Little Nemo and Gertie

Poster from Gertie the Dinosaur 1914
Page from "Little Nemo in Slumberland" by Windsor McCay
I have always loved the comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland" by Windsor McCay. He created the strip from 1905-1911 for the New York Herald. His superb sense of design and his subtle, mischievous humor never goes out of date. It's classic! Just look at the beauty of this full page example (above). It is surreal and abstract at the same time- making use of geometry, forms and color while telling a fantastic story. I think I've seen some of those drippy backgrounds in some art being done today (green dreamy drips above). His bio says he never completed grade school, but he certainly completed a lot of great art.

"Winsor McCay (1869-1934) was one of the founding fathers of the US newspaper comic. His 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' Sunday page, with its world of magic, fantasy and dreams, visual virtuosity and inventive use of frames and page lay-out has not been equaled. But also McCay's other comics, like 'Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend' still stand out for their originality and artistic quality. In addition, McCay was a pioneer in animation art as well, and his 1909 film 'Gertie the Dinosaur' stands as the first commercial successful animated cartoon."-read more here: Lambiek.net and about Gertie here: McCay
The Art of Amy Crehore

Monovita Magazine!

Check out this brand new feature about my art at

Monovita Magazine

The Art of Amy Crehore

P.S. June 4, 2007 -This article just got boingboinged along with my newest painting, "Wild Cat Fever", which will go up to Seattle for the "Venus Show" at Roq La Rue. Don't miss this show! And buy the art. Contact Kirsten at Roq La Rue for purchases.

Amy Crehore's Venus Show Painting

Painting: "Wild Cat Fever" copyright 2007 by Amy Crehore, oil on linen panel (with carved black frame 11" square)

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Here is the new painting I did for the "Venus Show" at Roq La Rue Gallery opening June 8, 2007. This one is a little bit different. It has more of a jungle motif. The cat is an oncilla which I blogged about earlier. Other artists in the show besides me are: 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, Rik Garrett, Sarah Bereza , John Brophy, Esao Andrews, Panni Malek, and Robert Pitt. This will be a fabulous show!

That Ain't Art Blog has some of the other paintings on display.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Go here for the link to MONOVITA Magazine with a new profile of Amy Crehore (me).

Free Readings

Just for fun, you can get free Tarot, Runes, Numerology and I Ching readings on this site. They have about 20 decks for the Tarot such as a "Cat People" deck or a "Voodoo Tarot of New Orleans" deck. I like the I Ching better than the Tarot, but the Tarot decks are cool.

Facade

The Art of Amy Crehore

Early Tarot Deck

Tarot Cards are always fascinating- the older, the better:

"Tarot cards by Nicolas Bodet (1743-1751). An early example of the 'Rouen/Brussels' Latin-suited tarot, probably the earliest we know actually made in Brussels."

Bodet Tarot Cards

The Art of Amy Crehore

My Drawings

First attempt for the "Banana Eater" copyright 2005 Amy Crehore
Drawing for the "Flower Muncher" copyright 2006 Amy Crehore
Drawing for "The Nibbler" copyright 2006 Amy Crehore
Drawing for "The Creature" copyright 2006 Amy Crehore

Drawing for "The Teaser" copyright 2006 Amy Crehore

I need to upload some of these drawings to my website drawing section. Right now, I only have my "Little Pierrot" drawings on display. But, the "Monkey Love" drawings (shown above) are pretty interesting and so are the "Blues Gal" drawings. There are other newsy things happening as well that I need to add to my homepage. I'm staying busy with a few little projects that I will tell you about later.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Remedios Varo 1908-1963

Remedios Varo

Remedios Varo was a very unique and imaginative surrealist painter who was born in Spain. She hung out with other artists in Paris for a time, but fled to Mexico in 1941 where she remained for the rest of her life. She died at the young age of 55 during the peak of her success. Her best friend was Leonora Carrington, another well-known woman surrealist who used to be Max Ernst's girlfriend. These are the things that I find fascinating about Varo: her use of architecture, her inventions of strange vehicles, her big-eyed spooky characters that seem to emerge out of the ether and aren't quite real, crazy hairdos and weird costumes, her creative story-telling qualities, and the many different textures she created for backgrounds in her paintings. She had an imagination that didn't quit!

Varo was an intellectual and "was influenced by a wide range of mystic and hermetic traditions, both Western and non-Western. She turned with equal interest to the ideas of C. G. Jung as to the theories of G. I. Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, Helena Blavatsky, Meister Eckhart, and the Sufis, and was as fascinated with the legend of the Holy Grail as with sacred geometry, alchemy and the I-Ching. She saw in each of these an avenue to self-knowledge and the transformation of consciousness."-read more:

Remedios Varo

The Art of Amy Crehore