matouenpeluche

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!

What I've been up to...

Above is a drawing I did of two sisters over the weekend. It's called Sisters II because I already have a Sisters I as you may or may not recall. I've actually realised that I have a thing for drawing two gals together and that I have well over five "two gals together" prints in my shop now! I think I like the idea of sisters or best friends, compadres if you like. ...and these two gals are in my shop!

 

Also on the weekend, I went to The Museum of Sydney to check out the Martin Sharp retrospective exhibition. Sharp is a famous Sydney pop artist but more on him later - he deserves an entire post to himself - I'm thinking later in the week with any chance! However, I went to the shop at the museum and found some choice Sydney Harbour Bridge painting and lithograph postcards! Yippee because I collect postcards and images from the '30s of the bridge! Here above Sydney Bridge Celebrations 1932 by Adrian Feint, a front cover illustration of The Sydney Mail 1930 by 'F.W' and Building the Bridge by Ralph Emmerson Curtis 1933.

...and I've been thoroughly enjoying wearing the two delightfully pretty rings by Christina of Etsy shop Down and Out Chic (this is her gorgeous blog) seen here above on the right being modelled by Clyde that naughty rabbit. On the left Clyde is modelling a sweet pair of earrings handmade by Gabbi of beautiful blog Felinofelice! I feel very lucky indeed to have these in my earring collection - thank you so much Gabbi!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week!

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner...

Yes! We have a winner to the Rose competition and it is David of Art Deco Buildings! Congratulations David! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Meanwhile, Happy Monday and here is a George Barbier to sooth the soul...it's called The Purchase and it can be found here.

Happy Halloween and congratulations Christopher Lee!

(Images from here)

So, Happy Halloween! Even though we are not huge Halloween people us Australians I have been noticing the celebration getting more popular here every year. And I totally approve! It's a heap of fun and a great excuse to dress up and have a party! We had some interesting characters at school yesterday: Spider man, the devil, and a fairy - but my favourite was a very pretty lady bug.

While surfing the web this morning I saw that the beloved Hammer house of horror Meister himself Christopher Lee (seen above as Dracula) was knighted yesterday. Keith of Coolness is Timeless has a terrific post about him here if you'd like to read more. 

I have also been thoroughly enjoying my Art Nouveau birthday book. Here are some more paintings by artist Fernand Khnopff which I thought were a little on the eerie side and perfect for Halloween today...The painting above is The sphinx or Caresses (1896) and the one below is I lock my door upon myself (1891).

Happy weekend all you lovely people out there!!

Lucky me!

Natalia is an extremely talented full time jeweller who I had the good fortune to meet earlier in the year on Etsy.

Natalia lives in Adelaide, Australia and owns the most amazing shop - Realisation Creations. It's like Aladdin's cave! This divine piece to the left is called "Eventide" and consists of vintage opalised glass, a cubic zirconia and a sterling silver chain. Her pieces are timeless and pretty but they also have that extra something special that make them stand out from the crowd.

Anyway, lucky me as I actually won a gift voucher from her shop!! I really couldn't believe my luck! Here is my rabbit Clyde modelling the two pieces I picked out for myself. Thank you so much again Natalia!

The earrings on the left are called Punctuation and are in vintage pink glass and sterling silver. The earrings on the right are called Take a bow and are gleaming purple amethyst.

The best bit though is that you too could have the opportunity to win a gift voucher from Natalia's shop by visiting her beautiful blog and entering the giveaway she has there!

...and earlier in the year I won a cape-let pattern PDF from Chrisy (thank you so much Chrisy!) whose shop Artdecadence is a unique mix of her own objects d'art! She also has a charming blog that engages the mind, the heart and the soul. Her blog is called Sophismpress. Both are very much something to explore. This piece on the left is called Anatomical print with thread. It's on vintage paper and is embellished with black thread. Perhaps it's the perfect Halloween present?

...and another hump day draws to a close. It was as hot as anything today in Sydney but now there is a gale howling outside my window and it has chilled down considerably.

Thank you also to everyone for all the Bianca love - especially to the lovely Gabbi who has Bianca as one of her LOVES this week. Thank you so much sweetie!! XX

Bianca

This is Bianca. She's a new drawing I finished on the weekend.

Bianca's a mega stylish gal and she adores a pussy bow as she feels it brings a touch of glamour to the most formal attire. I tend to agree with her. I think the 1930s were the golden age of pussy bows. Below is a young Joan Crawford in two 1930s Hollywood studio shots. She's working the pussy bow to her advantage me thinks!

 

(Both images from Decades of Fashion: The Hulton Getty Picture Collection.)

Bianca is now in my shop here as a small print. Don't forget if you can't find the image you want in the size you'd like just email me - I'm happy to print my images  in either large (8 " X 11.5" = A4) or small (4" X 6" = 10cm X 15cm).

Happy Monday everyone!!

Birthday Books (part II)

 

Here are another couple of books I got for my birthday. The image above is from Dali: The Impresario of Surrealism by Jean-Louis Gaillemin. Again it is a compact book full of his work and terrific photos of Dali at various stages during his life. It's great seeing all his work together - he really was the prolific genius in my opinion. There's also plenty of biographical info about him too from cradle to grave so to speak.

To the left is the cover and the painting on the right is one of Dali's with the impossibly wonderful title: Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bumblebee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, 1944.

The next book I am very much looking forward to reading. It's called Me Cheeta The Autobiography and it's by James Lever.

You remember seeing those old black and white Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies on TV in the wee hours of Sunday morning? No? Well a whole bunch of Tarzan movies were made in the 1930s and 1940s in Hollywood and the Cheeta of those films wrote this book (ahem). Anyway, it's supposed to be utterly hilarious and a gripping read! I'll let you know! The image on the Left is the book's cover and the one on the right is a painting by Cheeta called Study in Purple and Turquoise #6: 'Water'(2001).

I trust everyone is having a lovely restful and relaxing weekend!

P.S. The lovely Christina of Down and Out Chic is having a fabulous giveaway of Diana's (City Lights) photography! I suggest you hot foot it over there to enter!! Just think...you could win this gorgeous "Couch" print! 

Birthday books (part I)

I got some great books for my birthday. This image by Koloman Moser (1899) is from a small book simply called Art Nouveau. It's chock full of glossy colour illustrations and photos but more importantly it explains the difference between the terms "Art Nouveau", "Secession", ""Belle Époque" and "Arts and Crafts". It's also quite compact so I'll be able to read it in bed!

Here are two more classic images from the book: Peter Behrens' The Kiss from 1898 and  Alphonse Mucha's Sarah Bernhardt "La Plume" 1896.

I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this book!

Happy Friday everyone and many thanks for your birthday wishes!! They made my day!!

Stefan and La farfalla rossa...

 

It's Monday!! Well, actually it's Monday night down here in Sydney. So here are two drawings I managed to do over the weekend: there is Stefan the rather pretty yellow birdie and below him there is La Farfalla Rossa or The red butterfly in Italian. Both are now in my shop as small prints!!

I hope everyone had a refreshing and relaxing weekend - very much looking forward to catching up with everyone's blog today!!

This is Max.

Max was the creation of master cartoonist and illustrator Pericle Luigi Giovannetti. Isn't that a wonderful name? Anyway, Giovannetti started drawing for the now defunct Punch magazine after World War One and launched little Max in April 1953.

Max was such a hit with his wordless pomposity and general shenanigans that Giovannetti even wrote several books starring the one and only Max himself.

(Image from: Non-Stick Plans)

Unfortunately, all the Max books are now out of print but I've been surfing Amazon and I think I might have found a second hand copy...

Here's another Max story:

Both cartoons are from the book: Punch, All Creatures Great and Small published by Prion.

Happy Thursday evening everyone - hope your weather is a little tamer than it is here in Sydney! I am currently listening to 100 - 120 kilometre icy gale force winds (blown directly off the glaciers of the Antarctic) rattle my windows! And to think last week was a sweltering 34 degrees!! Go figure!