Electric Quilts

Inger Brommeland, Hawaiian Applique Quilt, Norway
Heather Miller, Tropical Garden Quilt, Washington State
Inger Brommeland, Hawaiian Applique-block, NorwayMaureen Callahan, Synchronized SwimmingOriginal Design, Wilson, NY

I always loved Amish quilts for their sophisticated use of bright, contrasting colors and geometric designs even though the apparel of the Amish people themselves is modest and simple, with little color.

The Electric Quilt website had a contest to "Design a block in the Hawaiian appliqué style" and they have a gallery with 124 examples. These Hawaiian applique designs have so much in common with Amish designs.

Have a look at this wonderfully inspiring form of traditional, yet modern, "Op Art":

Electric Quilt

The Art of Amy Crehore

Gallery of Vintage Magazine Cover Art

Dutch Treat Club Yearbook Cover 1937
Photoplay Cover 1920
Truth Cover 1900
Amazing Stories Cover 1926

One thing leads to another. After I blogged those beautiful book endpapers from the Dutch Treat Club yearbooks of the 1940's, I went searching for more information. I found out that the Dutch Treat Club is a club that was founded in 1905 for people in the creative fields of art, literature and theater in NYC. They still have luncheons every Tuesday with guest speakers and entertainers at the National Arts Club. -link
Ellis Parker Butler, American author and humorist, was a member of the Dutch Treat Club and he was published in it's yearbook from 1921-1947. On a website dedicated to his work, there is a section with internal links to a wide assortment of vintage magazine covers. His stories were featured in all of these magazines. This is an amazing archive of images:
VINTAGE MAGAZINE COVER ART

The Art of Amy Crehore

Gallery of End Papers

Dutch Treat Club 1940
Dutch Treat Club 1945
Dutch Treat Club 1946

Nancy Stahl had a brilliant idea when she asked other illustrators over at the Drawger blog to post their favorite end papers. She ended up with a beautiful collection of mostly vintage illustrations. These examples show unique and inspiring combos of design, illustration and photography. I especially like the Dutch Treat Club end papers posted by Stephen Kroninger (shown above). Here's the link:

END PAPERS

The Art of Amy Crehore

Polka-dot Woman

Here she is in the sixties, making herself into art. She started painting dots at age ten according to her bio and she has had a long, successful career of it. Yayoi Kusama is a woman who has had a lifetime obsession with DOTS and it has served her well. She has had a lot of museum shows and "happenings" over the years.

Here are some of her products you can buy, she has left no stone un-dotted:

Yayoi Kusama

The Art of Amy Crehore

Just Have Faith

Detail of sketch for new painting by Amy Crehore

I am busy working on a large oil painting that has all of my characters in it. It's coming along just the the way it's supposed to. After working on small canvases for a few years, I was ready to work large again. Back to my old ways! There's my pierrot, my cat, my monkey, my gal, and even my demon in this one. I've got a beautiful bird bath and some green, green grass. She appears to be a blues gal because she's playing a guitar, but she is looking more like the girl in my "Little Pierrot" paintings -which means that she looks more like me.

This painting will be unveiled in November at a gallery in Santa Monica, CA.I will be blogging more about that show and it's curator soon.

Remember, when things don't go a certain way, just have faith in yourself and be flexible. Everything that happens is for a reason. It's exactly the way it's supposed to be.

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Fifties

Esquire cover 1951 or 1952

This is up on ebay for bidding.

It reminds me of something, but I can't say what.

There's the little Esquire guy with the bug eyes ... whom Liz doesn't seem to notice.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Art Lovers Rejoice!

If you don't have a model handy, here's a handy website full of art e-books for the art lover. Vintage photos are quite beautiful and entertaining. Sumthin' for everyone. I actually don't use these things for my art, but I enjoy looking at them. I prefer to draw from memory and imagination.

Fishes Eye Publishing

The Art of Amy Crehore