Filed Under: "maritime"

Untitled pencil drawings for unknown project, discovered in 1960s sketchbook

Illustration detail, “What is Automation,” Collier’s magazine, March 16, 1956. The optimistic take: “Automation has been heralded by some as the threshold to a new Utopia, in which robots do all the work while human drones recline in pneumatic bliss.” There was a counterbalancing pessimistic view, but in observance of the current summer heat wave, we’ll stick with the sunshinier forecast.  We’re still looking forward to consumer helicopters with open-air cockpits.

Those perennial favorite Jim Flora calendars are in stock for 2012. You’ve got your bug-eyed saxophonist, an Aren’t-We-Having-Fun? moon, and a manic drummer to guide you through the coming Leap Year. These are hand-printed mini-calendars measuring 10″ x 4-1/2″.  If you prefer something of greater magnitude in a maritime motif, our Sheffield Island poster-sized calendar should suit your tastes:

Baltimore, tempera on heavy stock, early 1960s

Salt Pond – Block Island, tempera and pencil on paper, 1963. This previously uncirculated work was first published in our 2009 anthology, The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora (the only one of our three Flora compendiums currently in print). The work reflects Flora’s love of rustic maritime locales and things that float. Block Island, Rhode Island is located off the southern coast of the state. Wiki contains the following about the saline pond: Great…

Our latest Jim Flora limited edition fine art print launches today. We’ve dubbed the untitled, undated black and white work Rowayton Creature Tableau because of the strange figures populating the streets of this seaside Connecticut village (the artist’s adopted hometown). The previously uncirculated and unpublished pen & ink with watercolor drawing was discovered in the artist’s collection. We’ve analyzed the technique and determined that it reflects the 1970s style of caricature commonly found in Flora’s…

JimFlora.com has released a new fine art print. The panoramic Bell Island at Night was adapted from a 1968 tempera in which Flora provided a surreal nocturnal impression of his neighbors and neighborhood. Bell Island is part of Rowayton CT, and the Flora family lived on the island at 7 St. James from the late 1940s to Flora’s death in 1998. The archival-quality fine art print has been released in an edition of 30 at…

We return from a fine art print hiatus with our first new work of 2011: Bell Island at Night, a 1968 tempera in which Flora provides a surreal nocturnal impression of his neighbors. Bell Island is part of Rowayton (which in turn is part of Norwalk, CT), and the Flora family lived on the island at 7 St. James from the late 1940s to Flora’s death in 1998. Our newest fine art print will be…

Flora authored and illustrated 17 children’s books under his own name between 1955 (The Fabulous Firework Family) and 1982 (Grandpa’s Witched-Up Christmas). A milk crate in the Flora archives contains contracts and correspondence for each one. Most of the letters passed between the author/artist and his legendary editress, Margaret McElderry. The crate is also stuffed with manila folders for dozens of abandoned or rejected book ideas. Walter Beartree and the Boo-Saying Whale does not have…

Untitled, undated (ca. mid-1960s) ship in cross-cut view. Previously unpublished and uncirculated work (rendered in tempera and pencil) discovered in sketchpad.

JimFlora.com is offering a new 2011 poster-sized calendar featuring a 1954 Flora woodcut illustration called SHEFFIELD ISLAND. The artwork is hand-printed letterpress in black ink on kraft card stock; a 12-month tear away calendar is attached on the bottom. When the year ends, you have a unique hand-pulled letterpress Jim Flora print suitable for framing. The full dimensions of the card with artwork are 13-1/2″ x 17″. The calendars, which were hand-printed by Yee-Haw Industrial…

Partial scan (about one-third, with color checker card) of unpublished 1954 woodcut print Sheffield Island. The original block is in the Flora family collection. Only a handful of original artist prints exist. We are contemplating issuing a new limited edition run of the complete work next year.