And Venus was Her Name

Oncilla-spotted South American wild cat

This exotic creature may just show up in my next painting.
I'm currently working on something for a show at Roq la Rue gallery in Seattle, WA -opening June 8th -"Venus" - an invitational group show exploring the theme of the feminine as muse, in whatever incarnation that may take - Artists: Lori Earley, Audrey Kawasaki, Travis Louie, Marion Peck, Glenn Barr, Kukula, Stella Im Hultberg, Isabel Samaras, David Bowers, Lynne Naylor, Chris Reccardi, Sas Christian, Gail Potocki, Joshua Petker, Fuco Ueda, Boomer, Krysztof Nemeth, Derek Nobbs, Jessica McCourt, Nicole Steen, Sarah Joncas, Amy Crehore, Rik Garrett, Sarah Bereza and Robert Pitt. Stayed tuned. (P.S. Actually had a cat named "Venus" once and she was wild, too.)
The Art of Amy Crehore

Sappho - A Passionate Muse

Sappho by Dannecker 1800

Sappho 1877, Charles-August Mengin (1853-1933), Oil on canvas
Sappho, World Noted Women. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1883.
Sappho , (Le coucher de Sappho), Charles Gleyre, 1867
Sappho was a Greek poet who lived around 600 BC. She wrote about love, yearning and reflection. "Most of her poems (Aeolic dialect), which were always set to music, describe erotic passion and its consequences. She was a lyric poet who developed her own particular meter, known as sapphic meter, and she was credited for leading an aesthetic movement away from classical themes of gods, to the themes of individual human experience. Sappho speaks in the first person and describes her own experiences."
-Read more HERE by Michael Lahanas
Also, there is a nice collection of female images, including Mengin's "Sappho" (which I think is an amazing painting), at Sensual Arts

The Art of Amy Crehore

Kisses and Red Monkey Butts

Children's Book by David Fair 1980
"Everybody Kissing" by David Fair
" Upside Down Kiss" by Jad Fair
"Archer" by Jad Fair

I have owned a copy of this little monkey book by artist/musician David Fair for a long, long time. Ever since it came out. It's all about Becky the Monkey's red 12" butt. It's very funny. I have another one called "Worms in It" which is extremely silly. The drawings are wonderfully naive.

Brothers David Fair and Jad Fair of Half Japanese fame (punk rock band & stars of a 1993 documentary movie) both make beautiful paper cut outs. It's a type of traditional "outsider art" that makes me very happy indeed. See more at Jad Fair's myspace page (and buy them) or on his website:
Jad Fair

The Art of Amy Crehore

Mark Mothersbaugh's Postcard Diaries

"Bring 'em in Like This, Drive 'em Home Like this" 2007 Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame has been drawing on postcards forever. He has the originals -numbering probably 30,000- all filed away, but he sells limited edition prints of these and has a gallery tour going on. These little postcards are the humorous and inspiring traces of an obsessed and highly creative man. He gets the Little Hokum Rag Seal of Approval.

Check out his latest craziness here:

Mutato Visual

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Little Bit" from Memphis

Portrait by Amy Crehore 1993
Little Laura Dukes with Robert Burse, Dick Rowles, Louis Allen, Wilfred Bell and Will Batts 1930's
Little Laura Dukes 1960

I used to want to be like this little woman when I played with the Hokum Scorchers band. They called her "Little Bit". She played with Will Batt's band all over Memphis and in other parts of the south. She was an explosive singer, dancer and ukulele player. I made this portrait of her with a special frame. She's playing a banjo uke. Unfortunately, my scanner is too small to show the entire frame which has a carved-out sunburst at the top. Recordings of Little Laura Dukes are rare and brilliant. (Photos from "Memphis Blues and Jug Bands" by Bengt Olsson, Studio Vista Books, edited by Paul Oliver)

Here is more about Little Laura Dukes from the back of the album cover of "Memphis Sessions 1956-1961" (Wolf Records, Austria) on which she plays and sings with Gus Cannon and Will Shade -

"Born on June 10, 1907 in Memphis, TN, Laura made early encounters with the music scene in her hometown: her father played drums with WC Handy's Band and often took little Laura to the local theaters and taverns, where she later worked as a singer and dancer. In 1933 she met Robert Nighthawk in East St. Louis and took guitar lessons from him, and the two appeared as a duo in various local joints. Laura later switched to the ukulele. She followed Will Batt's South Memphis Jugband in 1938 and went on the road off and on until 1956. In 1954 she recorded for Flyright with Will Batts and for the Albatross label in Memphis in 1972 and appeared in the TV-documentation "THE DEVIL'S MUSIC- A HISTORY OF THE BLUES"(BBC-1 TV England 1976)."

She plays on 9 songs on this album: "Dirty Mother For Ya", Salty Water Blues", He's Knockin' on my Door", "He's Gone", "Shanghai Blues", "Nobody loves Me", I'm Goin' Down to Lucy Mae's", "Haunted House Blues", "Laura's Blues".

The Art of Amy Crehore

Time for Krampus

More inspiration! Krampus postcards. Do you know any devils in real life? I do.

I'd rather draw them than know them. Might just have to do that.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Banks Are Cool

Check out these vintage mechanical banks and the graphics on the old trading cards. The drawings are beautiful as well as the worn-down look of the old toys. Inspiring!!

See more here: Mechanical Banks Online

The Art of Amy Crehore

P.S. I was just thinking how much more beautiful these banks are in their worn-down state than any of the vinyl designer toys available today. None of the new toys are as innovative as these old babies. Designer toys are just about as articulated as toys-for-tots. The graphics and printing are far superior on the old advertising cards, too.