Happy Valentine's Day 2010

Happy Valentine's Day 2010
Originally uploaded by stevechasmar

Paper moons
on flickr -collection of
Steve Chasmar

Mark Frauenfelder reports from TED Conference

Ukulele Virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro got a standing ovation for his performance at TED yesterday. Mark Frauenfelder of BOINGBOING lists these quotes from the musician: "The ukulele is underdog of all instruments." "If everyone played ukulele, the world would be a better place." "What the world needs now is more ukulele." "Ukulele is the instrument of peace."
Mark says, "One of my favorite presentations of the day was by Dr. William Li, a cancer researcher from the Angiogenesis Foundation. The good news, Li says, is that 'we can eat to starve cancer.' Lots of foods contain naturally occuring inhibitors of angiogenesis, and many are even better than drugs for blocking angiogenesis (see image above)."

Read more at BOINGBOING , plus Mark will do an interview with Jake Shimabukuro soon.

Also, here is the TED conference LINK . I am following TED NEWS on twitter.

I'm looking forward to designer/illustrator Marian Bantjes speaking at TED on Friday from 2:15-4 pm. She was included in "The Scarlet Lettering", a letterpress project from the Cloudy Collection. There are still prints available if you follow the link. You may remember that my art was part of the very first Cloudy Collection card set (monkey image)!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Ukuleles -My Inspiration!

Uke design copyright 2010 Amy Crehore

I can't stop now! I have a few more vintage instruments to enhance with art - including a "minty" (in more ways than one) green Montgomery Ward duco-finished uke from the 1920's. It was found carefully preserved in the original mail order box. (It matches my "Demon" uke.) Can't wait to paint a design on that one.

Above, is a little sketch I came up with for the headstock of a blond-color vintage banjo-uke that someone kindly gave to me after my art show last year. The tuners were missing and it needed some clean-up. It's a Slingerland style-uke that has now been restored to a nice shine. An authentic set of vintage tuners were found to fit it. Luckily, my luthier loves removing rust from brackets,etc. (This one matches my Slingerland black "Tuxedo" uke.)

In fact, this weekend would be the anniversary of my "Dreamgirls and Ukes" show in L.A. .(A lot of the paintings and ukes from this art show have now found happy homes, but there are still some pieces available -if interested, feel free to contact: amy@amycrehore.com with inquiries.) I am also working on a couple of brand new canvases and a letterpress print right now. Lots to do!
The Art of Amy Crehore

Boys' Choir Meowing

Boy's choir singing classical music in feline vocals

"Be the Jazz King of Your Town"

Banjo-Uke Everyday Life
Originally uploaded by katinthecupboard

This ad from 1926 says the banjo-uke
is "the most popular instrument there is".
Follow link to read more!

thanks, katinthecupboard's flickr and
www.ukulelia.com

Dali, the showman

Here are a couple of cool photos of Salvador Dali (for you, Raliegh) from Crack Two (125 rare photos of famous people). There are some other interesting photos if you follow the link. The only thing I don't like is that Manson's mug is posted underneath his victim. Too creepy for me. Hollywood Babylon is still going strong, I think.

Moise Kisling, painter of women

Painting by Kisling

Kisling 1935 (TopFoto Gallery)
Great photo book about artsts in Paris includes Kisling

Nude by Kisling
Here's a Moise Kisling nude - he did wonderful melancholy portraits of women, including Kiki (famous artist model in Paris that Man Ray photographed). Although I cannot find a website devoted to him, Google images displays a selection of great paintings: Follow this LINK. A great book called "KIKI'S PARIS: Artist and Lovers 1900-1930" (I have it at home) has many photos and stories about Kisling. He was born in Poland on Jan. 22, 1891 and died on Apr. 29, 1953. He moved to Paris in 1913, where his friends included Modigliani, Picasso and Kiki.
Thanks for reminding me about Kisling, eric orchard !

The Art of Amy Crehore