. The link above was tweeted by Bosko and Honey of Ukulele Safari (thanks!)
3. See models buried in sand w/bathing caps & red lipstick, the surreal fifties The Nifty Fifties !
4. Collection of 7 videos of 60s/70s bands/performers doing the song Season of the Witch LINK !
5. Giant sculpture of Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) from Pride and Prejudice in lake HUH magazine !
6. How a Bat is like a Bow String from Science Now: LINK  (Thanks Internet Weekly) !
7. BoingBoing featured my newest painting A Gymnast's Memory of Fall LINK !
8. Internet Weekly also featured same painting in their wonderful Art LINKS section!
9. Internet Weekly featured my A Bellhop's Memory of Spring the week before that. LINK !
10. Mardecortesbaja also posted my Gymnast's painting. Thanks, Lloyd!

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Drawings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

 Avarice 1556

Spring 1565

Mountain Landscape by a River 1553

 

(Click images to enlarge)

A few years ago, I bought an old copy of Pieter Bruegel The Drawings (Complete Edition) by Ludwig Munz , a Phaidon book from 1961. The book is thick and a little musty, but I never get tired of looking at these drawings (just as I never tire of  Goya's Los Caprichos of 1799). Shown above are some examples that I found online. (Follow link to see more.) The landscape drawings, in particular, have proven to be a wonderful reference source for me as they show the architecture of mountains and streams from afar.
I always think about Van Gogh when I see Bruegel's drawings.
He must have studied them intensely. I can see a definite Bruegel influence of style and subject matter in Van Gogh's own drawings.

The Art of Amy Crehore

 

What Have I Been Up To?

"Cloudy Day Blues" 12" x 12", oil on wood ©Amy Crehore 2009 (sold)

 

I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything for over a week. I hope you all had a great 4th of July holiday! I hurt my right arm and had to rest it for 5-6 days. It feels better today, so I am able to give you an update. A couple of paintings have sold including the new one "A Gymnast's Memory of Fall". The other painting is from 2009, shown above.

I have been reading the book "Summer in February" which is also a new movie . It is about artists living in Cornwall, UK in 1913. These artists include Dame Laura Knight, her husband Harold, and A.J. Munnings. It is a novel based on real people by Jonathan Smith. I have not only discovered the artists that I just mentioned by reading this book, but also some painters who came before them Jules Bastien-Lepage (the Cornwall artists all worshipped him, his magnificient Joan of Arc hangs in the Met) and Marie Bashkirtseff who wrote a journal which I now want to read.

I'm getting back to drawing and painting now!

 

The Art of Amy Crehore

New Painting: "A Gymnast's Memory of Fall" (Amy Crehore)

 

Here's my second painting in my new series. It is called "A Gymnast's Memory of Fall".

Oil on linen, 12" x 14" ©Amy Crehore 2013 (Update: this painting has been sold)

I want to thank Boing Boing for blogging this- here's their LINK

 You can also view this painting larger here. 

Both paintings are now on the homepage of my website-

The Art of Amy Crehore
First painting in the series is called "A Bellhop's Memory of Spring".

Some Links for Your Enjoyment

"The Steps" by painter Jeffrey Smart

1. Interview with wonderful poet & artist Lang Leav - Mirrors Magazine (Lang, thanks for the mention of my art!)
2. Lang Leav's new poetry book, Love & Misadventure, is now available on amazon  and elsewhere (I received my delightful copy on Friday!) Audio clip: LINK
3. Interview with writer Lloyd Fonvielle at the uncouth reflections blog
4. Lloyd Fonvielle's recent e-book: Missouri Green . 
5. 10 tips for a healthy life from world's oldest person LINK
6. The Coralino Project LINK . Very interesting! Grow some coral.
7. Chinese Medicine paintings Zhang Huan (click on slideshow to see paintings made from herbs) LINK 
8. Writer Amy Tan has a ukulele (she likes to spell it ukelele) LINK 
9. Jeffrey Smart, the painter, died recently LINK (a wonderful painting of his is shown above). Check out google images for more. I just discovered him upon his death.
10. "Tall" painting (Holton Rower) on youtube: LINK 
11. Kozmicdogz Breaks Loose posted my studio picture, Thanks, Tom!
12. Another artist that I just discovered - Dame Laura Knight - she did some wonderful cove/cliff paintings around 1917. Here's a LINK 
13. Beer with painter Julie Heffernan LINK
14. Blue Jasmine trailer LINK (Woody Allen's new film coming out in July).
15. Modern Arts Notes Podcast with painter Eric Fischl LINK 
16. Gweek 100 podcast featuring A. J. Jacobs: LINK  Congrats, Mark Frauenfelder for 100th episode of Gweek! (Our Hokum Scorcher's music is on Gweek 014, 015 and 017)
17. L.S. Lowry at Tate: LINK

Stay tuned to this blog.

I will be posting the number two painting in my new series very soon.
See my first painting in the series here (A Bellhop's Memory of Spring)

The Art of Amy Crehore

artofamycrehore.blogspot.com

New Painting: "A Bellhop's Memory of Spring" (Amy Crehore)

Here's one of my new paintings. It is called "A Bellhop's Memory of Spring" ©2013 Amy Crehore , 12" x 14", oil on linen. I will post another one in this series soon. (Image is slightly cropped on left side due to scan.)

The Art of Amy Crehore

See this image larger here: http://artofamycrehore.blogspot.com/2013/06/new-painting-bellhops-memory-of-spring.html



Finishing up two new works (Crehore paintings)

Studio shot 6/10/13

The Art of Amy Crehore



"The Beatniks" Trailer

My friend Ted Salins teaches a film production class at Randolph Macon. His students concentrate on writing, directing, art directing and doing all the filming and sound recording themselves with Ted supervising. He edited some of their footage together into this faux "Coming Attraction". Ted assigned the Beatnik theme to his students so that they learn how to research an era for props, lingo, acting style and costumes.
They write scripts and then translate them into " beatnik" language.

Nudes in Nature

Painting by Emile Chambon

 Painting by Henri Rousseau

 

A couple of paintings I recently discovered - one by Emile Chambon of two nude women in the woods. One girl is standing up and displaying a just little bit of herself. The other girl is revealing absolutely nothing of herself with a cloth draped perfectly over her private parts, but she is looking intently at the other one. This painting has a wonderful sense of humor as does some of the other work by this artist. Chambon seems to rely heavily on compositional elements taken directly from Balthus in many of his paintings, but this is a nice example of his unique work.

The other painting is by Henri Rousseau. It is a charming scene of a big black dog getting it on with a lovely nude who happens to have a mirror in her hand.

(Just noticed the mirror!) This is a painting that I had never seen before.

Henri, you are a bad boy!

This is yet another example of humor in art history.

The great masters of art knew how to have fun.

Thank god for these artists. They keep me on track.

Now, back to painting....

I am finishing up my two new ones. Stay tuned!

 

The Art of Amy Crehore

 

(Thanks, Ralph Paine for sharing Henri Rousseau image) 



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

Black Cat Roller Derby Woman (1800s)

What a super photo! From Cult of Aphrodite Vintage: LINK 

(Thanks, Laquita)

Photo of the day!

Now, you know I love this one!

A beautiful photo of Buster Keaton with a pet monkey in a sailor suit.

 

(Thanks Decaying Hollywood Mansions)

 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Cat tricks

 Cat with a hula hoop.

(Thanks, Gisele Metten FB)

Bottom photo: I captured my own cat standing on my porch. Isn't she cute?

She kind of resembles the cat with the hula hoop

don't you think? I will have to get her a hula hoop!

You can see how inspirational my own cat is.  

(Photo by Amy Crehore)

Watch Bootsy show you how to play funk

Thanks go to Benjamin Phillips on twitter

A Rauch with Guitar

Neo Rauch, Rauch, 2005,

Privatsammlung, courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin und David Zwirner,

New York/London - Photo: Uwe Walter, Berlin

This is one of my favorite paintings by Neo Rauch.

It is a small self-portrait with a guitar.

There is an exhibit in Brussels at the BOZAR of

his work thru May 19th, 2013. Here's a link with a video of the show:

BOZAR 

I heard that his birthday was April 18th.

Tickler #3 - A Concert Ukulele (Crehore)

Tickler # 3 is getting near the point where I will soon be painting the top and headstock. This is a photo of the bridge being set up. As you can see, the bridge is made of carved ebony (lovingly carved by luthier Lou Reimuller) - it is my original design, as is the uke itself. There will be bridge pins and a saddle, so this is just a glimpse of what it will look like. There are also many other great features that this photo doesn't even begin to show. I will reveal them a little later on. Stay tuned!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Photos of Lou Reimuller's work bench (luthier).
Lou has worked so hard on this and his craftsmanship is near perfection.
Here's the link to a couple more photos of this # 3 uke in progress on flickr.

Also, Link to Tickler #2 which is a soprano pineapple model (that I designed and Lou built).

Back to Work- (Amy Crehore Studio)

Back to work. Two at once.

Amy Crehore Studio April 18, 2013

 

The Art of Amy Crehore 

artofamycrehore.blogspot.com

 

 

The Stick- Jonathan Winters RIP



Life on the Moon Imagined in 1836

 

Imagined Life on the Moon (from Smithsonian Picture Libraries)

Leopoldo Galluzzo in 1836

LINK

 Thanks Mark, boingboing.net

 

 

These reminded me a little bit of Marcel Dzama's art.

He is having a show at David Zwirmer (London) right now.

 



Yanna's Donut performed by the Hokum Scorchers

This is the Hokum Scorchers's adapted version of a Spark Plug Smith tune of 1933 called "Mama's Donut". We recorded this in 1995. Lou Reimuller plays National guitar and I play the washboard.

 

The Art of Amy Crehore