Pee Wee Herman And The Queen

Today's secret word is: Birthday! Paging Mr. Herman! Paging Mr. Herman! Paul Reuben's character 'Pee Wee Herman' has been entertaining us for 30 years! What a snazzy guy! Can you believe it? So many years of smiles! I love the P-man! Yes indeed, I certainly must, as I placed him on the same shelf with a photo of my awesome husband Ben, and Beldar Conehead from France! Because of Pee Wee Herman I will never hear the song 'Tequila' again, and not think of white platform shoes tilted upright under Pee-Wee on a biker bar! Pee Wee is such a rebel. Dottie knows that.

Like many others, my two children were raised on the child-like charming grey suited character named 'Pee Wee Herman.' We loved watching him everyday! Although what we enjoyed was not the kids TV program you are thinking about. This show we watched was my homemade video of the original HBO special 'The Pee Wee Herman Show - Live At The Roxy Theater', a 'Groundlings' play that was created for adults. It was hilarious, colorful, quirky, and oh so fab-fabulous! Reminded me of the Honfest world. My children could not get enough of it, and thankfully the adult humor went right over their heads... until they were in their teens. I certainly never got tired of listening to Mr. Herman and his remarkable cast of characters nearly every day. As a single mom I can remember making dinner and hearing Jambi singing  "This is my Last Trance...Last Trance...Peeeeeee Weeeeee."  

We had every line memorized from the entire show! Miss Y-vonne was sublime as the most beautiful woman in Puppetland, Captain Carl was perfection as the cranky shy fisherman, and that 'Sly and The Family Stone' tribute with Pee Wee and the wacky neighbors 'The Jelly Donuts,' was out-of-this-world! Go watch a clip here! Who can forget naughty Jambi and "Hands? Hands? Did somebody say Hands?....."  Well you know the rest.

The Pee wee Herman Broadway play is based on this original and unique HBO special, but many of Phil Hartman's skits are not included, so you simply must buy the DVD that finally came out a few years ago. It is one of my  prized processions, as I was worried my old video tape from the TV would finally disintegrate, and I would lose this awesome comedy forever. Kudos to HBO for releasing the old show again on DVD! Whew!



Did you know there is a new Pee Wee Herman movie somewhere out there in production. I hope they have lots of campy details like the video clip above from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. That's the coolness I love along with him talking and thinking like a nerdy kid.

I bought my kids the Pee Wee Playhouse in the eighties. Truth be known I was the one who really wanted that kookie dollhouse. I also got "them" the Pee Wee Colorforms. Oh look there is the old box in my office today...along with Jambi on the shelf below. How did they get there? "I know you are...but, what am I?" That crazy Globey is lurking around here somewhere!

Happiest of Birthday's Pee-Wee and Paul Reuben! Thanks for all the laughs! My kids turned out to be fantastic wonderful people with a wicked sense of humor! Now my grandchildren know who Pee-Wee is too, and they enjoy watching the silliness! "Made you look!"

Visit the Official Pee-Wee website full of fun stuff, and you can follow 'Pee-Wee' on his Facebook page. Now get working on that giant foil ball! ....

Credits: Pee Wee Herman images from Peewee.com, Frames - Raspberry Road Designs, Objects - Paula Kesselring, Photos and art created by Crystal Visions Art

Musical Vintage Victorian Ephemera And Freebie

'The Painting Queen loves ephemera, vintage or digital. Honestly, collecting digital ephemera may be an addiction. Oh let's be nice and call it a hobby! My love of vintage images actually started when I was in art college studying typography. I happened to tell my grandmother about the design class where we studied the history of type usage. This resulted in her gifting me two amazing vintage albums filled with trade card collections! Very often I sat with those old volumes on my lap, gently turning the care worn pages, marveling over the sometimes curious old trade cards. As I looked closely at the detail in each card, I thought about the people who made the art, as well as those who were taking the time to collect the post card sized trade cards. As part of a work study job at my college, I designed an event brochure trying to emulate this type of artwork and typography.  A sad student attempt for sure, none the less done with love and excitement.

I so dearly loved and valued the antique images within those old albums my Grandmother had so thoughtfully given to me. Unfortunately someone in my life was jealous of this antique gift. They saw those albums as worth only money, and took them from me. As the wheel of karma turns, apparently the albums were stolen from that person, and possibly sold on E-bay. Sad. If left in my care, those images would be here to share with you today. Thankfully I still have two of the soap trade cards to enjoy, since they were kept under glass on my bureau. You can see one of the trade cards above this post, I call her the pink lady. In the Spirit of giving back to the Universe, and honoring the gift from my grandmother, I am sharing her with you freely today. You can click on the image and download her to use in your creative digital artwork projects. This way we can share the beauty together! Some unknown artist in the past did a lovely job drawing this pink lady. So let us celebrate that creative life, beauty, and people we love!

 

Now let me share with you the talent of a creative artist that does incredible ephemera work, and astonishingly lives in our time! Besides ephemera, you know 'The Painting Queen' also loves music, and when both favorites meet within an exceptional project, I must share that good news with you!  English traditional ornamental glass artist David Adrian Smith was commissioned by Sony Music to create the stunning album cover artwork for John Mayer's new release called 'Born and Raised.' You can click on the link above to view many large photos of the artwork on his website.  David A. Smith has the unusual vintage Victorian skills to create mirrors and Victorian inspired signage using glass embossing, acid etching, reverse painting and artwork, gold leaf, creative typography, and incredible line and scroll work. Watch the video above to learn more about the artist and the process.



When exceptional musician John Mayer found this unique artist, he worked with David to create John's vintage style vision for the album cover of  Born and Raised . Yes I said album cover! This is not dinky little CD case artwork. This is the real glorious, hold the large album in your hands, and pull out a real record artwork! The video above is an 18 minute documentary about the artwork and design process. This is a real must see for any designer, artist, or lover of vintage things! Behold this master of vintage art and Victorian typographic design, David Adrian Smith! You will experience all the time, care, and detail that went into his designs. If you would like a poster of the design you can go here. Both videos on this post were created by film maker Danny Cooke.

Most recently, Jamison Whiskey in Dublin had David design and execute a label celebrating St Patrick's Day 2013 for a limited edition collectors bottle. You can view this design along with others of this modern/vintage master at his uber-gorgeous website. Filled with drawings, designs and photos, this website is superb eye candy! You are going to be blown away by this man's incredible skill! Along with some of his scroll designs and fonts, David also sells a gilding tool he created for fellow gilding artists there as well. I recommend you look through the photo gallery on his gold leaf gilding workshop page, the Peace sign makes me cry. The beauty of his lyrical line work is beyond words.

The John Mayer album design is reminiscent to me of the wonderful old album covers I could hold in my hand and then display in my teenage room. In our last home we had a room dedicated to displaying about 20 of our old favorite album covers. Perhaps someday in this current 'Hobbit House' we can find a place to hang a few album covers in the basement, when we get around to setting up a practice area for Ben. Well...way back in those high school days I had told my fellow art students that when I grew up I wanted to design album covers. 

Although I never did live that dream... I sure do a lot of website designs and photos for my musician husband Ben Sherman seen above. Certainly you can see the vintage influence on Ben Sherman's main gig and teaching website design which you will find also has a fun steampunk twist, even within the photos section. Then there is Ben's other website Ben Sherman Classical Guitar. A more modern young bride look. Hint: White is the new black.  Marketing. Marketing. To marketing I must go.