Backstory 20th Century Film Art Rentals

03/18/2024

I have been getting into pulp crime fiction from the 1930s and 40s.

I naturally decided that I would try my hand at creating my own cover for one of the bi-monthly magazines that were popular at the time...

"The Big Megillah."

03/02/2024

I got the inspiration for my latest painting from watching Classic Noir movies and reading the works of Raymond Chandler.

A lot of fun to do. I got quite lost in it.

02/22/2024

My latest street scene.

"Main Street, 1948."

12/02/2023

My Main Street 10 years later, in February 1968.

The drugstore was franchised to Rexall. The cigar store became a news 'n' smokes joint, partly due to the Cuban embargo. And Mary-Lou's diner closed and was revamped into a more modern eatery (sadly.)

The old pick-up from the first image is now getting rusty, while on the skyline, urban densification begins.

03/16/2023

I found an old 1957 Mixmaster in a Thrift Store / Charity Shop a few days ago.

I thought I would use it as 'my model' for a new project.

03/10/2023

Artwork by Westlake Design / Backstory Art Rentals.

03/06/2023

The intertwining harmonies of the Alessi Brothers, singing 'Oh Lori,' fill the kitchen.

It seems that the newspapers have nothing better to do than slam Linda Rondstadt and her overly 'casual' outfit while singing the national anthem at the Dodger Stadium last night.

Typical, really; a sleight-of-hand belying the fact that there are other, more important things going on in the world.

So, it's chili for dinner tonight - Harvey's favorite. Funny, I read an article about how kidney beans are poisonous, but canned ones are OK.

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11/11/2022

Today 5 decades of Cereal box designs went into production - courtesy of Grant and his team at Vancouver Art Department.

The vision is becoming a reality.

10/16/2022

A glorious, sunny day.

I went down to Chinatown to see if Tosi Foods is still open. They have been threatening to knock it down for a few years now.

I remembered the place from when we were shooting there on the Flash in 2017. Out towards the stock room, the shelves were full of vintage products from the 50s & 60s, gathering dust.

Well, fast-forward: I am into collecting this stuff now and I got to wondering if I could get the old man there to part with any of it.

Angelo - now 93 - still runs the store. It truly is an amazing place. A veritable time capsule, still with bits and pieces left over from when his father started the business in 1906.

Such a nice man. Very friendly. He let me root around a bit. And I added some goodies to my collection.

In my car, heading home, I spritzed the interior with the vintage air freshener. Thought I would see what the 1960s smelled like.
It was f***ing awful. Smelled like decaying dreams...

10/10/2022

The Maidstone series by J&G Meakin potteries, Stoke-on-Trent.

Enter the Maidstone series by J&G Meakin potteries: I caught these out of the corner of my eye, a month or so ago, in the local Sally Ann. What do you know? In an instant, down the chute I go, threading through some manner of temporal anomaly, all the way back to 1977.

Noel Edmonds is on Radio 1. I am at the breakfast table eating cereal in a semi-detached end house in Chandler's Ford. Mum leaves the kitchen for a few ticks and I reach over and grab the newspaper. I turn over the front page and become transfixed, for what seems like a teeny-tiny slice of forever, by Linda Lusardi's halftone gaze (I always went for their eyes first!) Before too long, I hear the old dear coming back down the stairs and I hurriedly close the paper and I crack on with the Frosties in my bowl.

Ms. Luscardi's areolae begin to evanesce; as they dissolve, their ineffable symbolism is framed by a stalwart ring of neo-gothic ornamentation, bisected with milk.

Both are equally stamped into my being.

09/29/2022

08/26/2022

I did a very satisfying rendering of Cole Porter, yesterday. I listened to many of his varied compositions while painting. Interpretations by Sinatra, Al Bowly and the like. A wonderful little excursion...