Velvet Painting-Who's the artist?

I was doing a little 'thrifting' today, and found this extremely clean velvet painting. I kept being drawn back to it while shopping, so I went ahead and got it. The color is actually a deep blue rather than black. I'm not sure if I will keep this in the original frame or if I should 'bambooize' it.

The size is 3'6" wide x 3'high.

I don't recognize the artist. Hec, I can't even read what it says. Do you know anthing about it?

SugarCaddyDaddy

[ Edited by: SugarCaddyDaddy on 2003-01-02 15:47 ]

I first read it as "Heinz", which is a German first name, but then had to correct myself because the Capital letters are P and M, so it could be P. Meinz, with the 'n' being artistically reversed, like in the Hanalei apartments sign....
Then again, the last letter could be an 'e' also, and the first 'e' seems to have an "accent grave" (french) on it...
The only possible source, the book "Black Velvet-The Art We Love To Hate" is useless for reference and displays ignorance by listing a lot of the massproduced paintings in it with "Artist unknown", though some do have signatures on them.

It does look like a mass producer's signature, but it is very nicely rendered, better than the usual "Tijuana Naive".
Here's what I would do with it: Test how it reacts to black light (you probably will have to take the frame off, so it does not overpower the white in the painting) and use as a scenic backdrop for a Tiki display.

Well, I tried the blacklight, but it did not have the "blacklight" effect on the white portion of the paint.

As for the name, it says either "P" or "F", and then "M""E" "I""N"(backwards)"E". Isn't 'meine' German for "my"? I had to take it outside in the daylight to positively see the letters.

The whole painting seems to react well when lit with a low-light 7.5 watt bulb from a cone-shaped 50's light fixture I have.

I will research the book you recommended, but with all the unknown velvet painting artists out there, I don't think I'll ever find out who the artist is.

Either way, I like it, and it'll be a keeper.

SugarCaddyDaddy

I got that Black VElvet Book off Ebay and was a bit dissapointed - I was hoping to glean a few tips on HOW to paint on black velvet. It's something they neglected to teach us in Art College, though I have no idea why. : )

Anyone have any source (web, book) with a how-to? I have the velvet, I have both oil and acrylics - I was just hpoing not to have to use oils as they smell up da joint and we cant open the windows due to this being Canada. Maybe acrylics with a glaze medium mixed in?