A Botticelli Face

1482 Sandro Botticelli, Tempera on wood, Detail from "Primavera"
Picasso drawing of Marie-Terese Walter

"Italian painter Botticelli was Florentine and extremely successful at the peak of his career, with a highly individual and graceful style founded on the rhythmic capabilities of outline. With the emergence of the High Renaissance style at the turn of the 16th century, he fell out of fashion, died in obscurity and was only returned to his position as one of the best-loved quattrocento painters through the interest of Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites."

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I added the Picasso drawing because I like it. It seems to have that same feeling of soulful youth that the Botticelli does, with the girl gazing directly at the viewer. Both girls are rendered like angels. I definitely relate to the painters that came before the High Renaissance- the Early Italian Primitive ones like Giotto, Fra Angelico and Botticelli.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Kamaka Pineapple Ukes

Sam K. Kamaka and his famous pineapple uke

I love Kamaka's ukes that are painted to look just like a pineapple.

"The most famous ukulele design invented by Sam Kamaka, Sr. was the pineapple ukulele. He came up with this shape in 1916 with the purpose of making a small ukulele with a fuller and warmer sound, although there is another story that the pineapple uke was just easier to make (no bending of the sides)." Read more history here:

Kamaka Ukes

The Art of Amy Crehore

Wuthering Heights and Balthus

Illustrating the book, "Wuthering Heights" (1932-1935), shaped the painting career of Balthus. Many of his paintings were derived from these drawings. As you can see, it's all about angles and geometry with Balthus. That is why I find him so fascinating. For more glimpses of the book : Art Textbooks

and a quote from Balthus via Philosophical Conversations:

‘I am a very emotional man, perhaps too much so… My youth was an absolute whirlwind of Feelings, exactly like Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, which I illustrated. I was completely at home in this novel. It described my youth perfectly. I was in love with Antionette – de Watteville – and I was determined to win her. But Antionette, on top of being a difficult girl, was already engaged to someone else. I reread her letters every evening. I think that, like Heathcliffe, I didn’t want to leave adolescence.’

And, from artic.edu Caty Telfair :

"The drawings that Balthus produced for Wuthering Heights proved to be seminal for him as an artist; no fewer than ten of his later best-known canvases draw compositional elements directly from these illustrations."

The Art of Amy Crehore

On Painting

I still have one more day to go on my new painting. It's psychedelic and the girl figure has a twisty-turny pose, so it's a been a puzzle to get just the right balance of angles and curves. This painting has a lot of geometry. And I'm going a litle crazy on it.

Stay tuned.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Marion Peck News

Here's Marion Peck standing in front of a magnificent painting at the opening of her exhibit at Billy Shire Fine Art over the weekend. It must have taken her a year to paint this painting. Photo courtesy of Val Gal Art . You can read more about her opening by following the link. More power to women painters! I can totally relate to the time spent, the attention to detail and layering of oil paint to get these effects. Good job Marion.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Odalisque by Gauguin

The new gallery of 19th and 20th-century art at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow includes Gauguin's "Te Arii Vahine" ("The King's Wife"), from 1896. She's posed like an odalisque, but she's the king's wife (not a slave girl). By the way, my new painting will be unveiled early next week. It has taken much longer than expected.

(Thanks to Chris Keeley at Daily Dreamtime)

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Genius of Ishikawa Toraji

Playing 1936
Standing Nude 1934
Black Cat 1934

These prints by Ishikawa Toraji are inspiring in so many ways. The colors and sense of design, the gestures and narrative. It's so great to discover someone's art that I can completely relate to. See more of them here:
Hanga Gallery

The Art of Amy Crehore