WOW DON MARCO... THE MASTER CRAYON ARTIST

Don Marco was born in Northern Minnesota in the late 1920's. His interest in art was evident even before starting school. As a young adult in the Army Air Corp, he began his life's career in Air Traffic Control, which continued until his retirement from Honolulu International Airport in 1973... Much of his spare time was spent as a professional artist.


Burt Reynolds Crayola Portrait

Before retirement, Don started developing a technique to create fine art, using Crayola Crayons. Shortly after retiring, he published his first print. Living in Southern California, his work was in demand, including commissions from Burt Reynolds and a one-man show at his Dinner Theater in Florida ....


James Arness Matt Dillon from Gunsmoke


John Wayne Rooster Cogburn in True Grit


Clint Eastwood

Such talent!

PRINCESS DIANA'S BLACK DRESS UP FOR AUCTION

Yahoo News Story Princess Diana, Princess Grace and What's His Name?

LONDON – It was black and strapless, with a sassy sequined flounce at the bodice and a gloriously full, swishy skirt.

The dress was, Lady Diana Spencer thought, so grown-up, just right for her first official engagement after the announcement she was to marry Prince Charles.

But when photographs emerged of the then 19-year-old Diana emerging from a limousine at a March, 1981 charity event — all creamy shoulders and ample decolletage — there was a minor scandal over the revealing cut. According to Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed the ball gown with her husband David, they didn't realize the furor the dress would cause.



"She just looked fantastic. At that time, she was curvy. Not fat in any way, but she had cleavage — we love cleavage. And she looked great in this dress," Emanuel said in an interview Friday. "We in no way expected there to be such a reaction. And I think from that moment on, Diana became a fashion icon."

The dress had been missing for years until David Emanuel recently discovered it in a plastic bag at his home. Along with other garments worn by Diana and designed by the Emanuels, it is to be auctioned off June 8 in a sale that includes the silk chiffon blouse chosen for the Princess of Wales' official engagement portrait by Lord Snowdon, and the calico prototype used to fit her famous ivory wedding gown.

Prince Charles reportedly didn't like the ballgown she wore to the charity event, because he thought black was for people in mourning. Diana thought it was tres chic, and anyway, she had nothing else to wear.

"She was unsophisticated at that point, and when I look at the wedding dress and the black ballgown I can see a young girl's dream of the ultimate party dress or romantic dress," said auctioneer Kerry Taylor, whose eponymous firm is handling the sale. "So there's an innocence about these early pieces.

"Later on she became very svelte, very sophisticated, very elegant," Taylor said. "But here we see just a very beautiful, innocent young girl, and the clothes reflect that."

For the editors of Britain's voracious press, the dress — and the snaps of Diana in it — would kick off a long love affair with the princess.

"Up until that point, they'd seen her as a floppy-haired puppy," said Christopher Wilson, a seasoned observer who has written extensively on the royals. "And that's the moment Fleet Street fell in love with her.

"It all stretches back to that one picture."

Taylor and Elizabeth Emanuel are hopeful the collection will go to a museum — the black dress is expected to fetch between 30,000 and 50,000 pounds ($44,000 to $73,000) and the prototype of the wedding dress between 8,000 and 12,000 pounds ($12,000 to $17,000) — but understand that Diana's legacy means there's a strong chance a private collector may snap up the garments.

Despite the reaction to her ballgown, Diana liked it enough to ask the Emanuels to take it in when it became too large for her, as she was constantly losing weight. In the months leading up to her wedding, Diana's waist dropped from 26 to 24 inches, and the Emanuels decided it would be easier to just make her a new, smaller version of the dress. Elizabeth Emanuel said she doesn't know what happened to the second version.

The collection up for sale includes sketches, notes, invoices — one shows Diana's mother paid 1,000 guineas for the wedding party's dresses, which was the equivalent of 1,050 pounds — and even the handbag that Elizabeth Emanuel carried to the wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981. It still has the smelling salts the designer brought along in case her famous client felt faint. (She didn't, Emanuel said, describing Diana as the epitome of calm.)

"Diana was just fantastic. From the moment we first met her, she was just like a regular client. She was lovely, down-to-earth, very sweet, very calm, very friendly. She made a point of meeting everybody in the work room and she was just so easy to get on with," Emanuel said. "We had so much fun."

SNARKY NAILS! TOKYO NAIL EXPO 2009

This show was snarktacular! We so wish we couldhave attended this huge fantastic nail event. And they told us in 1980 that fake nails were just a FAD yeah like totally wrong!



These 3d swans are just gorgeous

Try on OPI Holiday Shades HERE



Hello kitty! Love the gum ball machines... See the show page HERE

SNARKY CHRISTMAS TREE FUN PICS!

Charlie Brown Tree (we want this one for our house!)



Pac Man Tree very cool




Pink Tree we have had that at the Snarky Trailer



Blue Optic Tree is awesome



Grolsch bottle tree for the Snarky beer drinkers out there



For the Snarkies who love to confuse their guests.....



Retro foil is always in style in a Snarky home



Our favorite holiday jewelry....



Heather Harris' Snarkiest Tree of All! Thanks for the photo!

SNARKY TOYS!

We loved TROLLS!! Kimmer had tons of them and we had Troll villages and Troll Houses that we made out of old bleach bottles. We would cut out the front of the bleach bottle. Add carpet on the "floor". Paste pictures on their walls, and cut out windows too. The bottle had a built in handle for carrying and the creativity we put into customizing these little troll homes was amazing. Wish I had a photo of one from back then.

We had lots of different colored hair trolls but my two favorites were a white haired one and an orange haired one that my mean step sister threw out the car window when I was about 7 years old. See... emotional damage never heals! I am still mad that my step father refused to turn the car around to go get it...

We even had Troll Animals and I found a picture of one I had, the Troll Giraffe:



We made our own clothes for the Trolls because there weren't any for sale yet. They did have outfits later on but by then I was teen aged and on to other things. Our homemade clothes weren't as fancy as these below but we loved them just the same. These below are really cute.



They were addictive! Just like I guess the Beanie Baby craze in the 90's. I still want these dolls when I see those little eyes! Unlike the Liddle Kiddle's they didn't come with any accessories except my Mrs. Santa Claus version. she kind of looked like this one below:



They did bring Trolls back in the late 80's. They had the belly button jewel. Mine didn't have those as I recall. I had both versions of Trolls the Dam and Russ versions. Russ had the best faces and best hair. They cost more too.


Newer Versions of Trolls

TROLL HISTORY

Trolls have been a part of folklore forever--as bad and mischievous creatures who lived in caves, in logs, and under bridges. Trolls are believed to be good luck, which certainly has helped the sale of troll dolls--troll dolls can be found in houses, in cars, even at work, purchased with the hope that they will bring luck to their owners.

Trolls in their collectible form were first created by Thomas Dam and his family, in Denmark in the 1950s. The first Dam trolls were carved in wood. Later, they were made of soft rubber, and finally, vinyl. The trolls made by Thomas Dam's company became known as "Dam Things," and these are the most popular trolls with collectors today. Most collectors believe that the Dam Thing trolls have the most character, the best clothing, and the highest quality.

Although Dam Things made the most well-known and most collectible trolls, many companies got on the troll bandwagon and began to produce trolls in the mid 1960s. Most of these trolls are unmarked, so it is often difficult to identify trolls from any of the "clone" troll makers. Many of the clone troll manufacturers were from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the trolls they made were cheap imitations and of low quality.

These low-quality trolls flooded the market in the mid-1960s, which caused trolls to become less popular--troll popularity peaked approximately in 1966. Trolls went downhill from there, and became almost invisible by the 1980s.

However, starting in 1989, troll production started in earnest again, when troll nostalgia hit big, causing the second boom-period for trolls in the early 1990s. Trolls became ubiquitous again, and were found in nearly every toy shop and gift shop. Today, trolls are not as common as in the early 1990s, but can still be found. Today's trolls are made by several manufacturers, including Dam Trolls which only sells their current trolls in Denmark.



COLLECTOR TROLLS ONLINE

This is a small group of old troll dolls. These funny little dolls gained popularity in the 1960’s and 70’s and have been in and out of fashion ever since. The first large on measures about 3” high excluding its wild, multi-colored hair.

It has plastic eyes and is wearing a little shirt that has numbers on it and reads; Lucky Lottery Troll. On its feet it is marked with the Russ copyright and China. The other large one is a jeweled troll and is slightly different in character and its plastic eyes are inset more. It has shocking turquoise hair, a matching rhinestone like gem in its belly button and blue eyes.

It measures about 3” high excluding the hair and is marked Made in China - Ace Novelty Co., Inc. on the bottom of its feet. Of the three smaller ones with painted eyes and shocking pink hair, one, I believe, is a pencil topper as shown in the pictures. It measures about 1 ¼” high and is only marked China on the back. Then there are two tiny ones that measure about 1” tall excluding the hair. On the back they are marked with the Russ copyright and China and they both have their original Russ foil label on the bottom of their feet.




World Record Troll Collector:

A SCHOOLGIRL’S hobby has landed her a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sophie Marie Cross, of Ilges Lane, Cholsey, has broken her own record for having the most troll dolls – with a gruesome 545.

The 13-year-old Wallingford School pupil said she had no plans to give up her collection and is constantly on the look out for more of the dolls.

“I first started my collection when I was seven after my brother bought a small troll and I took a shine to it,” she said. Full Story HERE

Troll Mischief Video



Troll Fashion Show!

ANN ARBOR ROCK REVIVAL MACHINEGUN THOMPSON HOSTS!

ADVANCE TICKETS ARE HERE:

EXTRA SNARKY BALL GIRL!!!!

MORE SNARKY CAKES

ALL WEIRD THINGS

BYE BYE JOHNNY...PATRICK SWAYZE RIP

By CHRISTY LEMIRE, AP Movie Writer

LOS ANGELES – Patrick Swayze, the hunky actor who danced his way into moviegoers' hearts with "Dirty Dancing" and then broke them with "Ghost," died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist, Annett Wolf. Swayze died in Los Angeles, Wolf said, but declined to give further details.

Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from a particularly deadly form of cancer. He kept working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting "The Beast," an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot.

Swayze said he opted not to use painkilling drugs while making "The Beast" because they would have taken the edge off his performance. The show drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran in 2009, but A&E said it had reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.

When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was "considerably more optimistic" than that. Swayze acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.

MORE SNARKY OLD PEOPLE

Old Lady Rebellion Line HERE



All women should live so long as to be this kind of old lady!

Toward the end of Sunday service, the Minister asked, 'How many
of you have forgiven your enemies?'

About 80% held up their hands.

The Minister then repeated his question.

All responded this time, except one small elderly lady.

'Mrs. Neely?'; 'Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?'

I don't have any.' She replied, smiling sweetly.

'Mrs. Neely, that is very unusual. How old are you?'

'Ninety-eight.' she replied.

'Oh, Mrs. Neely, would you please come down in front & tell us
all how a person can live ninety-eight years & not have an enemy
in the world?'

The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the
congregation, and said:

'I outlived the bitches.'

MARIJKE'S ART

Happy Labor Day Snarkies...

We met the fantastic rock photographer Heather Harris and are in the process of making a blog suitable for framing her fabulous images. Heather rides horses with the fantastic psychedelic innovator Marijke Koger Dunham. Heather graciously introduced RK to MKD to do a bit of a post on her marvelous life and work.



Marijke Koger-Dunham is one of the founding members of THE FOOL the retro fantastic group of musicians and art designers of the 1960's London Rock scene. The Fool designed clothing, recorded music, painted murals and custom painted instruments for the most famous of rock icons of all time. Their works helped tp create the Psychedelic Modern Art Movement.

RK asked Magical Marijke about how she came to be a artist/muralist and she replied:

To answer your questions, I got interested in murals when the Tropical Museum in Amsterdam had an exhibition of huge Aztec mosaic murals installed on the museum's exterior. I could see them on my way to school on my bicycle.

All artists of all times have had an influence on my work but my favorites are the bronze age Minoans, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Rembrandt , Rubens, Picasso, Dali and Magritte.

Marijke and Simon of The Fool





George Harrison and Pattie Boyd's Fireplace

Marijke Koger and the artist group The Fool came to London in the early ’60s from Amsterdam as clothing designers, and were asked by NEMS’(North End Music Stores) Brian Epstein to style his clients in the new Psychedelic fashions, everything from the painted guitars and flamboyant clothes sported by Cream on their first US tour to psychedelic cars for the stars and the mural on The Apple Boutique - which also showcased their fashions. \



Many of Marijke's original paintings and posters are for sale: HERE



Their album sleeves for Jimi Hendrix, The Move and The Incredible String Band among others, remain classics. Also features a lavishly illustrated booklet alongside in-depth notes by the author of ‘Those Were The Days’, the definitive book on Apple Records.



Remember the spectacular mural whose colorful panoramas adorned the walls of the Aquarius Theatre during the Los Angeles run of "HAIR", or the walls of The Beatles' "APPLE" Cultural Center in London? These remarkable examples of art history were created by Marijke Koger-Dunham, the multi-talented artist from Amsterdam, Holland.

Marijke's unique talents find expression in a diverse use of media, including oil paintings, watercolors and gouaches. Her distinctive work has had an easily discernable influence on other contemporary artists and designers, and has attracted the patronage of many international celebrities including Prince Alphonso of Hohenloe, The Beatles, Graham Nash, The Cream, Michael Butler, Billie D. Williams, the Hon. Mrs. Thomas Bradley, and others.



PURCHASE ORIGINAL ART FROM MARIJKE HERE

Marijke's husband Don Dunham has a great band called "Black Cat" (hard rock)
check out his music HERE





There is a fantastic blogger CHILD OF THE MOON who has the most brilliant post on THE FOOL and basically all her posts have the most hard to find images. Where does she get those pics? We want you to go see her work it is to die for.... she is on my RK links list too.

THE REAL BLOW UP

Blow-Up is a fabulous Snarky film based on the real life antics of fashion photographers from 1960's London.

Recently a friend mailed a copy of a terrific documentary about the real people behind the film Blow-Up. I sat absolutely mesmerized for 2 hours watching the documentary, the backstory behind the 60's Fashion scene: THE REAL BLOW UP fame, fashion, and photography in the 1960's.

A 2 hour BBC Documentary that is unfortunately not available for sale or out even on a You tube video. The background of the photographers, models, actors and rocks stars of the 1960's is riveting and the BBC should make a film about Bailey singularly. Release of the original would be instore as well.

Thank you HH for all of your generous tutorials!

I did find a great two-part interview with Mr. Bailey on You Tube:








David Bailey, who captured the most powerful icons of the 1960s in his photographs. He first became interested in photography while serving in the Royal Air Force, and he started out as an assistant to fashion photographer John French.

His first published pictures appeared in 1960, and from then he became famous for making stars of a new generation of models, including Jean Shrimpton, Catherine Deneuve, who he married for five years, and Penelope Tree.

You adapt to who you're photographing. It's their personality, not mine I want. Whereas models once appeared cold and aloof, Bailey's work gave them a personality, thanks to the close rapport he enjoyed with them. It was considered revolutionary at the time.

Of Jean Shrimpton, he said: "She was magic and the camera loved her too. In a way she was the cheapest model in the world - you only needed to shoot half a roll of film and then you had it.

"She had the knack of having her hand in the right place, she knew where the light was, she was just a natural."

Bailey continues to work today, with recent subjects including Manchester band Oasis, boxer Naseem Hamed and model Naomi Campbell. But his style of photography remains the same.

"I've always tried to do pictures that don't date. I always go for simplicity," he said.


Jean Shrimpton started it all:






When British newcomer David Bailey came to New York in the winter of 1962 with model and girlfriend Jean Shrimpton, it was considered by most to be an audacious move. The refreshing body of work that resulted however, allowed Bailey and his photographs to pioneer the subsequent transatlantic invasion by the likes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Shooting with his new 35mm camera and without any crew members or stylists, Bailey was able to capture the energy of this city during the era of Andy Warhol and jazz nirvana.

The photographs in NY JS DB 62 exude the beauty of a tough, but naïve couple whose decision to break boundaries is just as inspiring today as it was in 1962. Images from NY JS DB 62, are out now on Steidl.



Barry Lategan

Barry Lategan is one of the country’s most renowned and influential photographers. Probably best known for his early discovery and portraits of Twiggy – two of which are exhibited in the V&A Museum – Barry has photographed some of the most notable celebrities of the past forty years.

HRH Princess Anne, Paul and Linda McCartney, Iman, Germaine Greer, Calvin Klein, Sol Campbell, John Major, Margaret Thatcher and Salman Rushdie are just a few of the famous faces that have appeared in front of his lens.

His career as a fashion photographer has also seen much of his work make it to the pages and front covers of international editions of Vogue and Harpers Bazaar and he won the Halina award for the 1986 Pirelli calendar. Other plaudits include a Clio Award for a TV commercial for Armani perfume and a D&AD Award for the Millennium stamp.