Monday, October 8, 2012

Vintage Electric Fan Fascination

"Peerless Sideways" oil on canvas paper (16" x 12")
Baseball or no baseball, the weather has suddenly become very "autumnesque" here in Crabtown. Time to throw the furnace switch and drag out the quilts for bedding. Gosh, we're almost to the flannel sheet stage. But my collection of vintage electric fans will remain in view even when the snow begins to fall.
 I can't help it. I like looking at them. In fact I like them so much that this summer I spent time doing paintings of them. Some are labeled with familiar names like General Electric, Westinghouse and Peerless but others call themselves Zero, Eskimo and Polar Cub. Some are working and some are too unsafe to plug in. Here are a few of the paintings inspired by my whirring cast-iron and metal companions.

"General Electric" oil on canvas ( 20" x 16")

    This modest little fan  (above) was my first and it's the one I use every warm day in my studio.

"Big and Noisy" oil on board (18" x 18")
 She can no longer look side to side on her own. But she is a beauty.