I Can't Quit You Baby by Otis Rush

thanks rudseng, YouTube

More New Sketches by Amy Crehore

Happy Halloween! I have been sketching away these past few weeks testing ideas out for paintings (some images are shown here). I am also creating a new design for a letterpress print that will be made available to you in the not-so-distant future. This print will be about nature, girls, monkeys, and a ukulele. I am really excited about it! I want it to be a surprise, however, so I am not going to show you the image just yet. I still have a lot work to do to prepare it for printing.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Can't Get Enough of That Good Old Stuff

If you have been enjoying Steve Chasmar's (a.k.a. Steven Martin) flickr Halloween vintage photo countdown as I have, you might be interested in reading an interview with him on the WIRED website from last year. I had written about his photos on this blog and sent the link to boingboing and before you know it, WIRED contacted Steve for an interview.

WIRED INTERVIEW

Steve has posted 52 astounding images so far for this year's

Halloween countdown on flickr.

One more day until Halloween!

UPDATE: Steve's Halloween set now has 78 tasty images!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Fabulous New Bookplate Designs

Der Orchideengarten, 1920 magazine cover (Carl Rabus)

Michelle Duckworth won the contest with her bookplate design


Joel M. Smith's bookplate design

A Journey Round My Skull blog held it's first bookplate contest, in the spirit of the forgotten early 20th-century magazine Der Ochideengarten. The prize: Alfred Kubin: Drawings 1897 - 1909. Read Will's latest post about this rare German Fantasy magazine
and see the amazing drawings submitted to his first: Bookplate Contest !!
Wow. Oh..oh...you have to see Will's flickr set of 1919 art from this same magazine.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Remarkable Vintage Photobooth Portraits

Photobooth Group 1
Originally uploaded by lovedaylemon

lovedaylemon has a
wonderful set of really old
photobooth photos on flickr.
There are some charming children
in equally charming outfits.

Halloweenabaloo at Union Station, L.A.

Union Station 800 N Alameda Street (photo link )

On Halloween at 6 PM, the beautiful and historic Union Station in L.A. will be the location for the 5th annual Halloweenabaloo party with music by Flea and Ben Harper. There will be a costume party dance under the stars with a taco truck, plus an auction to raise money for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. This is a great cause. The Silverlake Conservatory of Music is a non-profit school that provides private music lessons to individuals and gives scholarships to children in need. The music stage will be framed by the work of mural artist Ernesto De La Loza. Sounds like a good time to me.

More information here:

Silverlake Conservatory of Music

The Passion of the Van Gogh Letters

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has made it possible for us to view the actual letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo, in Vincent's own handwriting, complete with sketches.

This is endlessly fascinating stuff to me as I have already read Van Gogh's letters over and over again for inspiration ("Dear Theo", a book edited by Irving Stone). It's amazing to see the preliminary sketches (leading up to well-known paintings) that he included in these letters from 1874-1890. There are also letters to Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard (see the top image with notations about colors). There are a handful of letters from Gauguin himself that include important sketches as well!

Vincent Van Gogh, The Letters with Sketches

For another blog post on this topic: BibliOdyssey

The Art of Amy Crehore