Comfort and Joy at the Local Drugstore

Whistling Mitch played a trombone kazoo in the local drugstore yesterday. I took a grainy video with my ipod. I blogged about him last year and took a ton of photos.LINK  (He told me he doesn't use the internet. He's old-fashioned to the max.) He also played a green (vintage) stenciled Harmony ukulele.

My "Peekaboo" is a SammoS Banjo Ukulele, 1919

SammoS banjo ukulele

SammO soprano ukulele

When I painted my "Peekaboo" design on an antique banjo ukulele (shown above) for my solo art show in Los Angeles a couple of years ago ("Dreamgirls and Ukes"), the brand of ukulele was a mystery to me. I loved the unique construction (walnut and maple marquetry), but I had no idea who manufactured these or exactly how old they were. Thanks to Google Books, I found some information in the "Music Trades" publication of 1919. I now know that these particular banjo ukuleles are at least 92 years old, making them older than I thought. An old advertisement (top image) shows one like it and tells us that the The Samuel C. Osborn Manufacturing Company, located in a Masonic Temple in Chicago, made these instruments. Osborn claimed to be the largest manufacturer of stringed instruments at the time. A little more digging and I found out that this company was around since 1897, but went bankrupt in 1921 (after moving to a new building). Mr. Osborn died in 1922 at the age of 50. They also made a soprano ukulele called the SammO, a really nice koa uke (shown above, the one I have at home). It's design seems to have been based on the older Hawaiian ukuleles. Osborn also made mandolins, guitars, taro patch fiddles and something called the Pianoette. 

The Art of Amy Crehore
P.S. All we can really do is guess at some of these when the label is missing or the brand is not indicated on the headstock.

Two Charming Nudes Together

 Lucas Cranach, "Venus and Cupid" 1537

"Nude Girl on a Fur" by Otto Dix 1932

Click image to enlarge

In the summer of 2010, The National Gallery of Scotland hung these two paintings in a mini face-off show called "Confrontation". The Dix is possibly my favorite painting he's ever done. It's so weird and beautiful all at the same time. I love the tones of yellow and the textures in this painting. The girl's crooked, curled toe completes a great composition. Her eyes and expression (of longing?) are uniquely Dix. The Cranach is one of many (see link) that he did using the exact same theme, but it's a charming one. I love that the "drape" the girl is wearing is so transparent as to be almost invisible (she is holding it up with her hand). 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Picture of the Day

"Chalk Cliffs on Rugen", 1818, by Caspar David Freidrich, 

painted as a celebration of his marriage to his wife. LINK 

I found this painting recently online and it reminds me a little bit of the art that I am currently doing, so I must get back to work. 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Salesman 1968

Mark at boingboing posted this trailer to a documentary about 4 salesmen selling bibles.
More info about the movie  LINK

"The Starfish" 1928 Film by Man Ray

 If you have 15 minutes, here's a wonderful, mysterious little B&W film by Man Ray starring Kiki and a starfish.

"Loan Me Your Heart", a Papa Charlie Jackson Song

Papa Charlie Jackson portrait by Amy Crehore

I love Papa Charlie Jackson's music from the 1920s. He played a 6-string Gibson guitar- banjo. Check out the huge head on this banjo (above). I painted this portrait of him in the 1990s. Our little band, The Hokum Scorchers, did a few of his numbers. One such song is "Loan Me Your Heart". I love this song. 

You can listen to our version (recorded in the 1990s) HERE. 
(I play washboard/cups and Lou Reimuller plays guitar and sings).

P.S. Another song by Papa Charlie Jackson is "Papa Do Do Do". Our version of that song can be found here: LINK 

The Art of Amy Crehore