Big-Eyed Art!

I just love the classic "Big Eyed Art" of the 60's and 70's, a genre originated by the wonderful artist Margaret Keane.

Below is a piece by one of her numerous imitators. I found this particular print at a local flea market, a bargain at only one dollar!



Honestly, my infatuation with this type of art spawned from my love of kitsch, but over the years I've really come to love these "doe-eyed waifs" and treasure them among my favorite pieces of art. I truly love the sad-but-pretty images these artists mass-produced during this fad, and proudly hang them on the walls of the compound.

I've got several more similar prints, and I'll share some of those a little later.

If you want to know more about big-eyed art, the best place to start is over at Besmirched....

Greetings From Asheville, North Carolina!

Asheville and I go back a long ways. I've got family there who I used to visit almost every year growing up. I'd spend the summer eating my Great-Grandma's fried chicken with biscuits and greens from her garden, and then I'd sit on the front porch reading comic books and listen to the sounds of the racetrack just over the hills.

Even as a kid, it seemed like the mountains of North Carolina were the most beautiful place on Earth....





I haven't been down there in quite awhile but I hear about it every so often. Apparently the hippies and hipsters have learned what I know about Asheville, and are moving there in droves. The music scene is hopping, festivals are flourishing, and people are calling the town the new Austin.

I wonder if the old southern charm from my youth remains there? I'll have to get back down soon, I bet it's just as beautiful as I remember...

Greetings From Bellingrath Gardens In Beautiful Mobile, Alabama!

Another scan from my postcard collection. Here we see lovely Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, Alabama. I love that old technicolor look!



I especially enjoy the southern flavored art on the card's border...


There's more postcards from Mobile, Alabama right here, some of which were also published by Deep South Specialties, Incorporated. I dig their snappy logo!

Night Lights On The Fabulous Strip In Las Vegas, Nevada

Another one from my postcard collection, a nice night-shot of Las Vegas featuring the famous Flamingo Hotel, the classic Caesars Palace, and off in the background, the absolutely legendary Sands Hotel.

I've got an even cooler Sands postcard right here...

Her Room Is Her Castle...

Yet another found photo from that mysterious shoebox. There's just so much grooviness in this photo, from that kids boots, the cat trying to get away, that loud floral pattern, and best of all, those awesome examples of big-eyed art on the wall!

Another Hot Date

Another found photo, apparently snapped on the same enchanted evening. Gotta love that hair!

Random Objects From Childhood...

A few photos of some of my acquisitions. I've actually had most of this stuff since I was a kid.


Fisher-Price Adventure People, trapped in a love triangle?



From back in the days when Tonka made heavy-duty, impossible to destroy toys!



Mattel's Rodan toy was loosely tied into their Shogun Warriors line. Sadly, his head is all I have left! (I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.) Evidently this would be worth quite a bit of money if I hadn't broken it.



And of course, vintage Star Wars figures! Like a lot of people my age, old-school Star Wars fully dominated my formative years. Of all the things from my early years, these are the things I will never be able to part with.




And while certainly not vintage, I love this totally cool Mars Attacks robot more than the movie that inspired it, and it sits proudly with my older objects.

More to come later!

Come Relax at Laurel Lake Inn!

Get away from it all at Laurel Lake Inn located in lovely Henderson, North Carolina! A relaxing moment scanned from my postcard collection.

I found this card in a box from my parents old house. Most likely they got it while visiting our extended family down there...




A quick web search brought up several other places to stay in Henderson, but no Laurel Lake Inn. Perhaps it just changed names, or perhaps it's just simply faded away...

Hot Date

Another neat photo from the same shoebox that yielded other great treasures. Now that's how you pile up hair!

And dig that huge three-way ashtray from the days when smoking was fully acceptable social habit!


Hmm, looks like the story continues...

The Sands Hotel: A Place In The Sun...

Ah, the legendary Sands Hotel, in that city of fortune and hedonism we call Las Vegas! This is the old Vegas of course, before the water parks and shopping malls. I bought this postcard at a flea market as a memento of a time we'll never see again..

It's the A & W Drive-In!

Another scan from my boxes of postcards. Mmmmm, I could totally dig a root-beer float right now...

Get Your Shirley Maclaine & Richard Beymer Trading Cards...

I was going through some old stuff and found this inside a wallet that belonged to my mother...



A Shirley Maclaine (Circa The Apartment) and Richard Beymer trading cards? Where do I get the rest of the set?

Stop By Rhoades Soft Ice Cream & Amish Gift Shop!

Rocket Science

Another scan from the collection...

"Hand me a plate, Jimmy!"

Here's a neat photo I found in a shoebox in an abandoned recording studio. What do you suppose the fella's reaching for?

Another image from the mysterious shoebox here...

Fun With Found Objects

From a walk in the woods near my house over the weekend I give you two found objects.

A shattered watergun busted up on a hot summer day, perhaps when some harmless fun turned ugly?

The datebook at the bottom belonged to a student from Douglas Freeman High School, and the last entry helps suggest how this book got lost out in the woods...

Old-School Water Decal

Here's an old-style water decal (Like what you'd apply to a model kit ) that I found in a clearance bin at a tourist trap in Nag's Head, North Carolina for 10 cents! I also scanned the instruction sheet...


When I was a kid I remember seeing these stickers plastered all over the back windows of motor-homes and campers, proudly presenting the places retired travelers had been.

Nice Gun, Ted!

Once again Popular Mechanics (1962) reminds us that real men don't buy their gun cabinets from a furniture store, they build their own!

Someday....

Another wonderful image from the 1962 edition of the Popular Mechanics Home Handyman Illustrated Encyclopedia showing a perfect dream house getaway. Too bad these old books don't have illustration credits, I'd love to find more by the artist.

Advice From Popular Mechanics Circa 1962

Scanned from the Popular Mechanics Home Handyman Illustrated Encylopedia, 1962