Ukulele Girl

Sophie Madeleine plays the Beard Song on the ukulele. Couldn't get much sweeter than this.

Thanks, Mark F at boingboing

I wonder if she knows about my "Dreamgirls and Ukes" art show happening right now in L.A.? Corktown Ukulele Jam of Toronto, Canada does. They have a new "gallery" section on their website where they posted my entire flickr slideshow.

Check out their wonderful website: HERE (torontoukes.com) Thanks, Steve!

A Set of Curtain Paintings in my Solo Show

"Hoop Dream" oil on linen 6"x 12"by Amy Crehore 2009
"Smoking Pussycat Dream" 6" x 12"oil on linen by Amy Crehore 2009
Some of those vintage portraits from the 1920's of Ziegfeld girls have hoops in them. I painted my first hula hoop painting back in 2005 (one of my "Little Pierrots" called "Hula Hoop Blues") without realizing that it was a classic motif in the old photographs of Alfred Cheney Johnston. The pose in this "Hoop Dream" painting was inspired by one such photo. The bottom painting has a pose that I just made up with a funny little cat smoking, also from my imagination. I thought it would be nice to make a pair of paintings that related to each other.
The Art of Amy Crehore
See these at Thinkspace Gallery in L.A. until March 6th.

All artwork in this show is copyright 2009 Amy Crehore

The Lion Paintings in My Solo Show

"Please Don't Bug Me Blues" oil on linen by Amy Crehore 2009 12" x 18"
"Weed Smoker's Dream" oil on linen by Amy Crehore 2009 18"x 12"

"Stuck Here Blues" oil on linen by Amy Crehore 2009 14" x 14"
Click to enlarge
The lion is a nice, gentle guy at heart, but sometimes he is a bit rough. He's quite a large creature. Very comfortable as a bed or chair for our girl. But, she also wants to get away from him sometimes and finds that she is stuck and he is holding on. He would be sad if she escaped. The monkey on the lion's back might represent his"addiction". And the roses seem to grow too wild and wrap around her legs (thorns) leaving a bit of blood on her ankle. She's got her vintage ukes: the green one and an old banjo. And there are a couple of big flying insects hanging around - bugging her. The flowers are over-size lollypops. "Weed Smoker's Dream" is an actual title of a blues song from the 1930's by the Harlem Hamfats.
The other two (song) titles I made up. The Art of Amy Crehore
See these at Thinkspace Gallery until March 6th, 2009.

All artwork is copyright 2009 Amy Crehore

Nighttime Paintings in my Solo Show

"Nymph" Banjo-Uke painting by Amy Crehore 2009
"Song of the Wind" 6"x6" by Amy Crehore 2009
"Nighttime Ditty" "12 x 6" by Amy Crehore 2009
"Song of the Sea" 12"x 12" by Amy Crehore 2009

CLICK to enlarge

People really seemed to like the nighttime paintings I did for my "Dreamgirls and Ukes" show.

All of these are oils on linen except for the one on the antique banjo, which is oil paint on the original hide head (varnished). The big tortoise is a new character... from Galapagos Islands. The "Nighttime Ditty" is a version of my "Snake Tamer's Ditty" of 2007. Please feel free to comment and I will answer any questions you might have.

Dreamgirls and Ukes Show

Amy Crehore

All artwork is copyright 2009 Amy Crehore

Amy Crehore's Paintings and Ukes on the Gallery Walls at Thinkspace, Los Angeles

All photos taken by Mark Lowrie. Click to enlarge.

This is my "Dreamgirls and Ukes" show. This show only runs until March 6th, 2009. Gallery is open on Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday from 1-6pm. Please go see it if you live near L.A. !

Thinkspace Gallery

(follow link to view artwork online- all ukes are set up with strings in this gallery show)

Main Gallery Solo Show, "Dreamgirls and Ukes":
Feb 13- March 6 2009 - featuring oil paintings and fully restored, painted antique ukuleles.
4210 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 323-913-3375
contact@sourharvest.com

Anthony Clarkson's wonderful art is showing in the project room.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Some Photos of My Art Ukes Strung Up, Restored

Wasp
Squirm

Peekaboo

Nymph

La Pacifica

Tuxedo

Photos taken by Mark Lowrie at Thinkspace Gallery on opening night Feb 13, 2009

All banjo-ukes from 1920's

Click photo to enlarge

I was not able to take photos of the ukes all strung up before I left for L.A., so I sent the gallery photos of the ukes without the strings on them. In some cases, such as banjo-ukes, the tailpiece/bridges were missing from the photos. Here are some shots of the banjo-ukes on the actual wall of Thinkspace Gallery. You can see them with strings, all fully restored and tuned by a professional luthier. I will be blogging the rest of the ukes (with strings), so stay tuned. The real beauty of the "Dreamgirls and Ukes" show is that each uke is a real instrument as well as a fine art object. Each was lovingly restored to playability. Some even have hand-crafted bridges and tailpiece (as in the case of La Pacifica).

Dreamgirls and Ukes Show- Art by Amy Crehore

This show will be up until March 6th.

Back Home

The Hokum Scorchers at Thinkspace Feb 13, 2009, photo by Mark Lowrie

I spent more than a week in L.A. and it was so much fun. I think I OD'd on the Farmer's Market as I went there probably twice a day... for 8 days. My friend, Mark Lowrie, took tons of photos of the show. I intend to write more about it after I rest up a bit.

Yesterday, Juxtapoz wrote a nice re-cap.

Pop Drawer , Arrested Motion, The Rumpus, boingboing , Metromix L.A. (the newspaper version, too), Hooping Humanist, Fabulist, Uke Hunt, Format Mag, KPFK radio (Ali Lexa) were kind enough to feature my show, "Dreamgirls and Ukes", on their sites. Thanks to all! I do hope people will try to get out and see it in person if they are in the Los Angeles area. It was a lot of work, but the results were well worth it. I was extremely pleased by Thinkspace Gallery's beautiful space and wonderful people. New VIDEO on YouTube of performance Feb 13, 2009 (don't be fooled- it says 2007).

The Art of Amy Crehore