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Tag Archives: Watercolor

Vintage Fiberglass Safari Animal Heads From Banana Republic

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Hepcats Haven
Vintage Fiberglass Safari Animal Heads From Banana Republic

While surfing Craigslist I came across a gentleman who was selling three wall mounts. He was selling a Zebra, Gemsbok Antelope and a Kudu Antelope (Kudu is the one with the twisted horns). We are always on the hunt for cool additions to add to our Tiki/Big Game room and these fit the bill!

The retail company called Banana Republic was founded by Mel and Patricia Ziegler in 1978

Back in the 80’s Banana Republic was rolling out African safari themed ads. During this time they went all out decorating their stores. They adorned the walls with many kinds of fiberglass safari animal heads.

These heads had a stamp that reads BR1985 (Banana Republic 1985). They produced the animal heads I am posting but also elephants, rhinos, giraffes and many more. Most of these heads were destroyed after a change in the stores advertising direction. Enough with the back story let’s discuss the mounts we picked up…

The first one I will discuss is the Kudu. These are life size pieces and unfortunately this one had a busted off horn at the base. Upon further examination I realized the other horn was loose as well. I decided to bust that horn off at the base too.

I knew the best thing to fix this was JB Weld! This stuff is remarkably strong. The horns were made out of solid resin so I needed something that would be able to hold them in place with their considerable weight.

I applied a liberal amount of JB Weld and used my finger to wipe off any excess that squeezed out from under the horns. Once dried I touched the bases up with paint to help conceal the repairs.

Next I put the Zebra head in its place…

Lastly I hung the Gemsbok…

Along with these new additions we have our rhino, shark and chimp!…

Here is a small video of the heads in place…

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Carlo of Hollywood Stallion Partner

Posted on April 18, 2015 by Hepcats Haven

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As you may be aware, we’re major collectors of Carlo of Hollywood watercolors.  One of our favorite pieces is our large Stallion watercolor.

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This is one of the two smaller ones that would have been part of this 3 piece set. When Carlo watercolor paintings were sold, they were usually in pairs or sets of three. In the case of this stallion set, there is one large one and two smaller ones. Usually, one of the smaller ones would be almost a duplicate of the larger one.

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This one has some character, but it may just be dirt under the glass. I’ll have to take it apart and clean it up!

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We just love the bold imagery of these pieces.  We of course, love the forced perspective/angular frames.

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We decided to hang them above our fireplace.

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Hopefully, one day we’ll locate the other smaller Carlo.

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As always, we hope to enjoy these for years to come.

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Rare Large Tiger Carlo of Hollywood Watercolor

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Hepcats Haven

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One of the great things about having this blog is that it is a great way to connect with folks who are trying to sell items we collect. In this instance a gentleman from Redding California reached out to us and asked if we would be interested in a jungle cat Carlo.

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As you might guess, we are always interested in jungle cat Carlos. This Carlo makes a complete 3 piece set as they were originally sold. We already had the two smaller ones on the right.

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Excuse the reflections

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This Carlo is the largest in our collection now. We used to own a ballerina Carlo that must have been over 5ft wide but we sold it.

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With the black background it really makes the greens and oranges jump out!

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Another Carlo Stash Raided

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Hepcats Haven
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This is an original tag that would have been on a Carlo of Hollywood piece. This is the rarest of the rare. Most of these tags were discarded. Mark is going to include this in our purchase.

Mark and Ann, the owners of Midway Antique Mall, called us today to tell us they got in 21 new Carlos!!! WHAT, 21!!! We almost swallowed our tongues. We immediately shot over to survey the collection. Mel and I picked out what we wanted but there are still pieces available for any of you collectors out there. Here are the ones we picked out (excuse the reflections).

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Don’t know what this picture reflects but it seems like something that relates to breaking the chains of bondage.

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This is an Asian man meditating while his tea steeps.

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Mel and I have some Thai dancers that will look fantastic with these. (Thai 1 & Thai 2)

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We have never seen these before. They seem to be Thai as well.

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These are small Carlos but are very cool. The frames are to die for. (sorry about the glare)

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This is a large Asian. The colors are FANTASTIC!!!

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Ok, Mel and I have seen a lot of cats by Carlo, but NEVER a Bengal tiger. This is super rare!

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This is a HUGE panther Carlo. The colors are fantastic and it is soo cool.

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Carlopalooza! (Major Carlo of Hollywood Score)

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Hepcats Haven
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We have not found a large stash like this for a long time! I couldn’t stop smiling for like 8 hours!

Mel and I went to Midway Antique Mall a week ago to initially stock our new booth and when we came through the doors we noticed a set of Carlo of Hollywood paintings that were new to the store. Mel and I were soo excited when we saw this set that we scanned the rest of the store and we found eight more Carlo’s that we did not have in our collection! We told Mark and Ann, the owners of Midway, that we wanted them. We picked them up today. Happy Day!!!

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It is hard to find a complete trio. This is our sixth set of trios!

This trio is very cool. The colors are still so vibrant and the imagery is timeless as usual. I love the Polynesian guy in the canoe! It always amazes me how Carlo did so much with his art when it is so simple. These will look great in the……….TIKI ROOM!

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I just love her outfit! The pink edges of the art make it pop!

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Not sure where these will go. They might look good in the Tiki room as well.

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Of course these will be in our Tiki room.

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I have wanted this set for a long time.

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What amazes me about all these Carlo’s is how vibrant the colors still are.

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Panthers are always cool! This one needs a little touch up on the black but it looks really cool as it is.This one does not have the forced perspective frame that all the others have.

Mel and I were just saying the other day that there has been a drought when it comes to new Carlo’s to buy. I guess this was like a torrential down pour of good luck! The good thing is that we might have a line on six more Carlo’s. Now the hard work begins, where can we fit 10 more into our 80+ Carlo collection. We are almost at a 100 Carlo’s!

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Carlo of Hollywood Desert Trio

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Hepcats Haven

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Hello all!

Just a quick post showing the trio hung together. The glass in the large desert Carlo arrived broken so I replaced it with plexiglass. On a piece this large the weight of the frame & glass need to be a consideration. Plexiglass also offers 87% UV protection unlike regular glass which offers only 40% UV protection.

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This is our fourth Carlo trio set.

We have had these two for a while. Mel and I love the color of these frames!

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This is now hanging in our bedroom over our fireplace. We are soo happy with the way it turned out.

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More Vintage Tiki Frames Made Cool!!!

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Hepcats Haven
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What better art to put in a Tiki room than a Tiki Mask and cool shrunken heads!

Mel & I had a couple of cool tiki frames lying around that had no art work in them. I decided that since I still have a lot of wall space to fill I would knock out some quick Tiki art to put up. These frames have a bamboo piece on the top and bottom that holds the glass and art in place. Here is a picture of the back of the frames…

Very simply made

Very simply made

I like to sketch the image out with pencil first and then outline in watercolor.

Sketch it out first and then outline it with watercolor.

Its coming along...

Its coming along…

After a couple of days work here is what came of it.

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I am very pleased with the results!

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This one was cool, I loved painting the wood grain on this piece.

These will be a great addition to our Tiki room and will and some cool imagery.

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Bringing New Life Into Old Frames

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Hepcats Haven
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Love the frame hate the art!

Mel and I saw these frames at the Antique Trove in Roseville and I thought I might be able to do something with them. I took them home and they sat around for a while. I figured since I have just got into water coloring this would be a great next project.

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I wasn’t sure that the flat house paint and the watercolor paint would work together but it worked great!

The first thing I did was sand down that tacky palm image so the surface was smooth. Once sanded I used an antique white flat house paint to cover the old image and give me a new canvas.

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As before the first thing to do is sketch it out and then mix your colors. This particular painting is from a set of Carlos I saw that I just joined together to make one painting,

This one took about a day to paint. We are happy with the results.

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Here is how it turned out. Here you can see the two Carlos I joined into one piece. (Carlo 1 & Carlo 2).

This next one was more of an original idea.

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These will look soo great in our Tiki Room!

I love that these frames were able to be used with new art. I think it is always important to realize that re-purposing items can make them new again!

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It has been fun getting back into my artistic form again. I hadn’t been actively drawing for some time now. I think If I were alive during the time Carlo was producing watercolors I would have tried to get on as one of the student artists.

Also, Here is another one I recently knocked out for our Tiki Room. I guess I am on some kind of jungle cat kick!

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A Carlo style cat fight scene.

I think I will take a break from painting and pick up my gloves again and start restoring some furniture.

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Carlo of Hollywood Commisioned Work!?

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Hepcats Haven
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I love this Carlo because it is soo detailed.

The great thing about our blog is that many of our readers share their stories with us. One of our readers Mollie informed us she has a Carlo of Hollywood painting that was COMMISSIONED by her father for her mother, that’s right, COMMISSIONED! I was never aware that Carlo offered commissioned works. I am sure many of you are aware that Carlo is an enigma and very little is known about the artist. This additional info helps us understand the artist a little more.

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As you can see the original frame is gone but who cares, I love this piece.

Here is what Mollie told me about this Carlo:

When my father had commissioned Carlo to paint this, the woman’s breasts were exposed. When my mother saw it she flatly refused to have this in her home unless some drapery was added!  Hence you see the ladies bosom has a bit of fabric discreetly covering her! This is special to me as I grew up seeing this picture in my home.  It’s a memory of my parents so I will never sell it! Regarding my dad and how he came to know Carlo. My dad owned an industrial uniform and linen company in LA and had customers in many areas of LA including restaurants, movie industry hotels, etc. Also, he and my mom loved art and design and frequented fashionable modern furniture and decor businesses. That is how I believe he met and had this picture painted. 

Thanks for your response,

Mollie

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The mark of quality

I want to thank Mollie for sharing with us her valuable info that would otherwise fade into the past. I wish we knew more about Carlo. As time goes by, and those who have carnal knowledge of Carlo’s history fade away, it becomes more difficult. I hope more folks out there will share what they know with the rest of us.

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Another Shirrell Graves

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Hepcats Haven

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You might remember a couple of months back we purchased a fantastic yellow Macaw painted by Shirrell Graves. It had a broken piece of glass and the mat was stained and ugly. I took it to Tim & Ann at Wholesale Art & Framing to replace the glass with UV preservation glass and to install a new mat. After a day or so it was done and here is how it looks:

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The mat is an olive color with a black core.

Then about a week ago I was cruising Craigslist and saw that Roseville Antique Trove had a dealer that was selling a Shirrell Graves red macaw! I jumped off the couch, grabbed Mel and we shot over to acquire this fantastic piece. Mel and I were afraid it could be a print but upon further examination it is an original. It was apparent that it had been hung in direct sunlight because the once vibrant red had faded to almost a tan/pink. If you look at the bottom where the tail is you can see how red this use to be.

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This is why you need to put any watercolor you love in preservation glass, it blocks 98% of UV rays.

On a side note, when I took the red Macaw out of the frame I noticed on the cardboard backing this fantastic little image:

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This really helps to date the piece.

I plan to hang these in our bathroom (away from any kind of steam). We seem to be going for a tropical fish and bird theme in there at this point.

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Here it is after a quick restore of the watercolor and Tim re-framing it.The red now pops and really helps bring this bird back to life.

These will look fantastic hanging next to each other and with the protective glass I will not have to worry about them fading anytime soon.

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