matouenpeluche

Goodbye 2009....and hello (almost) 2010!

Goodbye dear 2009! You were good to me 2009 and I had a wonderful time!

Today I plan to take it easy at home here (and draw! Surprise!) and avoid the crazy revellers. My suburb gets pretty nutty on New Year's Eve so I'll be lying low for most of the day but I most certainly intend to go down the road to see the crackers at 9:00pm and again at 12:00pm. I'm going to try and take some photos too!

Hope everyone has a wonderful evening. Thank you for all your gorgeous blogs which I love keeping up with and thank you for the comments and visits to my blog in 2009!!

Happy New Year (almost!) and see you in 2010!

(Both images from here)

Shadow Shot Sunday = Luna Park

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Day and survived the Christmas feast! I had a traditional Australian lunch of the most divine selection of seafood: scallops, lobster, prawns and salmon. Desert was cognac ice cream and berries: raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and baked peaches in champagne. Goodness me! I think it was the best Christmas lunch I've ever had! 

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, here is my shadow shot submission. It is the top of one of two towers that flank the face of Luna Park in Sydney. They were modelled on New York's Chrysler building.

Shadow Shot Sunday, by the way, is a fabulous meme set up by the gorgeous Tracy of Hey Harriet! Anyone can enter and here are the instructions on how to do so!

Meanwhile, here are more Luna Park shots.

 

Luna Park was opened in 1935 so all the architecture and artwork in the park is very art deco. It has had a checkered fortune over the years but these days it is in very fine form having been meticulously restored quite recently.

My Dad used to take me there quite a bit when I was little so I am very fond of Luna Park - I have a lot of happy memories associated with it. However, these days I am more interested in the historic art deco sculptures and art work in and around Luna Park rather than the amusement rides themselves.

These cartoony paintings below are by the legendary Hoppy Arthur 'Art' Barton.

Next to Luna Park and probably built around the same time, is an olympic sized swimming pool which has recently been refurbished. I was super pleased to see that they had kept all the delightful and quirky decoration around the perimeter of the pool.

They're fun, aren't they?

Hope everyone is having a great holiday - I know I am!

Hashiguchi Goyo

I have recently been admiring the sublime work of Hashiguchi Goyo a Japanese artist born in 1880. He was actually born Hashiguchi Kiyoshi but he later changed his name to Goyo after the magnificent goyo pine tree in his Father's garden. His father, incidentally, was a samurai and amateur painter.

(All images from Fujiarts)

Goyo produced 14 woodblock prints during his short life: he died in 1921 at the age of 41 after having suffered ill health for a number of years.

Looking at his work, I feel mesmerised by the calm beauty of his compositions. The detail of the fabrics he painted and the joyous colours are truly something in my opinion.

You can find out more about him and his work here.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and that it is not too hectic in the lead up to Christmas Day!

Bats and Apollo: Shadow Shot Sunday

Happy Shadow Shot Sunday! The top shot is of a flying fox mid-siesta in the Botanic Gardens. As he was sleeping, he was slowly twirling around. I managed to get his contented smile though in this shot. The bottom shot is part of The Archibald Fountain in Sydney's Hyde Park. This is a fine art deco fountain commissioned and paid for by a prominent Sydney identity, J.F. Archibald. It was built after he died as a memorial to him and he insisted that the artist be French as he was an utter Francophile and also because he wanted to commemorate the alliance between France and Australia in World War I. The artist chosen was Francois Sicard. It was completed on 1932. Below you can see the entire fountain in all it's art deco glory.

In the centre is Apollo and he is flanked below by the goddess Diana and the god of Sacrifice for the public good, Theseus (with the minator). There is another group which represents the bounty and goodness of nature. 

Shadow Shot Sunday is an awesome meme set up by that fabbo top gal Tracy of Hey Harriet! Everybody can submit a SSS and here are the instructions on how to do so!

Christmas shopping...

(You can find this gorgeous photo "Ring Ring" by Diana of citylight here!)

Well, I don't know about you, but I think the Christmas season is in full swing! I have already started my Christmas shopping. I bought some exceptionally fine prints and cards from Diana of citylight. Did you know Diana was having a sale at the moment? It's the perfect opportunity to pop over to her shop and pick up something wonderful for your wall!

The coming of the great cat god...

Now this is an end of the world scenario I could possibly be OK with...

Happy Friday folks (or Thursday afternoon as the case may be...).

(Cartoon "The Coming of the Great Cat God" by Ronald Searle, 1968 from here)

Book covers and illustrations...

So, I have trudged up the hump that is Wednesday and I am at the summit and it's a good view from up here! My hump day was made all the more pleasant and actually thrilling due to Gabbi's posting of my work here! Gabbi's blog is one of the wonders of cyber space as far as I'm concerned so it is an absolute honour to catch her eye! Thank you so much Gabbi!

Meanwhile, I have been perusing all things book and here are a few of the goodies I found...

(Aaron Judah book cover from here)

(Charles Harper illustration from here)

(Charles Harper Illustration from here)

(Flook book cover from here)

Hope everyone's week is behaving itself - and thank you kindly for all the drawing love!!

Renée Perle : Jacques Henri Lartigue

(All images above from here)

The lovely Romanian model Renée Perle was photographer and painter Jacques Henri Lartigue's (1894 – 1986) muse and girlfriend. Although Lartigue is most famously known for hs photos of racing cars at the French Grand prix, the photos of Perle are classics of their time. Isn't she lovely?

Here are some more of Lartigue's photos. Incidentally, did you know that Wes Anderson is a huge Lartigue fan and has paid homage to him in his films Rushmore and The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou (the protrait of Lord Mandrake in the movie is based on a photo of Lartigue). 

(Image from here)

(Image from here)

(Image from here)

Hump Day pick me up!

(Life Magazine 1922 from here.)

(Andre Kertesz 1928 from here)

(Montparnesse Station Train wreck from here)

(Lee Friedlander Revolving doors from here)

Ok, well these images are a little unrelated but I kinda like them all the same!

Happy Hump Day folks!

P.S. Thank you everyone for all your lovely comments and enthusiasm for my drawings - it's very encouraging!!

Martin Sharp

This is Sydney artist and legend Martin Sharp circa 1970. I went to a terrific retrospective exhibition of his work at the Museum of Sydney last week.

Martin Sharp, born (1942) and raised in Sydney, is seen as Australia's number one pop artist. He is best known internationally as the album cover artist for Cream's Wheel's of Fire, the exploding Jimi Hendrix painting and the Mr Tambourine Man Bob Dylan portrait.

 

(Top two images from Art and Australia Vol.47 Spring 2009)

(Disraeli Gears LP Cover from here)

He also co-wrote songs with Eric Clapton, published scandalous (for the 60s) magazines, restored and renovated Sydney's Luna Park, was friend and collaborator of (Tip Toe Through the Tulips) Tiny Tim, designer and artist for beautiful Sydney event posters in the 70s and 80s and a whole heap of other things! Actually, the exhibition itself is a real 4D experience with all his posters and knick knacks displayed in the one huge room. I've decided to go back sometime soon and properly photograph it.

 

(Top: Babylon the great is fallen, fallen. Revelations 18 v2. 2000 - 2006 from the Spring Historic Houses magazine. Bottom three images are postcards from the exhibition: The Sydney Opera House is ten 1983, Tiny Tim, The Chameleon 1982 and Eternity, Haymarket! 1977)

  Martin Sharp was a hero of mine when I was a young cartoonist and illustrator in Sydney so this exhibition was a real treat for me to go to. His posters like the one above of Sydney's Haymarket particularly remind me of my youth and memories of Sydney at that time.

Hope everyone is having/ will have a fabulous weekend!