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The Beating of Mighty Wings

Saturday, September 4th, 2010

From the Darkness, I Hear the Beating of Mighty Wings by Amy Crook

From the Darkness, I Hear the Beating of Mighty Wings by Amy Crook

As part of the Customer Love challenge, I decided to go ahead and be a little more me and show off my inner fangirl some more. This piece was a two-part stone lithograph drawn by hand on two stones, which is a really interesting and odd process that I only got a chance to try out during the short time I had access to the materials.

The image on the left contains a quote from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series about his character of Death, and that’s the quote which I used to title the whole piece. On the right, we have a quote from the Joy Division song “In a Lonely Place,” which was quoted in the original comics for The Crow — the second comic series I ever collected (the first was Bill Sienkiewicz’s Stray Toasters). The image, of course, is of the main character from the comic and later movie, and has a pattern of wings overlaying the shadows, a match to the outspread wing in the first panel.

There are a lot of hidden things here about death and myth and meaning, but also about art and inspiration, and the process that artists of all sorts go through, amalgamating all the art they consume, the culture around them and the facts and trivia they learn, and putting it through the mill of their own experience. The Crow is littered with quotes from songs, The Sandman is rife with literary, historical and mythical references, and between them there is a small but coherent thread of death and flight and black wings that carry the soul away, that I’ve chosen to weave into this artwork.

The print above on the buff paper was done in an edition of 26, of which I still have 6 (with some variation between prints owing to the process). I also have a single print on heavy natural-deckle handmade watercolor paper that’s one of a kind. No more of these can ever be made — the stones were long sanded down smooth and used for other artworks.

From the Darkness, I Hear the Beating of Mighty Wings, edition, 22″x15″ stone lithograph on watercolor paper, $199 $155 until Sept. 8 with free shipping. $20 of your money will go to charity.

From the Darkness, I Hear the Beating of Mighty Wings, AP by Amy Crook

From the Darkness, I Hear the Beating of Mighty Wings, AP by Amy Crook

From the Darkness, I Hear the Beating of Mighty Wings, A/P, 22″x17″ stone lithograph on handmade watercolor paper, $299 $233 until Sept. 8 with free shipping. $30 of your money will go to charity.

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Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things | No Comments »

Not Late for Anything

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Not Late for Anything by Amy Crook

Not Late for Anything by Amy Crook

This print uses several techniques, layering the two sheets of imported paper, black on a creamy natural white, and then adding silver ink in the form of 4 separate images — 3 rubber stamps around the borders, and the central monoprint. All of the images were printed in silver oil-based etching in, because the black paper wouldn’t allow the translucent water-based monoprint inks to show up. In addition, the paper didn’t allow the image to fully print, some of the fibers rejecting the ink entirely, leaving the figure with a shadowy, deaths-head appearance.

In the upper right, I re-used the same silver sun from Sea, and then we have the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland on the lower left, and a Winnie the Pooh stamp on the lower right. Pooh stands hand-in-hand with Christopher Robin, along with the quote, “The Forest will always be there… and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.”

I wanted to give the image of someone basking in the sun, eyes closed, taking a moment before moving on to whatever the next thing is, whether it’s another day’s work, the Red Queen’s Court, the Forest, or whatever lies beyond the fields we know.

Not Late for Anything, 31″x23″ monoprint, rubber stamp & chine collĂ© on imported paper, $499 $389 until Sept. 8 with free shipping. $50 of your money will go to charity.

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Posted in Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things | No Comments »

Vampire Pumpkin

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Vampire Pumpkin by Amy Crook

Vampire Pumpkin by Amy Crook

A continuation of last week’s Twitter suggestion from @etherjammer, I give you a cute little vampire pumpkin. I am tempted to refine this into some kind of motif or dingbat, he’s just so adorable.

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Posted in Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things | 4 Comments »

eat ZOMBIE love

Friday, August 13th, 2010

eat ZOMBIE love

eat ZOMBIE love

Some days I’d rather make art than an art post — enjoy this mod of my newest tin of tea, as inspired by this post, and I’m gonna go make a cup and paint. (For the record, I didn’t really want to support the franchise, but it’s Blood Orange Cinnamon tea from my favorite tea people, so I crumbled.)

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Vampire Watermelon

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

Vampire Watermelon by Amy Crook

Vampire Watermelon by Amy Crook

I asked Twitter what they wanted me to doodle this weekend, and one of the few replies I got was from @etherjammer, who suggested vampire pumpkins & watermelon. Somehow even though the pumpkins sounded adorable and fun, I ended up wanting to do a watermelon instead, turning the stripes into creeping veins and giving it a rather pointed smile.

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Posted in Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things | 3 Comments »

Crux Ansata

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Crux Ansata by Amy Crook

Crux Ansata by Amy Crook - click for larger view

Crux Ansata means ‘handled cross’ and is another name for the Egyptian Ankh. There are a lot of pop culture meanings assigned to the ankh, and this particular version with the more standard cross buried inside is one often associated with the Goth subculture and vampires in particular.

This print was created by layering print after print, running the paper through the press several times and then finally painting with ink directly onto the page. First a sheet of handmade paper was used to create the swirling blue-green background texture. Then the ankh itself was applied as a monoprint but using the thicker oil-based etching inks, which were also used to ink the red found-object etching plate with its deeply etched random splatters. The other field of red is also a monoprint, which means this page went through the printing press 4 times total. Finally, the gold etching ink that glows in the lower right-hand corner and limns the ankh itself was applied by hand directly to the paper with a paintbrush.

The whole piece is quite large, on a thick sheet of watercolor paper. It’s 30″x22″, or 2.5 feet wide and nearly 2 feet tall. The first layer of blue-green-grey swirls always reminds me of some sort of spirit, and the glow of golden yellow in the corner and around the ankh the life-energy that the ankh is often thought to symbolize. Blood red anchors the piece in the flesh and gives the whole thing a Gothic edge, though the overall effect is hopeful.

Crux Ansata, 30″x22″ monoprint on watercolor paper, $699 with free shipping. $70 of your money will go to charity.

If you’d like, you can purchase this piece in 6 installments of $116.50 each. I’ll ship it as soon as your last installment clears.

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Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things | No Comments »

Weeble Cthulhu

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

Weeble Cthulhu by Amy Crook

Weeble Cthulhu by Amy Crook

As promised, I’m reposting Weeble Cthulhu from earlier this year so he’s hiding in amongst my daily art for those seeking out my (so far rather small) series of Lovecraftian weebles. He’s got his pet Shoggoth with him with his bowl of cultist snacks and everything.

I made a greeting card out of him for Valentine’s Day that said, “Cthulhu wanted to give you a heart, but they were all too small and squishy.” They sold so well I took off the “Happy Valentine’s Day” and have left them up on the shop ever since.

Weeble Cthulhu, 4″x6″ pen and ink and Copic markers on a watercolor postcard. Buy his card at Etsy!

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Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things | No Comments »

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