Jan Svankmajer's Alice

I already blogged about the original Alice manuscript in the British Library and the first Alice film from 1903. John Cusack, guest-blogger on BoingBoing, recently blogged this wonderfully surreal clip of Alice by Czech animator Jan Svankmajer. Love it.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Images from the Circus

Spider Woman and friend.
Originally uploaded by DoubleM2

Most of these images are advertisements for circus and theatrical acts, primarily French, circa 1885-1925.
Thanks to DoubleM2 for an incredible collection
on flickr.

Seeing the End in Sight

Detail of not-quite finished painting by Amy Crehore (click to enlarge)

I've been playing around with my new camera. This is a quick macro close-up shot of just a portion of one my new paintings. It's a distorted photo, but the face on the larger figure is pretty sharp, so I like it. I am still touching up her hair, but basically this painting is done. I am now seeing the end in sight to a few new pieces of art which took me quite a while to paint. Hope to be blogging them in the near future. I think this one is called "The Angel at Gossamer Creek" ...if I don't change my mind.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Hand-lettered Gibson logo on UB-1

I took this close-up with my new, little digital camera. The Gibson

UB-1 banjo-uke that I have at home (above) has a logo on the headstock that is hand-lettered in what looks to be metallic gold enamel paint. This uke is probably from around 1926. Some earlier, higher grade models of the Gibson banjo uke have lettering made of pearl inlay (placed on a slant). Later models of this same uke have what appears to be "The Gibson" in a stenciled typeface which looks different than this typeface.

The L-1 Gibson guitars from this period have hand-lettered silver logos.

The thickness of the lettering varies on these instruments and there is no mistaking that a small brush and a steady hand did this work. I can just picture the artist sitting in the factory doing this particular job as I have done it myself on my own fine art ukes (link, Tickler link)

In the late 20s, Gibson also offered a few fully hand-painted models such as the Pointsettia Uke (recently on ebay) and a guitar with an Italian street scene painted on it.

I love the fonts and hand-lettering of the 1920s. And I love the early vintage instruments of Gibson.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Angel Zarraga, Painter of Nudes 1886-1946

Desnudo de Espalda con Caracol. 1926.

La femme et le pantin. 1909.

La bailarina desnuda. 1907.
Angel Zarraga was a sensitive Mexican painter in the classical tradition. His symbolist compositions were exhibited all over Europe and, later, in New York. He lived in France for a long time, but returned to his homeland in 1941 after an economic downturn in the art market. LINK, LINK
I like these nudes. Very interesting. He liked Giotto and so do I.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Venus Planet of the Year

Venus Planet of the Year
Originally uploaded by Valeshel

Image of the day

"I Got Your Ice Cold NuGrape" performed by the Hokum Scorchers

Okay, this song is a jingle written for a brand of soda that came out in 1921 called NuGrape. The Hokum Scorchers are both singing with Lou playing the National guitar (the NuGrape Twins did the original version). Lou and I recorded this in 1995 for our "Yanna's Donut" tape.

Have a listen and find out "what makes your lips go flippity-floppa" in 1926: Hokum Scorchers

(follow this link and scroll down for music player)

The Art of Amy Crehore