A great gift for the monkey in your life!

Brand NEW Boing Boing Monkey T-shirt designed by Amy Crehore

My favorite blog, Boing Boing, has partnered with another favorite, Neatorama, to produce this wonderful t-shirt with my artwork and hand-lettering. A friend of mine sent me the photos above. She's delighted with her purchase, which arrived yesterday. She says they look "great"! I want to thank Pop Drawer, for featuring it on their Holiday Shopping Guide, and Kozmicdogz for giving this shirt a big shout out, too. 

You can pick out your size and color and buy this shirt HERE .

The Art of Amy Crehore

Original Paintings and Prints by Amy Crehore

My art has been shown in many galleries over the years: Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, Palm Springs, New York City, Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Art Basel Miami and more. The Portland Art Museum (OR), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the American Museum of Illustration (NYC) have all exhibited my paintings. Visit my website for available work and a selection of signed prints.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Creating as I go...

A work in progress by Amy Crehore (11/29/11)
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

This is how my painting looks today. I have no idea when it will be finished or how many changes it will go through before I'm done. I'm having fun with it. No pressure. Experimentation. 

(Here's my initial drawing, step 1, step 2, step 3) 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Tinted Siblings

J. O. Dvořák, Praha - Tinted Siblings, a photo by josefnovak33 on Flickr.

I'm in love with beautiful cabinet cards of children...
(Thanks, josefnovak33)

Mr. Peanut Speaks

After 95 years of silence, they have given Mr. Peanut a voice. It's the voice of Robert Downy, Jr. Here's an article about it with a photo of the new animated Mr. Peanut.

I don't really care if Mr. Peanut can talk, I just wish he still looked the same as the old vintage sign that I have at home (shown above). What a beautiful silk-screened face he has. I'm not sure how old my sign is, but I'm partial to this particular "look". Of course, I realize that Mr. Peanut has gone through many changes over the years. If you google him, you can find them. 

 According to wikipedia, Planters Peanuts was founded in 1906. In 1916, a contest was held to design a logo for the company. A 14 year old school boy won the contest by drawing a peanut man. Later, a graphic artist added spats, top hat, monocle and cane. 

The Art of Amy Crehore

NEW! Boing Boing Monkey T-shirt Designed by Amy Crehore

I'm so excited about this brand new Boing Boing t-shirt that I designed. It is available now in the Boing Boing Shop in Ash Grey, White and Natural. Mens and Womens sizes S, M, L, XL, and 2XL. 
  LINK TO BUY


Originally, I painted this particular monkey (wearing a plaid jacket & tiny derby, smoking a pipe) on a vintage banjo-uke and called it the "Squirm". It was part of my solo art show, "Dreamgirls and Ukes", which took place in Los Angeles in 2009. The monkey was perched on a lump of grass, floating in a cloudy sky. I also drew him in ink (sitting on a cloud) for the very first Cloudy Collection print set.
For this brand new Boing Boing Monkey t-shirt design, I created a special typeface and hand-lettered the words "Boing Boing". You may have seen my "monkey love" paintings featured on Boing Boing in the past. I want to thank everyone at Boing Boing for making this t-shirt happen! 
The Art of Amy Crehore

Progress and Process in Painting (Amy Crehore)

 Blocking in some shapes.

Adding color to background.

Here, you can see my progress with the new painting. This is just the beginning. Some interesting things are happening as I go along. It's fun to document the steps. I have no idea how this will end up. I am "creating" as I go and enjoying the process. Each painting is really an experiment. I do not have a specific chronological order of doing things. The design elements are leading me around the painting. Around and around I go. Adding layers of paint. I'm loving the contrasting colors shown here. But, it will change a thousand times before I am done. I based this composition on a drawing that I made in pencil first. (See my previous posts here and here.)

The Art of Amy Crehore