Rare Old Books

Here are some examples of interesting old illustrated children's books

from the 19th century that I found for sale on a site

called Rare Maps and Books

Shown above is "The Book of Laughter" from 1850 and "Happy Little People" from 1898 - both make use of animals and humor.

Also, "Jimmy Sliderlegs" by Heinrich Hoffmann, 1890, which is actually the same book as "Slovenly Peter" (my fav) with a different cover. Nice drawings and typefaces.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Mitch O'Connell - Glitter Graphics

Check out Glitter Graphics at artist Mitch O'Connell's site to see the kitty kat image above animated in all of it's glory. Colleen Fry did the glitter animation work for him: http://www.myspace.com/colleenshutterbug

(thanks, boingboing)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Jeff Soto Reports on Miami Basel

Kirsten Anderson (Roq la Rue) and Mark Murphy (Murphy Design), photo by Jeff Soto

Jeff Soto is currently blogging about his visit to Miami Basel this year. He was part of the Scion project. Here is a photo he took of the lovely Kirsten Anderson and the dashing Mark Murphy at a party. There are other photos of the works in The Know Exhibition (Murphy's booth at the Art Now Fair). It looks nice! That's the show that I was part of. It looks like everyone had a lot of fun. Check it out:

Jeff Soto's Blog

P.S. Jeff also has photos of the GREEN Show in Santa Monica, CA at Robert Berman Gallery on his blog. The GREEN show is up until December 22, for anyone in the L.A. area who missed it. That's the exhibit with my "Deja Vu Waltz" painting in it. Thanks, Jeff, for blogging about the two shows. Murphy offers a 2008 calendar of Jeff's art here: Murphy Design .

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Blue Skies and Monsters" by Jad Fair

Passengers by Jad Fair
Skeleton Giant by Jad Fair
You're Next by Jad Fair

They are amazingly clever, bold, funny and unique. They are paper cuts by Jad Fair. He offers them up on his website for sale. I posted 3 from his "monster section". They are all sold, however, but there are more. Have a look:

Jad Fair

I have blogged about Jad before, but I have not blogged about his book, "Blue Skies and Monsters" published in Japan in 2006 by Map. Jad was kind enough to send me this book last May. Inside of it's beautiful sky-blue cover, one finds zillions of these folk art cut outs. The book also has drawings, a discography (starting with the musical group Half-Japanese) and a dvd slipped into the back cover that has even more surprises. You can buy a copy here. It's a high quality art book and I recommend it if you are lucky enough to snag yourself a copy. John Zorn says, "Jad Fair is the real deal. In a world of crumbling values his artistic vision remains consistently honest, authentic and original."

Thanks, Jad. This is my favorite book of the year.

The Art of Amy Crehore

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Coop's Line is So Fine

Here's the new boingboing t-shirt by Coop. It's nice! I was fortunate enough to meet Coop and Ruth at the Felt Club/Maker Faire in L.A. last month. I have always admired his superb drawing skills. Here's a link to the T-shirt. Order yours now for the holidays. While you are there, check out all of the other cool stuff that Coop has to offer. Yipes!

Coop's Boing Boing T-shirt

(Thanks, boingboing )

The Art of Amy Crehore

Saint Nicholas in all of his Glory

Gerard David, Three Legends of St Nicholas, 1500

National Gallery of Scotland

Read about the true story of Santa Claus at the St. Nicholas Center website and view a gallery of masterpieces starring St. Nicholas (like the one above by Gerard David).

Fra Angelico painted this saint many times, too. Nick was fond of saving children. He wore pink gloves, carried a fancy gold staff and, in some cases, I think he could fly, too. I like this image. It's medieval-ly strange and beautifully painted.

Saint Nicholas Center

Art Basel Miami Report from THE SMART SET

My Mom went to Drexel University. Today, I found an interesting online magazine, sponsored by Drexel U., as I was searching for articles about Art Basel Miami 2007. It's called "The Smart Set". It has a great-looking masthead which appears to be straight out of the 1920's (or even earlier). Morgan Meis is reporting from Miami and he seems to be a very funny man, so I will be checking back to see what he has to say as he makes his way through the fair day-by-day.

Here is his first installment: Art Basel Miami Beach Day 1 .

I wonder if he will make it to the KNOW exhibition at the Art Now Fair in the Claremont Hotel between now and Sunday evening. So much to see, so little time. I hope he does because that is where I am showing my two small paintings at Mark Murphy's booth number 215.

The Art of Amy Crehore