peter max: strobelightedflashingkaleidoscopiclightshows

peter max. even if you don't know the name you'll likely recognize his far out psychedelic posters. i have a book of his posters which is everything you are after in seizure inducing design. its really very, very, groovy. here is a portion of the foreword, i've tried copy it exactly, but there is a point where you lose count of how many !!!!!! are being used... (and yes, i realize that i am guilty of over exclamating, but people, please!!! this is one of the few posts not about me)

ZAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!! it's 1965! the year the earth turned... on. BANG! flower power. love, peace, strobelightedflashingkaleidoscopiclightshowsACIDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!! music. great music. the beatles, stones, airplane, joplin, and ... this man is wild..... COUNTRY JOE McDonald and the FISH. Sgt. Pepper... GREAT THINGS FROM ROCK... ROCK IS RAISED TO A HIGH ART... ROCK... comes out of the cultural cave!!!!!! how to advertise this new rock... this new music. how do you advertise something new and different... the... POSTER! the fillmore and avalon use the poster... a new type of poster... a... psychedelic poster...... aposterwithwordsalljumbledtogetherlikethis. 1967. fantastic vibrations and cosmiclightandx-rays bombarding the earth. sound exploding on the west coast. and on the east coast, a young man in a room 15 by 15 in new york. SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR I TELL YOU, SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR, SHAAAAAAAAAAAAZAM! Zap! PETER MAX!

- don pierce, 1970

the book doesn't explain who don pierce is, and my googling turned up a variety of don pierces, so i'm going to assume it was written by the part cyborg X-men supervillan (though more likely he was a musician or something at least partially based in reality). but enough semantics. ladies and gentlemen, don your protective eyewear and enjoy the work of peter max.

where you can get your own peter max poster book!

vintage children's book: the butterfly ball & the grasshopper's feast

dust jacket/cover

this week's picture book is the butterfly ball and the grasshopper's feast, from 1973. illustrated by alan aldridge and with verses by william plomer, it's loosely based on the poem of the same name by william roscoe, but is more focused on the animals' preparations for the ball.

esmerelda, seraphina & camilla

the incredible illustrations by alan aldridge bring the verses to life. according to wikipedia he was apparently inspired when he "read that john tenniel had told lewis carroll it was impossible to draw a wasp in a wig." aldridge's work really deserves a post all of its own, he was responsible for many great album covers, and helped create the graphic style of that era. wikipedia says 'his work was characterised by a flowing, cartoony style and soft airbrushing - very much in step with the psychedelic styles of the times.'

froggy

"this is the tale of the summer's day, deep in the woods of england, when the butterflies and grasshoppers invited all the creatures of air and land to a ball and feast. from st michael's mount, windsor, rye, salisbury, tintern abbey and the far corners of britain they came - moles, gnats, dormice, newts, shrews, caterpillars, moths, frogs, squirrels, spiders, toads, mice, bees, flies, worms, centipedes, hares, hedgehogs, otters, and foxes. setting out in johnson's spinner trains, hot-air balloons, stagecoaches, and on foot, most arrive - some fall foul of bats, stoats, wasps, and foxes and don't! beneath the broad oak tree the butterflies and guests dance the evening away, feasting and merrymaking until the glow-worms light up and lead the weary guests back to their beds."

harlequin hare

you may remember a few weeks ago i featured the animated music clip "love is all" that was made in 1974 by roger glover, based on the song love's all you need mentioned in this book. this was supposed to lead to a full length animated film, and glover had written a full soundtrack that became the butterfly ball album, but the film was never made.

shelly snail & swallowtail

there are also two other books based on the sequels: the peacock party and the lion's cavalcade. there are many more gorgeous illustrations in 'the butterfly ball' but these tiny images just don't do them justice. i urge you to find yourself a copy of The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast and pour over the amazing work.. its a grasshopper's feast for the eyes.

wouldn't it be amazing to have a butterflies ball themed party? who do you think you would dress as?

vintage children's book: please sit still

a few weeks ago i showed you one of my favorite picture books, 'wings on wednesday' written by natalie scott and sandra smith, and i promised i'd show you some more of their work. well, here is 'please sit still.' the illustration is equally wild, and though 'wings on wednesday' will always have a special place in my heart, this is another fantastic book.

it was published in 1969 by paul hamlyn pty ltd in australia. you can see it in the national library of australia collection here.

the story follows toby and sarah, who are twins. they go to holiday with their aunt edith who lives by the sea and each day they go for a different outing. everywhere they go they wiggle and squirm and aunt edith clicks her tounge and tells them "please sit still my darlings."

on monday they go for a ride on the ferry and they fidget. on tuesday they visit the dentist, where they squirm. on wednesday they visit the theatre. they're so excited to see a princess in a golden crown and a prince riding a brave white horse that they can't possibly sit still and aunt edith clicks her tounge and tells them "please sit still my darlings. how you two do wiggle and squirm!"

on thursday they visit aunt edith's friend, miss spratt in her best room. they eat all the cream cakes and drink all the lemonade and they want to explore but aunt edith says "please sit still my darlings. how you two do wiggle and squirm!"

on friday it rains and they play cards inside with aunt edith, all the while fussing about. on saturday the go to the circus where they're too excited to sit still. "please sit still my darlings. how you two do wiggle and squirm!" says aunt edith (click here to see the full page spread of the circus)

on sunday they go to church in their best clothes where they wiggle about like the other children. on monday aunt edith is too tired, so the twins play outside in the garden: "out in the garden the sun was shining. there were shady green tres and tangles of flowerbeds and secret places. beyond the garden there was a beach with wide butter-yellow sand and beyond the sand was the sea which rippled like a great blue carpet and curled frothing white where the waves broke on the beach."

While playing outside, toby and sarah wonder why aunt edith wants them to sit still. they ask the sun who tells them things would be in a mess if he sat still. they ask the trees who can't give them an answer either: the wind blows the trees so they're rarely still either. they ask the birds who think sitting still is a terrible idea, and they ask the sea who tells them there is nothing as restless as it.

when night falls they still don't know why aunt edith wants them to sit still. their father picks them up and they go home. In bed, toby asks the moon if he knows the answer, and the moon tells them he's been on the move for thousands of years.

in the morning their mother asks them why they're so still, so the ask her about aunt edith. she tells them if they were still she'd think something was wrong and adds "there's plenty of time to sit still when you grow old!" indeed.

apologies for posting this so late in the day, a certain child of mine who also won't sit still is having a birthday party on the weekend, so i've been busily preparing! i hope you enjoyed seeing more of sandra smith's art, i really wish i knew more about her. if anyone knows anything, please comment!

amazing animation: psychedelic selections

there isn't much to say about these, they speak for themselves really. hope everyone has a lovely weekend. i'm going to do some screen printing.

see you back here on monday.

amazing animation: the butterfly ball

from deep purple bass player roger glover's 1974 concept album, based on william roscoe and alan aldridge's picture book of the same name. featuring ronnie james dio on vocals.

i hope its sunny where you are!

vintage children's book: wings on wednesday

'wings on wednesday'

written by natalie scott

illustrated by sandra smith

published by paul hamlyn 1969

ISBN 0600039714

(click images to enlarge)

wings on wednesday tells the story of a little girl named hatty. every wednesday, hatty and her mother spend the day with aunt zoe. 'fly out of the room like a good little bird and let me have a nice long chat with your mother' aunt zoe would say to hatty.

hatty would go out to the garden, where a squawking cocky (a parrot) lived. hatty didn't like the cocky, but she did like the feathers it dropped and so she began collecting them each week.

finally, when she had collected enough, she made her self a pair of wings... and off she flew (much to the envy of the caged cocky!) each week, hatty flies off, over the town, until one week she sees a forest. she lands in the forest to find it full of different species of birds who find her fascinating and rare...

all the birds want to talk to hatty, and so each week she returns to talk to a different kind. they all tell her what species they are, and what makes them special or rare.

"but all the birds were certain that hatty, who could take off her wings and leave them on the ground was the rarest of them all"

then her aunt moves away, (apologies for the patchy job of scanning it) and though her parents joke about it, hatty knows what it is like to 'fly out of the room like a good little bird'

i'm not sure where this book came from - i've always had it and i've always been fascinated with the illustrations. my copy is dogeared and missing a cover and back page and i haven't been able to find any information on author natalie scott or illustrator sandra smith, but i love the psychedelic magic marker illustrations with art nouveau overtones. the publisher, paul hamlyn seem to have been behind a number of really fab picture books of that era, lots of psychedelia.

i also own 'firebrand, push your hair out of your eyes' and 'please sit still', also by scott and smith, and although both are excellent i love 'wings' best. if anyone can offer any further information, please comment below. this book has played such a huge part in developing my aesthetic, i would really love to know anything about the ladies who created it.