velvet paintings

Use a lint roller to clean and don't use glass in the frame

Using compressed air in a can helps also.Do not spray too close to velvet .

The velvet I have in my home bar was found in a barn and needed a good cleaning. I used a piece of nylon window screen laid carefully over the surface. Next I used a vacuum with a round brush attachment and very very lightly went over the screen. I wouldn't use this method on an expensive piece but work well on my barn find. The screen keeps the paint and fabric from contacting the brush and the height of the brush helps dissipate the suction. Good luck.

This pearl was advertised as a print, and marked down to about the price of a cheap bottle of rum.

As it's under matte glass it was a little hard to see but when I picked it up I thought -
wow, they've done an awesome job of copying the cracks in the paint...

After I threw the frame away and removed the glass...

[ Edited by: komohana 2014-12-01 01:17 ]

Hey there young Bob, that painting is great! Have you thought of a good place in your bar to hang it yet?

Cheers and Alooooooha, Gibbo

On 2014-08-21 14:29, swizzle wrote:

That's uncanny!

On 2015-01-07 04:20, Gibbo wrote:

...thought of a good place in your bar to hang it yet?

ahoy Gibbo!!

Yet to be re-framed, but this is where she will live.

[ Edited by: komohana 2015-01-12 23:33 ]

Top spot for it too Bob, we need to catch up some time too mate!

On 2012-01-10 00:02, Kitchylicious wrote:
Hello fellow Tiki Central members--

This is my very first post on this forum, even though I've been a lurker for a few years now. I finally have something hopefully interesting to share--my latest find and my very first velvet painting (a lot of firsts in this post).

Here is a lovely island girl by artist Ben Alano and although I didn't pick it up for super cheap, I am thrilled with it and honored to have it on my wall.

Thanks for looking!

Hello - Kitchy.... I have inherited from my step-father the same Ben Alan velvet picture (Alano's signature with Manila under it). - which leads me to believe that they are somehow prints. Also have a beautiful second velvet painting of a different young Polynesian girl. These came from my step-dads brother who was in the Merchant Marines and gave them to his brother in the late 50's or early 60's. Am researching the value of them as my bride has declared they are for sale. Would look good in someones new basement bar !!

Saw this today.
No info other than it was $38.00.

HI Guys .... another "first poster" here.
If I am posting in the wrong area, please tell me.

I was led here by Google.
I searched for, "nude Philippine on black velvet", and was sent to page 15 of this thread.

I have a painting I want to learn more about.
It is a semi-nude on black velvet, and probably Philippine from the 1960's.
It measures 19.5" x 25.5" including frame.
It is signed, but I can not read the signature.
The subject does not appear to be Philippine .... in my uneducated opinion.
The painting is in very good condition.
The back of the painting says, "House of Frames & Art Gallery - Balibago, Angeles City".
I got the painting in Omaha Nebraska in 1972 while stationed at the Air Force base.
I now live in Wisconsin.
I can post a pic of the signature and the painting.
Please tell me if I should do it in this thread or start a new one.

I appreciate any help.
Thanks a lot !!

This thread is fine, but don't expect me to call you Dad :)
post that photo so we can help.

You guys are a very cold group ....

[ Edited by: Dad 2015-03-06 03:44 ]

[ Edited by: Dad 2015-03-06 03:45 ]

On 2015-01-18 17:03, tikiskip wrote:
Saw this today.
No info other than it was $38.00.

I have one VERY similar to this painting.

I recently received a very nice email from the daughter of the artist of the Kase Jackson velvets I posted some time ago.
Paipo, Frances had a question about the photos you posted.

Here is what she shared.

Thank you for replying. I have often seen the web site with black velvet paintings and sometimes cringe at incorrect information posted.

I am the daughter of Kase Jackson. His real name is kerry jackson and he died in 2002. Kerry was born in Auckland NZ and we lived in Mt Roskill South Auckland.

Eric Scholes gallery was and still is in Wkakarewarewa Rotorua opposite the big hotel, just by the bridge where Guide Rangi conducted her walks through the Maori village. Eric built the pacific gallery which displayed Kase Jackson paintings. He could not paint fast enough. Every painting had at least ten coats of very fine paint to bring the painting up . So it took a long time to finish one. Some people dont understand the difference between modern paint sprayed black velvets mass produced and the real technique which evolved from Europe hundreds of years ago. Dad painted black velvets from about 1959 to 1971. Before that he was a modernist abstract painter who had the Auckland Art gallery purchase some of his paintings in the 1950s and he was in an exhibition there. This was his most successful painting and there is an article in the Art NZ on him.

The photo of Kerry taken in his studio, with a model was taken by Harold Stephans an International travel writer who wrote an article for an American magazine. The painting of the naked women on a blue sarong was not brown velvet. It was on black velvet but the painting must have been hung in a very light filled room because the velvet has faded to brown. All the paintings by kase shown on your web site i watched my father paint in his studio .

Perhaps you would like to ask me what you would like to know for your web site. I am happy to tell you .

I would like to know how you got private personal photos from the family collection?

Where are you in the world?

Cheers Frances jackson

On 2015-03-16 12:27, dorkside wrote:

I have one VERY similar to this painting.

I like them both really.
My house is at full capacity though.

Found these this weekend.
They were both around $10.00 bucks.
One is more Duck Dynasty style.

I think of waterbeds and weed when I see some of these paintings.
And that Rasta dude image, you know the one with the smoldering joint hanging out of his mouth.

My parents had that red velvet painting of Margaret Nolan back in the early seventies. If you ever sell it, please let me know. I'd love to have it back in the family.

[ Edited by: eyeclick 2015-08-16 16:12 ]

I think that is the one I posted.
But we did not buy it as we got too much now.

It may still be at the thrift store we saw it at in some
small town, forget where.

Scored these, today!

Saw those on Facebook, so you did buy them! For You?

DC

Tiki no.
Velvet Yes...

Elvis did have a lot of Witco.

I like the Elvis velvet. I have been hunting for 15 years or more and have never found a velvet, not even a bad one.

I finally started posting today so might as well put up some of my velvets. This one was the first I obtained- not Tiki, but after looking for years I spotted her in the back of a pickup truck outside a thrift store in Espanola, New Mexico. Thinking had just missed out on a great find I complemented the taste of the guy getting into the truck. He replied "you want her? We are going to the dump, we didnt think they would want this painting in there". Needless to say I picked her up! Only velvet for the next decade or so, but after we were married I discovered my wife has a great eye for velvet nudes. She found the next two!

These days the painting saved from the dump is accompanied by 20 other velvets in my Tiki room (although a somewhat prudish wife of one of my colleagues referred to it as "the breast room"). Maybe I have gone over board on velvet nudes. Anyway this is just the main wall of velvets. The only notable ones are three by Bill Erwin, including a very early Hina Rapa that he painted in Tahiti (and looks like it was actually put in a dump at one point - it is in very poor condition). Three Cece Rodriguez velvets (my favorite of which Ill post in a minute), and five by Marcellus Bades.

[ Edited by: Aloha pinball 2016-01-10 16:11 ]

And here is my favorite by Cece. I 'will post photos of the rest of them if anyone is still seriously interested iin this line of posts. It seems to have lost momentum in the past year, but it is a great resource for the vlevet afficianado.

Please keep posting. This is great stuff!!

OK, well here is a Bades. I bought two of these on ebay last year. They are slightly different but both stunning paintings of a blonde girl iin a Puka cave. They are VERY difficult to photograph, so I think I got a bit of a steal on both of them (the photos on ebay looked like dark velvet with an outline of a girl and a cave in the background). One has, well, um, slightly larger endowments than the other girl and platinum bonde hair. This one I think is the prettier of the two, although safly she has a small tear just abover her navel.

This is a closer image of two by Bill Erwin. I particularly like the classic girl in water piece. It is in an original frame, marked on the back, "Erwin's Frame" in his handwriting. That one I also found on-line but had to pick it up in person in San Diego because the seller didnt want to try shipping it. Luckily it was still there the next time I had business in SoCal. Pro tip- dont buy a painting that won't fit in carry on and try shipping it from La Jolla in a hurry- it cant be done. But the guy who helped me at the UPS store was very helpful and appreciated packing fine art.

B

[ Edited by: Aloha pinball 2016-01-11 19:57 ]

Astounding group!
You have a wonderful collection.

Makes me laugh about "The Breast Room" comment - I had a friend finally get around to asking, after having been in my tiki room several times (with no understanding of the genre), if perhaps I batted for the other team :lol:

He was incorrect.
But I don't think I would have naked male black velvets even if they were "a thing"! Ha!

Why is it that naked breasts are acceptable most anywhere - and even fully naked women [art], but not "man parts"?

A question for another day...

And this is the Hina Rapa I mentioned. It is pretty beat up, but it is signed by Erwin in Tahiti. From what Ive gathered Erwin left Tahiti before Leeteg died so perhaps this copy was even seen by Leeteg. It is actually a very good one, beautiful work, so it is a pity it is in really bad shape. But in the shadows of the Tiki room it looks fine!

I dont have any answer to the question of naked man parts on velvet but I do have a version of the Leeteg Adze man by Lavisse up there too!

[ Edited by: Aloha pinball 2016-01-10 17:54 ]

And since I mentioned Lavisse, here they are. I kind of think of Lavisse as "name brand" Leeteg copies as opposed to the generic "licensed" ones sold by Davis Galleries.
And the last picture is just in case anyone is wondering where if there are any actual Tikis in my Tiki room!

Nice collection of velvet paintings.

Found today - a mere 35 bucks, in Fredrick Md.

Hello All,

New to the forum so not to sure if I'm posting this in the correct location. I ran into these two velvet paintings of a old man and woman. Can anyone share any information about them. Maybe the artist's name (has anyone heard of him/her?)and/or how much they're worth? Thanks all!
-TikiArtie

I've seen that signature meany times- although I'm not confident in spelling it out. Those are from Manila, Phillipines, most dates seem to be 1963-71. Pretty good artist in my opinion. He did all of the standard themes - Leeteg knockoffs etc, but also some nice Polynesian pieces and a LOT of Playboy bunnies. I expect almost all of his pieces came back with guys retuning from Vietnam.

On 2012-12-23 15:35, nui 'umi 'umi wrote:
Found at my local "Savers" this afternoon. Unsigned. This painting may be one reason many consider this genre tacky and gaudy. It is in poor condition and very dirty.The edges are warped and the painting may have been wet at some time. I'll post pic another after I l clean and frame this.
Cheers

Only took 4 years to clean and frame this. Made the frame and added the brass corners for a little more cheesieness.

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2016-06-29 23:23 ]

My dad found these paintings--4 of them--in the early 70s. 28 x 40. The painting is actually stained onto the velvet--the only paint on the canvas is in the whites of the eyes. Could they be by this artist? I can't make out the signature.

On 2015-11-18 18:34, hiltiki wrote:
I like the Elvis velvet. I have been hunting for 15 years or more and have never found a velvet, not even a bad one.

They are all here in the Midwest.
I see them all the time.

The duck one here was $8.00 bucks!
I just have no room so I never buy these velvets.

From afar, I thought it was a Phillipine velvet, but I could see it was signed, so I took a closer look. Turns out it was of a Hawaiian cowboy, by Hawaiian artist Carl Hermanson. So I bought it.

A quick search yielded the following info on him, Born in Kauai county in 1899, moved to Honolulu in 1929,lived in Ewa with a wife and 2 children in 1940, an finally mention of him as an artist heading to "Zoo Mart" in 1954.

Anyway, Panola-Cowboy by Carl Hermanson

Buzzy Out!

Nice one Buzzy!
I just picked up a Leeteg (I think it was a bargain, but it wasn't cheap either). I may post it soon but this thread seems to have gone off the rails of late - lots of not so Tiki velvets! Yours certainly hits the mark though.

The Leeteg is "Blonde Woman" - which is arguably one of his least Tiki subjects- but it is Leeteg- and it is a real one, not a cheesy copy. A bit sun damaged but in the right light she still pops right off the Velvet!
Now I just need to get me a Tyree or two- in case anybody wants to sell one at a not insane price!

Yet another Elvis...

Found this velvet Jesus in rough shape at a nearby Salvation Army store. He glows under blacklight.

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2016-12-07 19:55 ]

OK, I may be more into vintage Hawaiian / Tahitian velvet paintings than most-. And I have probably gathered too many. But this thread has gone from Tiki to tacky and may be irredeemable. Could we start a new thread limited to just authentic vintage "connoisseur grade" velvets and get away from the Jesus/Elvis/horrible roadside junk? Is anybody with me on a new thread to focus just on the good stuff?

I've been collecting images of high grade velvets over on Pintrest but for whatever reason many of the images from the early years of this thread don't let me pin them. I could use a hint on that if anyone cares to have the nicer material in one place for reference.

Thanks All!

[ Edited by: Aloha pinball 2017-05-29 13:15 ]

On 2017-05-29 13:14, Aloha pinball wrote:
OK, I may be more into vintage Hawaiian / Tahitian velvet paintings than most-. And I have probably gathered too many. But this thread has gone from Tiki to tacky and may be irredeemable. Could we start a new thread limited to just authentic vintage "connoisseur grade" velvets and get away from the Jesus/Elvis/horrible roadside junk? Is anybody with me on a new thread to focus just on the good stuff?

I've been collecting images of high grade velvets over on Pintrest but for whatever reason many of the images from the early years of this thread don't let me pin them. I could use a hint on that if anyone cares to have the nicer material in one place for reference.

Thanks All!

[ Edited by: Aloha pinball 2017-05-29 13:15 ]

Do you collect the actual paintings or images?

I collect actual paintings, and I've been gathering images for reference sa well. If you look back a couple pages or search under my username I've posted about half of my paintings.

Ok, now these are proper velvet paintings. If anybody out there cares to see better close up images I might take some one day. That's the Leeteg on the left - the "Blonde Woman" is not Polynesian, but it turned up in a few Tiki bars in the 50s. This one is real, not a Davis copy (as far as I can tell the copies didn't come in the large format anyway).
The one on the right is a Tyree from 1976. Now my quest is complete.