What am I working on? Drawings, Paintings

 Amy Crehore Studio Nov 17, 2011

Drawing of Figures on Rocks by Amy Crehore 2011

Here are some quick photos (taken with my ipod touch) of my studio with my large cove  painting on my easel (which I am still working on) and a new drawing that will soon become a painting. You may wonder what happened to my custom-built Tickler Uke #3. It has some really unique features that I'm so excited about it, but I simply can't jump the gun by showing it just yet. The luthier is a perfectionist. Good things come to those who wait! 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Article/interview w/artist Amy Crehore, INKED magazine (Feb 2009)

 CLICK image to ENLARGE (to read)

In case anyone missed it when it came out, INKED magazine did this wonderful feature on my art with an interview for their Feb 2009 issue. It's nice to look back on good things.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Neo Rauch at David Zwirner

 Die Warte, oil on canvas by Neo Rauch 2011

Fundgrube, oil on canvas by Neo Rauch 2011 

The artist Neo Rauch is currently showing at David Zwirner in NYC (533 West 19th St.) Nov. 4th thru Dec. 17th, 2011. The show is called "Heilstatten". 

LINK to more images. 

Shown above are two paintings that demonstrate his amazing ability to meld narrative, surreal images into utterly fascinating, nostalgic works with a command of colors and highly unusual compositions. My eyes immediately travel to the the familiar-looking bright yellow forsythia bushes in Fundgrube (like those in my own backyard) and the green tornado of a figure in Die Warte (my favorite color is green, especially that green). But, there are plenty of things going on in his canvases to keep you transfixed and unsettled for hours, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Neo Rauch's skewed perspectives are wonderful things.

UPDATE: Here's an interview w/ Neo Rauch that I just found in the Art Newspaper, if you are curious.

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Two exhibits at the Frick and the Clark that I would love to see

 Sleeping Peasants 1919 by Picasso

 Pierrot and Harlequin 1920 by Picasso

Woman with Flowered Hat 1921 by Picasso 

All works shown above copyright 2011 Estate of Pablo Picasso/ ARS/ New York

Picasso's drawings from 1890-1821 are currently being shown at The Frick Collection in NYC, 1 East 70th St.(Oct 4, 2011 thru Jan 8, 2012). If you can't make it to the show, the exhibit is online HERE

There is also a catalogue that you can buy: HERE.

And, I would love to see this exhibit at the Clark Art Institute which just opened yesterday: "Two Young Artists: Rembrandt and Degas" (Nov. 13, 2011 thru Feb 5, 2012) 225 South Street, Williamstown, MA. Here's the special website for this show: LINK  There is a nice slide show sneak peek on their BLOG. 

Shown below, a couple of works by Rembrandt that inspired the young Degas.

Rembrandt self-portrait with curly hair- etching 1628

 Rembrandt self-portrait oil 1629

Degas self-portrait oil 1855

Actual film footage of Degas, plus sketches that look like the Tramp.

Here's a film of Edgar Degas walking down a Paris Street with a woman in 1914.

One of Degas' sketchbooks (dated 1880) can be found on the Morgan Library website. Shown below is a page from the sketchbook showing sketches that almost look like costume designs for Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character (which was created in 1914). Interesting. I wonder if Chaplin could have seen this book. I also wonder if Degas could have seen Chaplin's film in 1914 even though his eyesite was terrible at the time.

CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE (Page from Degas' sketchbook)

Real Film Footage of Renoir, Monet, Rodin and Degas

Here is a film of Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting. He had severe rheumatoid arthritis, as you can see here, but he kept on painting. Also, films of Rodin, Monet & Degas on YouTube.

Now in Paperback: Made by Hand by Mark Frauenfelder

This book would make a great gift. Mark Frauenfelder's gem of a book, Made by Hand, is now in paperback! I blogged about it when it first came out. 

More information about the book and where to purchase it can be found here .

Mark is the founder of BOING BOING and the Editor in Chief of MAKE.

NEW! Limited Edition, Silk-Screened Print Set by Cloudy Collection

NEW: Art by Amy Crehore (3-color silk-screen print, limited edition- click image to enlarge)

Oh boy, oh boy! The newest print set by Cloudy Collection has just been released and I am in it. In this set, there are 12 different 6"x 6" 3-color screen prints by 12 unique artists. It is a very special edition with only 50 sets available. That's right, you get 12 individual fine art prints suitable for framing in each set. This print set also happens to be a "2012 Calendar of the Impending Apocalypse". Each artist picked a month and interpreted the theme. Shown above: my own version of what would happen if a giant Krampus took over the earth (month of December).

Artists in this set include: Emory Allen, Joe Alterio, Ana Benaroya, Kali Ciesemier, Amy Crehore, David Huyck, Adam Koford, Joe Lambert, Phil McAndrew, Luke Pearson, Vincent Stall, Jaime Zollars.

To view each fine art print in this unique 2012 calendar set and to buy, 

please follow this LINK 

Cloudy Collection has been producing fine art print sets for a couple of years now and I was lucky enough to be part of the very first letterpress edition that they ever produced. (Thanks, David Huyck!) 

The Art of Amy Crehore 
(follow this link for more prints by Amy Crehore)

Also, be sure to CHECK out Amy Crehore's NEW BOING BOING MONKEY T-SHIRT!

Walton Ford at Paul Kasmin, NYC (YouTube)

Amazing apes! Giant, detailed watercolor paintings. If you can't get to the Walton Ford exhibit in NYC, you can watch this: Thanks, ballenato63. The show is up thru December 23, 2011. Here is the gallery LINK

Lee Moyer's Literary Pin-Up Calendar Is Available Now

 January pin-up- Herman Melville

 December pin-up - Leo Tolstoy

October pin-up - Lewis Carroll

My friend Lee Moyer's art calendar is finally available. This project has been in the works for more than a few years and it's a great thing. 

Lee's 2012 calendar of beautiful literary pin-up girls is now exclusively available online at The Tinker's Packs (follow link to buy). 

Worldbuilders is publishing the calendar and donating the proceeds to the charity Heifer International. 

Harry Clarke's Magical World

Enchanting illustrations by artist Harry Clarke (born in Dublin 1889) 

from "The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault" (1922). 
See more at 50 Watts . 

I'm going on a little trip tomorrow.

 Please have a look at my blog archives while I'm gone.

I'll be back around Nov 7th. Stay tuned!

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Cloudy Collection" Exhibit, plus 2 New Print Sets!

NEW Prints Release today: Seven 5"x7" letterpress prints in a limited edition set from
Cloudy Collection called "Hanging with the Dead" just in time for Halloween. Follow the link to see a list of artists and to buy. Thanks, David Huyck. This set looks great. 

Plus, there will be an art show at the Pink Hobo Gallery opening Nov 4th, 2011 at 7-11 pm (507 East Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN) featuring all of the prints that Cloudy Collection has ever produced (since the very first set that I was in). Check out this amazing list of artists. The Minneapolis Indie Xpo is also happening on Nov. 5 & 6 at the Soap Factory: MIX (10-5pm), so it will be perfect timing for comic/art fans. 

If that's not enough, there will be a NEW, limited edition, silk screened "2012 Calendar of the Impending Apocalypse" with 12 artists (small detail teaser of my own piece shown below) that you will be able to buy at Cloudy Collection.  Just released! GO HERE for info. 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vogue Picture Records

Dick La Salle and His Society Orchestra, "Give Me all of Your Heart".

The Hour of Charm All-Girl Orchestra, "Seville"

Produced by Sav-Way Industries of Detroit, Vogue Picture Records were released to the public in May 1946. Production ceased less than a year later in April 1947. They were mostly 10" 78 RPM records, but there were also a few 12" records produced. See more examples of these funky, illustrated records at The Association of Vogue Picture Record Collectors

"Mound" by Allison Schulnik

ZieherSmith Inc. (516 W.20th, NYC) is showing Allison Schulnik's new paintings and ceramics from Oct. 22 through Dec. 17th, 2011. (Example shown above: painting of a cat.) There's also a new claymation featuring ghostlike creatures just in time for Halloween called "Mound". 

Mound by Allison Schulnik (from garaco taco on Vimeo.)

Copyright Allison Schulnik 2011 allisonschulnik.com

The Art of Amy Crehore

I Love This Woman - Francoise Gilot

 Francoise Gilot is still painting away at age 90. From 1943 to 1952 she lived with Picasso, bless her heart. She even had two of his children. I'm sure it was a challenge. The age difference. The ego. The fame. The other women. The mood swings. She wrote a book about their years together ("Life with Picasso"). I've read it a few times. Picasso prevented her from showing her work in certain galleries after she left him (men in the art world will do that to women sometimes). The fact is she had a big influence on Picasso during the time she lived with him and there will be a show at Gagosian Gallery (NYC) in May 2012 of the Gilot-Picasso years. LINK NYTimes article. (See: Women of Picasso for a timeline.) The intelligent Gilot was destined to be with great men. She later married Jonas Salk (1970-1995). Here's an interesting interview with Gilot in 1998 by Charlie Rose (showing some of her work, old photos of that time, memories of Matisse, etc): 
LINK

George Shaw takes hobby paints to a new level

Painter George Shaw is up for the 2011 Turner prize. The fact that he uses his boyhood enamel paints from the hobby store only lends more charm to these works. It seems difficult to paint compelling landscapes with those paints, but he manages to do so with great skill. His mysterious paintings of abandoned places trigger our memories of times gone by. (Two excellent examples of paintings by George Shaw shown above.)

Here's a video of George giving a tour of his exhibition Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.  A short interview in Timeout with George Shaw .

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Amy Crehore Print Sale Extended!

 "Homage to the King of Cats" by Amy Crehore 

 "The Waiting Pool" by Amy Crehore
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

 "Song of the Sea" by Amy Crehore

"Weedsmoker's Dream" by Amy Crehore

"Shygals' Serenade" by Amy Crehore
Limited Edition prints by Amy Crehore 

Here's the LINK to view and purchase.
These are small limited editions. All prints are signed and numbered by me and, also, include a certificate of authenticity. Quality printing by a master printer.
Also, my 3-color letterpress is on sale, too! If you didn't get one of these, now is your chance. This one has a nice printing press texture to it.
LINK

The Art of Amy Crehore

Dinner With Henry (Miller) and Other Cool Art Films

Here's a 30 minute film of Henry Miller made a year before he died when he was 87 years old (1979) directed by Richard Young. He's having dinner with actress Brenda Venus and the film crew. Check out this link for other interesting art films:

UBUWEB 

Audrey Hepburn and her Pet Fawn

Here's a link to a story about Audrey Hepburn's baby deer, Pippen, at 

AnOther  

More photos: LINK , LINK

"Boys Head" by Lucian Freud

I like this "Boy's Head" painting by Lucian Freud 1952 which sold for $5 million at Sotheby's recently. (artinfo) Isn't this a typically natural pose for a bored young boy? That's what makes this painting so good.

The Art of Amy Crehore

A "Jug Band" Cub Scout Badge

These illustrations show us how a kid could earn a jug band badge in Cub Scouts. Steve Lodefink of FINKBUILT blog posted these images to his flickr. 

I'm wondering if the Brownies have a similar badge?

Looks like fun.

Celebrating Gumby's Creator Art Clokey- Gumby on the Moon

Arthur "Art" Clokey (October 12, 1921 – January 8, 2010) was a pioneer in the popularization of stop motion clay animation.
 Thanks. Bob Jinx

Boris Chaliapin (1904-1979), Portraits and Nudes

 Marilyn Monroe

 Princess Margaret

Jacqueline Kennedy

Reclining Nude 1928

Standing Nude 1929

Boris Chaliapin, son of a famous Russian singer, was a prolific artist. He painted the gorgeous nudes shown above when he was only 25 and later became an illustrator for Time Magazine specializing in portraits. He created 550 Time covers (414 were published) from 1942 to 1970. His technique was smooth, sensitive and precise. He painted just about every famous person and then some. Pretty amazing!

More images and text here: LINK and LINK

Where Art Meets Comics

Looks like the October issue of  "Art News" has Daniel Clowes on the cover. He's a favorite of mine. There is also a new interview with Daniel at

io9 

which mentions a travelling museum show starting at the Oakland Museum in April 2012. Cool.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Website, Tumblr

Photographer Hisaji Hara's Homage to Balthus

LENSCRATCH posted an interesting series of works by Tokyo photographer Hisaji Hara (done in 2009 and exhibited in Tokyo last year at Gallery Bauhaus). These works are based on the compositions of Balthus' paintings (shown above: "Katia Reading", an image that I have on the wall of my studio). Hisaji Hara's photographs show classic Japanese school girls and others posing for the camera in the exact same poses of the figures in Balthus' paintings. This series of photos has a B&W vintage look and are meant as an homage to a great painter.

Balthus was a painter who carefully chose unique poses to show the unselfconsciousness of youth or to emphasize dramatic angles in a composition. (Balthus, who died in 2001, had a Japanese wife, Setsuko Ideta, and many of his own paintings were influenced by Japanese art. I miss Balthus.) 

Follow this LINK for many more examples of Hisaji Hara's homage to Balthus. 

The Art of Amy Crehore