Happy Holidays to you!

I will be spending Christmas/NewYear week working in the studio. 

It's actually my favorite time of year to paint, so I'm hoping to finish these paintings up and start another. I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holiday and to thank you all for reading my blog. I won't be going anywhere, so stay tuned. I'll be making a big list for 2012 of all the things that I told myself I would do in 2011, but didn't get around to. 
A special thanks to all of the kind people who have supported my artwork over the years. 
It means so much to me and keeps me going.
Love, Amy

The Art of Amy Crehore

Remedios Varo at Frey Norris Gallery

San Francisco is in for a treat. Frey Norris Gallery (161 Jessie Street, S.F., CA) will be having a show featuring the artwork of the late, great Remedios Varo. The show, called "Indelible Fables", will run from January 7, 2012 until February 26, 2012. This show marks the first gallery exhibition of Varo's work in 50 years. That's pretty exciting. Remedios Varo died in 1963 at the young age of 55 in Mexico City. Her art is splendidly strange and imaginative. Read more about her here. There will also be an LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) show called "In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States" from Jan 29-May 6, 2012. LINK

More examples of the paintings of Remedios Varo can be found here: Classic Art Paintings   

The Art of Amy Crehore

For those who like the "old" internet better....

For "vintage" internet ads like this old facebook ad - here's a link:

 retronaut (ads by moma). There is a ton of cool stuff on this website, by the way.

Amazing light show on front of building

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