One piece bathing suits

I love this vintage photo of actresses Tokugowa Ryouko & Mizuhara Reiko in their swim suits, so 

I pulled out my own snapshots of some suits I used to wear (see below):

Here I am as an adolescent (this suit was red)

 and as a little girl in a blue suit.

There is something about the one-piece style of swim suit that has it all over the two-piece look. And, add a bathing cap and you have an Amy Crehore painting like the one I am showing in Tokyo right now (called The Waiting Room).
I hadn't seen the top photo of the Japanese actresses until the other day 

when my friend Moira Hahn pointed it out (image via thekimonogallery.tmblr.com), but it's right up my alley!

The Art of Amy Crehore

They Found "The Cardboard Lover"

Mike Grant and his daughter Rachael found a trove of old silent films at a recycling center in Devon. 

They mostly date from 1909 to 1913, but include a rare one called "The Cardboard Lover" from 1928. Just the title alone is a gem (although they only found one reel of the film, there are only two copies in the world). 

Another one (from France) called "Jane is Unwilling to Work" sounds promising. 

Read the story here: LINK

Opening 7/25/15 Jiro Miura Gallery, Tokyo- Ephemeral- Territory of Girls exhibit

Japanese painter Shiroi Matsumoto's "Ibarano Kanmuri" ©2015 (shown above). 

BoingBoing and Arrested Motion 
Supersonic and Hi-Fructose

all posted about the show that I'm participating in at Jiro Miura Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.

It opens July 25, 2015.

Thank you so much! (please follow links)

I'm so excited about this wonderful show of great women artists.

Ephemeral- Territory of Girls exhibit, 

here's the update (many more images have been added, click on them to see larger view):

LINK

Dates: 7/25/2015 ~ 8/16/2015

(Gallery open Tues.-Sun. 12:00~19:00)

Location: JIRO MIURA GALLERY (Tokyo )

Ishikura bld. 4F, 2-5, Nihombashi-Odenmacho,

Chuo-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
CONTACT: info@jiromiuragallery.com

Artists: Jana Brike (Republic of Latvia), Amy Crehore (United States of America), Virginia Mori and Ania Tomicka (Italian Republic), Emi Adachi, Fuco Ueda, Kaori Ogawa, Miki Kato, Kimi Kuruhara, Kozue Kuroki, Satomi Kuwahara, Atsuko Goto, Yuka Sakuma, Minae Takada, Tsubaki Torii, Yumi Nakai, Yuko Nagami, Yuki Nagayoshi, Mao Hamaguchi, Miho Hirano, Shiori Matsumoto, Eri Mizuno, and Yuko Murai (Japan)
Thank you Shiori Matsumoto (curator/artist). 

See my earlier post for showcard and my paintings. Also view them on my website:
The Art of Amy Crehore

My paintings for "ephemeral" group exhibit, Tokyo, Japan (Amy Crehore)

 The Waiting Room ©Amy Crehore 2015 10" x 8" oil on linen 

 Back Scratch Parlor©Amy Crehore 2015 10" x 8" oil on linen

The Window©Amy Crehore  2015 oil on linen 10" x 8"

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE ENLARGED VERSION

Here are my 3 paintings for the "ephemeral - Territory of girls" exhibit.
Each is framed in identical gold and and black Italian frames (14"x12").

Here is the

PREVIEW LINK 
for the show at Jiro Miura Gallery
(showcard announcement and more info below)

Dates: 7/25/2015 ~ 8/16/2015

(Gallery open Tues.-Sun. 12:00~19:00)

Location: JIRO MIURA GALLERY (Tokyo )

Ishikura bld. 4F, 2-5, Nihombashi-Odenmacho,

Chuo-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
CONTACT: info@jiromiuragallery.com

Artists: Jana Brike (Republic of Latvia), Amy Crehore (United States of America), Virginia Mori and Ania Tomicka (Italian Republic), Emi Adachi, Fuco Ueda, Kaori Ogawa, Miki Kato, Kimi Kuruhara, Kozue Kuroki, Satomi Kuwahara, Atsuko Goto, Yuka Sakuma, Minae Takada, Tsubaki Torii, Yumi Nakai, Yuko Nagami, Yuki Nagayoshi, Mao Hamaguchi, Miho Hirano, Shiori Matsumoto, Eri Mizuno, and Yuko Murai (Japan)


Thank you Shiori Matsumoto for inviting me to be part of this fantastic group of artists.


The Art of Amy Crehore

My group exhibit in Tokyo, Japan opens July 25, 2015

Shojono Ryouiki painting ©Shiori Matsumoto
I will be sending 3 new works to Tokyo, Japan for an exhibit called  
"ephemeral ~ Territory of girls"

The very great artist Shiori Matsumoto kindly invited me to participate in this wonderful show
and I am deeply honored. There are so many excellent artists in this show!

Dates: 7/25/2015 ~ 8/16/2015

(Gallery open Tues.-Sun. 12:00~19:00)

Location: JIRO MIURA GALLERY (Tokyo )

Ishikura bld. 4F, 2-5, Nihombashi-Odenmacho,

Chuo-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN

Artists: Jana Brike (Republic of Latvia), Amy Crehore (United States of America), Virginia Mori and Ania Tomicka (Italian Republic), Emi Adachi, Fuco Ueda, Kaori Ogawa, Miki Kato, Kimi Kuruhara, Kozue Kuroki, Satomi Kuwahara, Atsuko Goto, Yuka Sakuma, Minae Takada, Tsubaki Torii, Yumi Nakai, Yuko Nagami, Yuki Nagayoshi, Mao Hamaguchi, Miho Hirano, Shiori Matsumoto, Eri Mizuno, and Yuko Murai (Japan)

Here is a preliminary link with artist profiles, more images will be added:
LINK

The Art of Amy Crehore

Progress in painting (Amy Crehore)

My nearly finished oil on linen paintings shown here, lined up sideways on my easel. 

I have some beautiful frames for these.

My next group show opens the end of July in Tokyo. 

More about that soon!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Works in Progress (Amy Crehore)

 Inspiration- windows

Intuitive composition in sketchbook, enlarged and refined as a drawing.

Starting another painting from the new drawing, working on easel next to 

my other unfinished piece. 

CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE

Works in Progress by Amy Crehore©2015

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Snake Tamer's Ditty" painting by Amy Crehore (sold)

"Snake Tamer's Ditty" 12" x 24" oil on linen by Amy Crehore 2007
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

One of my larger Monkey Love paintings"Snake Tamer's Ditty"

will be headed to Seattle this week to the home of a collector of mine. 

I will be sad to see it go.

This painting was shown earlier at Ad Hoc Gallery in Brooklyn, NY  

and at The Shore Institute of Contemporary Art in NJ. 

It was also featured on boingboing .

I painted my first monkey with a sailor hat in 2002. 

That painting had a little girl in it.
It was printed in the award book "American Illustration".
In 2005 & 2006, I did a series of monkey love 

paintings for Blab! art shows in L.A. (Copronason).They were 

also shown at Applegate Gallery (Santa Monica) 

and Roq La Rue(Seattle) and M Modern (Palm Springs) galleries. 

Most of the monkey paintings sold quickly. Many right off my easel. 

One became a framed print available through Pressure Printing. 

I made others into giclees available on my website.
 There were also some works
with monkeys in my solo show at Thinkspace Gallery in L.A. (2009)-
including some antique ukuleles.
contact:amy@amycrehore.com

The Art of Amy Crehore

Amy Crehore in group show at Parlor Gallery May 2 - June 7, 2015

I'm excited to announce that 3 paintings of mine (shown below) will be on exhibit 

at Parlor Gallery, 

717 Cookman Ave. Asbury Park, NJ

 opening Sat., May 2, 2015 from 7-11pm. 

The show runs thru June 7th. 

I have not shown these in a gallery before, 

but two of them were featured earlier on boingboing.net

 Girl with a Fig Leaf Parasol 16" x 20" + frame, oil on linen by Amy Crehore

The Angel at Gossamer Creek 16" x 16" + frame, oil on linen by Amy Crehore

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Basker's Cove, 18" x 24" + frame, oil on linen by Amy Crehore

 Participating artists in the group show include: 

Paola Sala, Gomez Bueno, Andrew Pawlan, 

Amy Crehore, Hannah Yata, and Jeanne Pierre Arboleda. 

In gallery one,  there will be a very special solo show by 

Dean Reynolds, Griffin Art Prize winner. 

Definitely a fun group of artists. 

Hope you can go see this show if you live near Asbury Park, NJ and
can make it to Parlor Gallery.

The Art of Amy Crehore

New works -progress shots (Amy Crehore)

Working on a new canvas based on an earlier gouache
(Back Scratch Parlor).
Also a new pastel drawing of similar image.
Here are some progress shots.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Remembering the Man in the Hat - Lloyd Fonvielle (1950-2015)

(Photo by Cotty Chubb)

Lloyd Fonvielle would have been celebrating his birthday this past weekend with the rest of his friends and family, but he passed away quietly at his typewriter in February.
What an old-fashioned gentleman he was.
He had a career as a screenwriter and lived in NYC and L.A.,
but he moved to Las Vegas about a decade ago to write stories.
While he was at it, he blogged the story of his life.
He blogged his favorite paintings, vintage illustration, pin-ups, and comics.
He ranted and raved about politics, photographed his travels and shared his musical tastes.
He wrote brand new western stories (available on kindle). He reviewed films.

We exchanged a lot of links from time to time. It was fun.
He never stopped being creative to the very end. He was very supportive of my art, posting just about every new painting I did. He also loved my Japanese friend Shiori Matsumoto's art.
I wish I could tell him that Shiori and I will be showing together in Tokyo this summer. He would have liked that.
Miss you Lloyd and thank you for your kindness.
I'm sorry that I never had the chance to meet you in person.
Here is Lloyd's wonderful blog:

Mardecortesbaja

A Desert Oddity - Lotan Lotan 1905-1985

Desert Oddity by Lotan Lotan 1966 

via Blue Coyote Gallery

Lotan is a strange and unusual artist from Indiana who moved to Arizona in 1952 at age 47 with a girlfriend named Ruth, age 35, who became his wife. They were both painters and commercial artists. His name was Lotan S.Welshans, but as a couple they lived under the name Lotan and Ruth Ateliers. 

Then, he changed his name to Lotan Lotan, PHD, MD and made up a bunch of bizarre stuff about a European background (to sell art?). Even more bizarre are some of his paintings. He loved Salvador Dali. He loved the desert. He combined the two influences and added nude women to create his own surrealistic fantasies. Other paintings of erotic nudes are intriguing combinations of crudely-painted folk art crossed with advertising/paperback pulp art. 

Read more biographical info on this artist & his wife and see more images (Blue Coyote): LINK

Harper's Books LINK to even more of his art.

American Gallery Blog-  LINK with paintings and drawings.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Magazine Illustrations (Amy Crehore)

Here are some issues of big magazines where you'll find my illustrations. 

These are from 1991 thru 2008. 

I sent my original painted illustrations to the magazines
(after they called me with job assignments and we approved sketches)

and they would return them via fed ex after they were done scanning them. 

Looking back, I worked with many different art directors all over the country.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Here are a few examples:

 Jewel and Alanis Morrisette for Rolling Stone by Amy Crehore

 Barbie as a Saint for Playboy by Amy Crehore

Nostalgia Man for New York Times Magazine by Amy Crehore
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE (for sharp image)

New Painting, "Waiting Room" by Amy Crehore 2015

Here's my painting finished. It's 8" x 10" oil on linen. Click image to enlarge. 

I'm calling it "Waiting Room".

©Amy Crehore 2015

The Art of Amy Crehore 

UPDATE: And here is my newly finished pastel/charcoal drawing (3/13/15):

Waiting Room drawing by ©Amy Crehore 2015

Inquire about my originals amy@amycrehore.com

I'll be showing my art in Tokyo this summer.

Starting new work

If you have been following my instagram , you may have 

seen my latest works in progress. 

I sketched an intuitive piece in pencil first. 

Then I did a drawing in conte crayon (not yet finished) and 

moved on to oil on linen this week. I also tried it in gouache last week, but did not like the results. 

It is an interior scene with figures which I drew from my head. (No models or references.)

I am continually working on new things and I'm excited about an exhibit in Tokyo that I was invited to participate in (this summer). More about that later.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Sorting through Archives (Illustration)

 Stacks of Playboy Magazines from 1991 - 2002 that my illustrations are published in.

A spread I did for Playboy, issue Jan 1992. My photo appears in the middle of the Playbill.

Here's an example of an illustration I did for Esquire magazine in 1991. 

A story by Robert Stone (who just died this year). 

I have done plenty of illustration work over the years for magazines and book publishers. 

Just look at the stack of Playboys alone that my work has appeared in (above). Eleven years of regular assignments.
Kerig Pope at Playboy was the first art director for a "big" magazine to call me in 1991, followed by Rhonda Rubenstein at Esquire. 

I have many more big name magazines and drawers of original illustrations to
sort through and catalogue like the example of Esquire above.

Right now, my website shows only part of my career history 

with an emphasis on my fine art.
I am working on it and I am working on writing a better bio of my entire art career.

The Art of Amy Crehore

National Kazoo Day

Here's a little ditty featuring kazoos in honor of National Kazoo Day. We recorded this in 1995. Our little band, the Hokum Scorchers used to play it at festivals such as Northwest Folklife-

Presenting Tickler # 3: "Twitch" Concert Ukulele designed by Amy Crehore, built by Lou Reimuller

You will find more information at the bottom of the photo stream and some links.

(Click on image above to enlarge)

Presenting the Tickler #3- A Concert Ukulele, “Twitch” by Amy Crehore (instrument designer, painter, illustrator) and Lou Reimuller (luthier, sculptor, musician and creator of Teenar): a uniquely designed and painted concert ukulele by artist Amy Crehore, lovingly hand-built to Amy's design with great attention to detail by luthier Lou Reimuller.

Featuring:

1.   Honduras mahogany sides with a beautiful, figured mahogany back

2.   Carbon fiber reinforced mahogany neck with ebony center stripe on back

3.   Maple top hand-painted with original painting by artist Amy Crehore

4.   Hand-carved ebony bridge (Amy’s unique scroll design, sculpted by Lou Reimuller), bone saddle, ebony bridge pins with pearl dots

5.   Bound catwood (a.k.a. ziracote wood) fingerboard

6.   Bindings and back stripe made of boltaron, wood veneer, and fiber

7.   Tiny hand-carved bow tie on headstock sculpted by Lou Reimuller, endgraft inlay, heel cap, top inlay- all are made of stabilized green dyed figured maple

8.   Amy’s uniquely designed headstock is enhanced by an original painting. Painted areas are varnished with polyurethane (hard, abrasion-resistant finish).

9.   “Peghed” brand geared tuners

10. French polished back, sides and neck

11. Interior braces made of Adirondack spruce

12. Ebony nut

13. Bound oval sound hole, Tickler Ukulele label inside

14. Amazingly beautiful harp-like tone

15. Most of the wood has been aged for over 30 years

16. Dimensions: total length 23 ½”, scale length 15”, side depth 2 1/2” -2 7/8” , upper bout across 6 ¼”, lower bout 8”, body length 11 1/8”, waist 5” (Large and deep body)

Twitch was the name of a cat who inspired this one-of-a-kind fine art ukulele. Here's the link to process photos of this ukulele being made. And, here's the link to the only other ukulele that I designed from scratch, a pineapple soprano (Tickler #2, 2009, sold). Huge thanks go to Lou Reimuller (luthier) for his incredible craftsmanship and dedicated, hard work on both of these rare and special instruments. Note: the concert size is larger than a soprano.

Inquire: amy@amycrehore.com
The Art of Amy Crehore

Thanks for posting about this ukulele, BOINGBOING- link boingboing 
And there is a new interview with me about this uke on Architects and Artisans 
and Huff Post