Rice Flour
Belated October greetings: hello! This month’s calendar picture features a little girl with her feline companion. Reis-mehl translates from the German to ‘rice flour’, so perhaps she is enjoying a rice pudding? Who can say, but it must be good since she has rosy cheeks. I like her Mary-Janes too.
Here in Melbourne spring-proper has finally burst into bloom, which, since the spring equinox was on 23 September, is not surprising, but it is exciting! Today is forecast to be a particularly glorious 26°C, and lunch al fresco has certainly given me rosy cheeks.
Happy October!
Warhol’s Captivating Sense of Fun
Looking at Cecil Beaton’s illustrations immediately put me in mind of Andy Warhol’s own illustrations, which I have always preferred to his fine art output. In the 1950s and before he became his own brand, Warhol worked in the advertising industry as a very successful artist. He even won several Art Directors Club awards.
Warhol moved to New York in 1949 after studying commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. And for the next ten years he worked on Madison Avenue, illustrating fashion, in particular shoe advertisements for I. Miller and other advertising clients; LP covers; and several books, such as 25 Cats Named Sam and One Blue Pussy, Love Is A Pink Cake, and Wild Raspberries.
He returned to drawing in the 1970s, continuing to his death in 1987, but probably his most famous are the shoe drawings, which were published on Sundays in the New York Times, with captions written by his mother. (I must say I much prefer Warhol’s shoe illustrations to the work of another famous shoe illustrator, that of Manolo Blahnik.)
There is a lovely, light unselfconsciousness in Warhol’s drawings; in the imprecise linework that charms; in the whimsical creatures that inhabit the drawings – unicorns, yapping lapdogs and well-to-do pussycats wearing pearls. The sense of fun is captivating.
Images found on Pinterest.
Spring is Coming Tomorrow!
Image from The Graphics FairyYes, tomorrow is indeed the first day of spring, although our city will not know it, with the temperature plummeting down to 13°C, and rain forecast.
This vintage illustration comes from an old advertising trading card for laundry starch. It’s particularly apt today as I have just accepted delivery of two packets of Retro Clean!
Tomorrow may not be a good laundry day at all, but here’s to the advent to spring – and spring cleaning!
I See Unicorns!
A little while ago I was doing some picture research on vintage advertising on Pinterest, and I came across this priceless piece of advertising for ‘Magical Musk’ (the fragrance of hidden flowers), brought to you courtesy of Max Factor. Because how else would you advertise a floral musk cologne except with a rearing unicorn wreathed in mist? The perfume bottle itself reminds me of a soft-serve ice cream cone! … A unicone, as it were.
Graveyard of Dreams
I had stumbled across images of the Neon Boneyard before online, but the other day I had to do some picture research at work on neon signs, and I was reminded once again of the fairylandish wonderland that is the Las Vegas Neon Museum.
The Museum is located in a desert strip not far from Las Vegas, and first opened in 2012 with its first restored sign, the Hacienda Horse and Rider. Since then it has amassed over 200 signs in its Boneyard, nine of which are fully restored.
The gallery includes the Lucky Cuss Motel, the Bow & Arrow Motel, The Silver Slipper, Society Cleaners, Binion's Horseshoe, the Normandie Motel, the Hacienda horse and rider, the Landmark and 5th Street Liquors. Just the names are evocative enough to send me daydreaming of travel.
How I would love to go there! It would be glorious to wander amongst all these decayed and decrepit relics of history. One can only wander on a guided tour however, and they offer both day and night tours. During the latter, the restored signs are lit up, and the others are illuminated with dramatic lighting. I would be compelled to book both!
These great photos – appropriately vintage-looking – are by Pam Sattler, found on The Coolist.
