What am I up to?

Cropped detail of pencil sketch for new letterpress design by Amy Crehore 2009
I've been working hard on the preliminary sketch for a multi-colored letterpress design. Shown here, is a cropped detail of my pencil drawing. I still have to ink it and figure out the colors. There have been numerous tracings and eracings to get it to this stage. This is fairly large design and I have only shown you a portion of it: girls, monkeys and a ukulele (everything is drawn from my head). I am also working on a "dark" painting for a show in NYC in Jan. and, of course, Tickler Ukulele #3 which is evolving bit by bit in collaboration with the luthier.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Paul Jacoulet Prints

Wow. The prints shown here are all by artist Paul Jacoulet. They were made between 1934 and 1960 (the year of his death). "Following in the collaborative tradition of ukiyo-e printmaking, Jacoulet recruited talented carvers and printers who could duplicate the delicate lines of his drawings and watercolors." His designs and colors are astoundingly beautiful. Jacoulet was born in Paris in 1896, but was raised in Tokyo. He self-published most of his 160 woodblock prints. Hanga Gallery website has five reference pages of images with about 40 images per page. Have a look:
HANGA GALLERY- Paul Jacoulet

The Art of Amy Crehore

A Good Party (1950)

Before my time, darn it! This is a funny little film that was meant to be seriously educational from Coronet films. Thanks to stantonz

Lulu in Bed

This is how Louise Brooks spent her final days - captured by Guido Crepax, cartoonist (based on her letters to him). The truth is she probably didn't look this good at the time she wrote those letters, but there is a lot of room for fantasy in art. Louise was always depicted as the perfect specimen in art and film. These images have never lost their appeal. She was thoroughly modern in the 1920's and her look is still "in" because it's classic. (via the dead can dance ). To see some great photos of Ms. Brooks go here: link

The Art of Amy Crehore

Parasols Make Nice Images

Henri-Cartier Bresson, Dieppe, 1926

I found this interesting photo by Henri-Cartier Bresson (one of my favorite photographers) and it reminded me of this:

Vintage Parasols Pool on Flickriver

Joni

Joni Mitchell, Song: "California" 1970 (BBC)

Fantastic Collection of Tintypes

Crehore/Forde Family Tintype Photo

I've just returned from a trip to the mountains of Virginia to visit family members. The weather was sunny and beautiful; it reached 75 degrees over the weekend!

Now I am back to work and back to blogging: here is old tintype that I found in my box of family photos. I also have one of an ancestor in a pierrot costume, but I seem to have misplaced it. I love tintypes. I enlarged and lightened this one in photoshop. You can see that their cheeks are tinted pink (click photo for detail).




By the way, I recently discovered a truly fantastic collection of tintypes. Just follow this link to Eliza's flickr:

Eliza's Tintypes

The Art of Amy Crehore