Sparkling Chapels Built of Trash, Glass and Obsidian

Howard Finster with his banjo

Howard Finster's Chapel at "Paradise Garden"
Rasmus Peterson's Rock Garden

Martin Sanchez's beer bottle chapel
It's time to visit Marlow Harris and JoDavid's blog, Unusual Life, for another glimpse of the good things in life - namely, the work of folk artist Martin Sanchez who built his own little oasis at his "Tio’s Tacos" restaurant on Mission Inn Avenue in Riverside, California.
UNUSUAL LIFE has plenty of pictures and descriptive copy about this wonderful place.
It reminds me of my other favorite folk artist, Howard Finster (link) who built "Paradise Garden" in Summerville, GA out of anything he could get his hands on. I saw him play the banjo back in 1985 or so at the University of Richmond. He was a painter, preacher and musician.
In Oregon, we have a place called Petersen's Rock Garden which is located out in the desert near Bend, OR. Rasmus Peterson quietly built his little heaven from 1935-1952 out of Oregon agates, obsidian, petrified wood, malachite and jasper. He was originally from Denmark. I love to take people there on day trips. When the sun shines, the place is magic.
I live for this kind of stuff! All of these artists are truly inspiring to me.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Herge and Tintin Unequaled

Herge with Andy Warhol in 1977. Photograph: Hergé-Moulinsart 2006

Tintin and Snowy
A post on boingboing about a Tintin movie reminded me of the original art and how much I love the clean graphic, surreal style of it. Herge's real name was Georges Remi and he was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1907 and died in 1983. He signed his drawings with Herge since he was 17 (reversing his initials to R.G. in French). Tintin and Snowy were first drawn in 1929 to appear in Le Petit Vingtieme, a children's supplement to a Belgian newspaper (which Georges Remi was chief editor of). The first Tintin book was published in 1930, "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets". The serialised strips were collected into 23 albums in all. The Pompidou Center in Paris had an exhibit devoted to Herge and his works this past year. Here's a picture of Herge and Andy Warhol in 1977 from the Guardian Unlimited blog article. You can tell that Andy is in awe of and humbled by the real "master" artist. It looks like Andy did a portrait of Herge (on the wall behind them). The article tells us at the end to "celebrate him"...yes, let's celebrate Herge's fabulous imagination and his thoroughly researched and amazing drawings.

Here is a fan site: Tintinologist

Official site:

Tintin

The Art of Amy Crehore

Early Asian Advertising

East Asia Ads and Propaganda

I like this set on flickr. I am sure that I have blogged it before, but it is worth a second look. The middle image is actually a Swedish movie poster.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Newest Designer Toy Sensation!

Or is it? This little creature is NOT a vinyl toy. Although, at first glance, it looks just like one.

There is a current Smithsonian Magazine article by Laura Helmuth that talks about "a new book called, The Deep (The University of Chicago Press), by French documentary film producer Claire Nouvian. It may be the most comprehensive look at this mysterious world (of underwater creatures below 650 ft.) that we surface dwellers will get for a long time ...with over 200 photographs. The scientists who discovered the creatures were apparently as amused as we are, giving them names such as gulper eel, droopy sea pen, squarenose helmetfish, ping-pong tree sponge, Gorgon's head and googly-eyed glass squid."

Thanks to Lori Langille for the link to this article. Lori has this wonderful blog called Automatism and a website full of beautiful art. She's a Canadian designer and illustrator and she blogs about a lot of great stuff. So, have a look!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Cats, Hokum Music, R. Crumb

Butterbeans (with hat) and Susie performed 1920's-50's

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE to see names of musicians including Butterbeans and Susie

This is a "faux rock poster that R. Crumb created in 1967 as a sort of 'calling card' to drum up work on the local San Francisco psychedelic concert circuit" - quote - link to supertouch

Lyrics from a Butterbeans and Susie Song w/double entendres:

"I want a hot dog without bread you see.
Cause I carry my bread with me.
. . . I want it hot, I don't want it cold.
I want it so it fit my roll."

The Art of Amy Crehore

Freud's Head Tastes Good!

Yes, Freud's head tastes like watermelon and Marie Antoinette's is cherry-flavored. The sales pitch reads: "Once you get over the initial reluctance to put a human head in your mouth, you'll find that the subtle contours and cherry flavor of these Marie Antoinette Head Lollipops are worth the strange looks you'll get as you suck them." They even have an Abraham Lincoln pop that tastes like orange. I can picture Mark Ryden sucking this one and getting behind this Meat Shower Curtain.

See more fun things to buy here :

ARCHIE McPHEE

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Little Girl Postcards

Butterfly Girl
Deco Girl
Dove Cart Girl
Fairy Girl

Chicken Girl

There is the most amazing collection of hand-colored, sepia-toned vintage postcards of little girls on flickr. This gallery has little girls posing in costumes for every occasion.Some are surreal, some charming, some religious, some shy. All are beautiful, innocent and dreamy. Thank you Chicks57 for sharing your wonderful set of little girls.

Vintage Little Girl Postcards

The Art of Amy Crehore