May-Be Autumn, May-be Spring

Gypsy Music, 1941, Columbia RecordsI just love the contrast of the delicate calligraphy with the sans-serif fonts and simple graphic shapes in 1950s design. It’s such an unmistakable look. Not so much the babypoo-brown though. Although, I do like how the album art chosen for the May calendar manages to cover the northern hemisphere, with its butterflies and sunshine, and the southern with its autumnal colours.

The gypsy theme is more my style though. Gypsy music is fun too, with its violins and drama, tambourines and tears – this swirly striped skirt perfectly encapsulates the genre.

Two more classics from Alex Steinweiss. Happy May to you! 

Mozart’s Concerto in E-flat Major for Two Pianos and Orchestra, 1946, Columbia Records

Urban Artforms

Lady Watch Your Mouth :: Lucifer VI // DreamCanvas // Laser Lemon GelNot all grafitti is created equal. We pass by most of it, entirely indifferent. It’s part of the urban landscape, and we’ve become blind to it. It’s only when there is something unique about it that suddenly we notice it: often it’s when an artist has actually been comissioned to create a mural.

In the case of these two examples, the first in Collingwood, a woman’s face caught my eye. She was like an urban collage: a half-torn billboard that had been sprayed with shots of colour, waving precariously in the wind. Any moment part of her would be carried off. The other, a black and white boy with a blackbird’s head is a more permanent piece in South Melbourne. It’s immediately striking in its stark lack of colour, and strong black lines. It reminds me of the art of Reg Mombassa. 

Keep an eye out.

Blackbird Boy :: Watts // AO DLX // No flash

A Quaint Collectable

Isn’t it funny that a ‘filthy habit’ – an oft-used term in literature describing cigarette smoking – should be the means that brought us such a quaint and delightful illustrated product as the cigarette card? But we would not have one without the other.

In the mid 1880s America, cigarette packaging was made from flimsy paper, and so cards known as stiffeners were inserted for the reinforcement necessary to protect the precious contents. Some believe it was a journalist who first had the brilliant idea to use these blank cards for advertising, and WD & HO Wills were soon taking advantage. Eventually the cards were also used to convey information on items of general interest: but not until 1893, with the UK’s John Player & Sons producing one of the first sets, on ‘Castles and Abbeys’.

John Players & Sons

Allen & GintersMany of these cards were printed using chromolithography: each colour was applied singly with the use of stone plates. In fine (art) printing it was not unusual for 20–25 stones to be used on a single image, but cigarette cards would not have qualified for that attention. In fact it is the very crudeness and tiny colour palette which gives them the quaint look that I love. I just need to find a way to emulate it in Photoshop, an enjoyable irony.

Dukes, late 19th century

Fearless Fillies of the Universe

From the agricultural sector of the universe come a trio of intrepid young ladies. The cool blue and lavender skin tones denote their origin from a single solar system, although all three hail from different planets.

Gretal, the fearless teacher, is from colonial Panama. She is as beautiful and kind as she is blue. She must daily battle both bad beasts and wicked men of the wilds to reach her students on her noble quest to impart knowledge and protect her charges from constant hazards. Under her gracious and unassuming exterior hides the fierce heart of a warrior, the courage and strength of a lioness!

It is Dani, as huntress, who of the three lives closest to the land – her heart beats as one with it. Her libertarian home planets, Dromada and Dromana are forever twinlocked, and share their capital in the spaceship Queen Doon II that is placed in geosynchronous orbit between both planets. When she is not killing and eating wild prey (or tanning their hides to make garments), her favourite hobbies are knitting, and brushing her hair.

Torris, the most civilised and utopian of the three planets, is also the most developed. Its weather systems are entirely controlled by its inhabitants, and therefore the climate is mild all year round, everywhere – except on designated ‘snow holidays’ during the Winter Festival. Purple-haired Goldie leads a quiet and idyllic life as a florist, and is here wearing a dress in emulation of her favourite puff flowers, similar to the Terran wattle or mimosa.

But who will capture the hearts of our judges – I wonder? 

Keep Your Hopes Up

Stuff getting you down? Smile anyway, rain or shine, and keep your hopes up. (Although a little cry, followed by some chocolate can be very soothing too.)