Musicians' Holiday

f_musiciansholiday
Originally uploaded by ricksoloway

Thanks, ricksoloway (flickr)

Cigar Box Nation

Cigar Box Guitar by Mark Frauenfelder

See more photos of this guitar and many more here:

CIGAR BOX NATION

Fun!

More drawings, more cartoons, more fun!

Heidi MacDonald of "The Beat" sent boingboing a great link to one of their blog posts called "The Happiest Cartoonists of All Time" . It's about a Life magazine photo shoot in 1950 with a bunch of bathing beauties being tortured by the pens of happy cartoonists. Here's Alfred Andriola doing his thing on one of the young models. Follow link for more photos from this session. Crazy man!

Goya's Sketches

Here are some drawings from Goya's sketchbooks. The top one shows a guy trying to roller skate in 1824. I did not know they even had roller skates back then. Oh, but of course! I love Goya's line work almost better than his paintings. He shows a lot of emotion using simple gestures and classic design. Brushed-in ink washes add volume and light to the drawings. These are from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston where you will find more.

"Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns."
What's really great is this website with links to all kinds of sketchbooks (that is where I found the Goya link):

Artists' Sketchbooks Online

Enjoy!
The Art of Amy Crehore

The Blab! Show Revisited

Roaming Tomcat Rag by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2006
Black Snake Wiggle Blues by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2006 The Strummer by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2006

Little Tickle by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2006

Mini-monkey #4 by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2006

Mini-monkey #3 by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2006

Mini-monkey #2 by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2006

Mini-monkey #1 by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2006

The Tickler by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2005

The Charmer by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2005

The Banana Eater by Amy Crehore, Blab Show 2005

CLICK TO ENLARGE

In case you didn't know, I was in the very first Blab! art show at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA. In 2005, I had 3 paintings in the 1st Blab! show (that was the beginning of my "Monkey Love Series"-bottom 3 images). And in 2006, I had 8 paintings in the 2nd Blab! show (top images). "The Banana Eater" painting later became a framed, canvas print by Pressure Printing

as well as a spread in "Blab! 17", the magazine.

(All of these paintings are sold. More original paintings, prints and drawings on my website.)

The Art of Amy Crehore

THE BIG FUNNY Newspaper and Art Show!

Big Funny Web site, 16″ x 23″, 48 pages, only $5 US plus shipping

I recently got a copy of THE BIG FUNNY in the mail to read and review. It's HUGE! The largest newspaper I ever saw -16" x 23" ! Or, is it because my local paper has now shrunk down to nothing that it seems so big? Anyhow, it's ALL comics. Can you beat that? 48 pages of color comics. Looks like it has about 45 or so contributors, all of whom love to draw comics and want to preserve the history of comics. The best I can do right now, because I still haven't even finished reading it, is to list their names and creations and to clue you in about the BIG FUNNY art show which opens this friday at Altered Esthetics Art Gallery in Minneapolis (7-10pm).

“Hey Kids, Comics!” by Terry Beatty
“Little Emo in Slumbaland” by Jesse Gillespie
“Little Miss Mechanical’s Bedtime Amusement” by Diana Nock
“There is a Heppy Plonet” by Mike Sgier
“Captain Kleinbottle” by Jason Sandberg
“Hey Rube!” by Daniel J. Olson
“Army Men” by Kevin Cannon
“Classics Majors…in Love!” by Ursula Murray Husted
“Tommy Chicago and Jimmy” by Brian Bastian and Danno Klonowski
“Oil Painting” by Bjorn Rolvaag
“Banana Republic” by Kirk Anderson
“Citizen Participation in Hell” by Ken Avidor
“The Teenage Ghost Hunting Society” by B. Sabo
“Vis,Croatia: The Ride” by Jenny Schmid
“Residue Comics: Krack-Up” by Roger Lootine
“Middle Management” by Andy Singer
“Mark Droppings” by BIll Prendergast
“Dewey Dawner” by Madeline Queripel
“Post Modern” by David Sandberg
“Flying Boy!” by Lewis Tuck
“Authoritative Expert J. Wiggins” by Bud Burgy
“Squirrels and Pigeons” by Caanan Grall
“Eye of the Beholder” by Adam Wirtzfeld
“Uncle $achs” by Donn Ha
“The Madcap Shenanigans of Randolph & Sir Chirptrude, Esq.” by Lonny Unitus
“Gee, Whizzard!” by Kevin McCarthy
“Nate the Nonconformist” by Stephanie Mannheim
“Rampage!” by Erik Nelson
“Inkwellspring” by Henry Chamberlain
“Laffit Forward!” by Blake Himsl Hunter
“The Further Adventures of Vegan Ninja Cats (Who Ride Bikes)” by Mike Toft
“Living in Filth” by Hawk Krall
“Rocket Steven” by Earl Luckes
“Talewinds: Little Jimmy” by Steve Mason
“L’il Buddha and the Hungry Ghost Realm” by Ryan Dow
“Dear Friends” by Britt Hammerberg
“A Breast Abreast” by Lupi
“Uptown Girl” by Bob Lipski
“Underground Funnies” by D.C. McNamara
“Adventure!” by David Steinlicht
“Bongo the Monkey” by Steven Stwalley
“Pumpkinship” by Maxeem
“Look” by David Paleo
“Pickle-Head” by Paul Fricke
“Ticket to Crickety Creek” by William Ede

Please buy a copy of the Big Funny (it's a steal at $5., plus shipping) and go to the show if you live nearby.

Produced by: The International Cartoonist Conspiracy , Big Time Attic , and Altered Esthetics
Thanks, Steven Stwalley.

Buy a copy here: BIG FUNNY WEBSITE

Gallery Closings...

Here is an interesting little film by James Kalm called In Memoriam: Gallery Closings in NYC

James Kalm was the guy who happened to film my own gallery opening last summer in Brooklyn, NY.