The Silent Vamps

Anna May Wong
Louise Brooks
Lily Damita
Jean Harlow
Silent Ladies
had all the fun.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Labels

British Cracker Label with banjo and guitar
Vintage Cigar Box Label
See more examples here:
Cerebro

The Art of Amy Crehore

Casino De Paris Nudes

Check out this amazing collection of vintage costumed hand-colored nudes on flickr:

Casino De Paris

(Thanks Daily Dreamtime for the link via All About Nothing )

The Art of Amy Crehore

Giovanni Bellini's Nude

Naked Young Woman in Front of Mirror 1515

Giovanni Bellini (1430- 1516)painted his first female nude when he was about 85 years old!

It was only a year before he died. I really like this painting.

"He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style. Through the use of clear, slow-drying oil paints, Giovanni created deep, rich tints and detailed shadings. His sumptuous coloring and fluent, atmospheric landscapes had a great effect on the Venetian painting school, especially on his pupils Giorgione and Titian."

read more at Wikipedia

The Art of Amy Crehore

A Corset Made of Bosch

Miss Suzanne G of the wonderful wurzeltod art blog

sent me a link to a stunning corset her friend

made out of printed Bosch fabric. Cool! Check it out:

Entre Nous

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Hip Fashions of H. Bosch

Details from the "Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch (Prado, Madrid)

Cherries and dice make good hats. Especially when you are wearing nothing else. Just ask Hieronymus Bosch. Oh, you can't...he's dead. Well, nevermind. He was ahead of his time obviously. These fashions he created are quite contemporary, don't you think?

"The extraordinary painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) stands apart from the prevailing Flemish traditions in painting. His style was unique, strikingly free, and his symbolism, unforgettably vivid, remains unparalleled to this day."

Read more about Bosch here: ibiblio.org
The Art of Amy Crehore

Practicing One's Craft

"Curtains" Painting copyright Amy Crehore

Seth Godin posted this on his blog the other day:
Art that's not for sale
"Jordan Tierney and her colleagues have been working for months on the Periodic Tableaux, a one-of-a-kind art book that's not for sale.
Why invest the hours and the sweat and the talent in a piece of art you can't (and won't) sell?
Two reasons. The best reason is that when you practice your craft for yourself, not for the market, it drives you in new and important ways. And the other reason is that people are going to talk about it. Ideas that spread, win."

LINK

I totally agree about practicing your craft for yourself first. That is what I have done all of my life and certain people who think "money first" tend to think I am crazy. I have actually had people say, "Why even do it, if you aren't selling it?" They just don't understand the creative process and the goals of an artist. I could have been strictly a cartoonist-type illustrator (I did plenty of it) when I was younger for money, but I wanted to learn how to paint in a more representational way. I wanted to come up with my own unique way of painting. Not realism, but imaginative painting that transports you to a place that is "realer than real". I needed the challenge of painting with oils. I had a vision. It was a long-term goal. I struggled for years. Over humps and into valleys. I devoured art history books. Sometimes a painting would take me months with a hundred paintings underneath. I persevered. It was all about putting love and my own experiences into the work and letting my humor and ideas flow freely without fear. And painting things over and over and over until they "felt" right. I think it was worth it - to get to the place I am now.

(Thanks to Marshall at artnewyorkcity.com for the link)

The Art of Amy Crehore

(above image from my "Little Pierrot" series which started as an experiment and has evolved into 3 different series of works.)