Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths « Antemortem Arts

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Tentacle Deeps 31

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 31, watercolor by Amy Crook, $222

I’m still enamored of these paints that are ghostly pale from some angles, and richly colored from others. This one looks like fine gilding from the right angle, but turns almost white and translucent from the wrong one. I couldn’t resist the idea of golden tentacles, though!

Tentacle Deeps 31, 4″x6″ watercolor on paper, $222 framed, with free shipping.

My camera picked up the golden color quite well, though I ended up leaving the background a little more purple than it is in reality because, well, it looks cool.

Tentacle Deeps 31, detail, by Amy Crook

I’m going to be doing an order this week of, zomg, Tentacle Blankies! I’m only doing pre-orders, though, so if you want tentacles on a blankie of your own, email me!

The piece looks nice framed, below, with my usual iPhone for scale. I considered using a dollar, but then, I have no idea of my international readers (hi!) know how big a dollar is, and yet it’s safe to assume most of you have seen someone holding their iPhone. Weird.

Tentacle Deeps 31, framed art by Amy Crook, $222

Tags: for sale, gold, iridescent, purple, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Shop - Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Tentacles | No Comments »

Forest Dragon

Monday, March 26th, 2012

I swear, this commission took all the time in the world, but I will admit I’m happy with the results. I was pretty sure I would be once I got it past the ass point, but you never really know until it’s all done. Molly is very happy indeed, and I hope she gets well soon so she can come collect it!

“All I had was the idea of a dragon in a forest and I was so lucky to have Amy bring what I really had in mind to life. And with the snap shots of the progress along the way I got to be more and more excited by the final result. The details of the scales are my favorite part.”

Forest Dragon, 24″x18″ oil paint on canvas, nfs (commission).

I’ve taken a bunch of detail shots for you, just so you can appreciate the awesomeness.

Forest Dragon, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a close-up of the sun shining through the Dragon’s spines and onto the texture, iridescent scales. Below, another shot of sunlight, this time streaming through the trees and making the leaves appear translucent.

Forest Dragon, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Sunlight and shiny things are a bit of a theme, which is apropos for a dragon, I think.

Forest Dragon, detail 3, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the wings, which are translucent and let the trees behind them show faintly through, as well as the dragon’s ridges. Below, an oblique close-up of the tail so you can see the physical texture of the scales, and the more visual texture on the hoard of gold.

Forest Dragon, detail 4, by Amy Crook

If you’re considering a commission of your own, email me! I’ve got a few things in the queue already, but I’d be happy to talk about putting your painting next in line.

Tags: all rights reserved, commission, dragon, iridescent, nfs, oil paint, oil painting, tree
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Whimsical and Strange | No Comments »

Tentacle Deeps 30

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 30 by Amy Crook, $222

I actually took the time to trim this cool green cardstock down to size, so it fits just fine in a 4″x6″ frame. I realize I have a ton of frames that size, from when I was trying to get the handmade postcards to fit. I finally gave up and started matting them into a bigger frame, so I’ve got a bunch of extra frames that obviously need tentacles.

The background is pure zoisite green, granulated and squamous just the way I like it. The foreground tentacles are a blue-black that gets bluer as the tentacles “recede” into the translucent background layers. I like the extra dimension the piece gets from colored paper and colored tentacles as well as the usual colored background, the whole thing is sort of eerie and otherworldly.

Also, green.

Tentacle Deeps 30, 6″x4″ watercolor on paper, $222 framed, with free shipping.

To purchase this piece, please contact STUDIO Gallery.

Tentacle Deeps 30, detail, by Amy Crook

The color in the above close-up shot is a bit off, my camera keeps trying to add red to correct the green, but it’s still cool. Below you can see it with my iPhone for scale. I always think it’s neat seeing the art reflected in the surface of the phone, even if I don’t love the reflections of the room in the glass on the artwork.

Tentacle Deeps 30, framed art by Amy Crook, $222

To purchase this piece, please contact STUDIO Gallery.

Tags: blue, crane and co, for sale, green, studio gallery, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Shop - Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Tentacles | No Comments »

Mother Hydra

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

Mother Hydra cartoon by Amy Crook, $69

I’ve taken some liberties here and used a more classic interpretation of a hydra, rather than the Lovecraftian description of Father Dagon’s bride. There’s just no way to make a vast pool of screaming faces cute, really.

As it is, I can totally imagine at least one of her heads yelling, “No more wire hangers!” She’s even got pearls and lovely pink-painted claws nails.

Just don’t mention the screaming faces and monstrous claws pressing against her heavy, pregnant belly. Or think about what sort of monsters she’s the mother of, if you want to sleep tonight.

Mother Hydra, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on paper, $69 with free shipping.

Tags: cartoon, copic markers, cthulhu, etsy, for sale, lovecraft, pen and ink, weeble
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Shop - Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Things I'm a Fan Of | No Comments »

Tentacle Deeps 29

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 29, watercolor by Amy Crook, $222

Unlike last week’s tentacles, these, you can have if you want to. Yes, Tuesday is upon us once again and this time I used the opaque Japanese watercolors on black paper to create a wonderful bright green background with an intriguing squamous texture. I used black paint to put in the tentacles, letting it re-wet the green and mix in, giving the whole thing a monochromatic, layered feeling. I’ve been trying to get back to doing the fading layers of tentacles, dark at first with lighter and more transparent ones fading off into the distance, though I do love some of the ones I’ve done with a single layer, as well. Basically, I just like tentacles. I know, you’re shocked.

I’ve been flipping through some of the last year or so’s worth of art, and it’s interesting to see how the tentacles started out in one specific style and then evolved into something else. Revisiting those older pieces, I’ve been revisiting some of the original ideas, like having the wash only take up a portion of the page instead of running edge to edge.

Tentacle Deeps 29, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper, $222 framed, with free shipping.

Tentacle Deeps 29, detail, by Amy Crook

Above is your usual close-up of the reaching tentacles. Maybe one of these days I’ll take a photo of them reaching toward the camera, instead, just for variety. Below is the usual picture in the usual frame. Who ever thought there’d be “the usual tentacles” in your life?

Tentacle Deeps 29, framed art by Amy Crook, $222

Tags: black paper, for sale, green, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Shop - Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Tentacles | No Comments »

Tentacle Deeps 28

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 28 by Amy Crook

You can’t have these tentacles, they’re sold! A friend of mine came over to hang out, asked if he could peek in the Big Drawer of Art, and went home with this piece (he left a check behind, yay!).

This paper is interesting, it’s not really meant for watercolors, I don’t think. It’s very absorbent, almost too much so, and it buckles quite a bit when it’s wet. On the other hand, the interesting particulates in the paper shine through the watercolor, giving an impression of distant lights, whether stars or some underwater bioluminescence isn’t clear. I liked the effect so much I started another one in a different shade of blue.

It’s also bigger than my usual tentacles. I’ve been trying to vary my paper sizes more lately (though 5″x7″ is still the dominant size), so I tore this paper down to two 8″x10″ pieces. I guess sometimes size does matter.

Tentacle Deeps 28, 8″x10″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).

Tentacle Deeps 28, detail, by Amy Crook

Nifty shot of tentacles is nifty. Here, have a wallpaper. Below, you can see the tentacles in my frame with my iPhone, though my friend took the original home all naked to put in a frame he already had. Big tentacles are big!

Tentacle Deeps 28, framed art by Amy Crook

Tags: nfs, sold, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles | No Comments »

Tentacle Deeps 27

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 27 by Amy Crook, $222

We have ghostly tentacles writhing against a textured wash of sunset red, orange and gold for our Tentacle Tuesday. I really love all the texture and detail on this one, so I made a wallpaper to share. I make these sort of huge and not particularly specific on the size so that you can just tell your computer to fill the screen and it won’t matter if some of one edge or another gets cropped. I also make the tentacles go left to right because that’s what works for me on my screen, I almost always have certain windows open so I mostly see a few little stripes of background at the left and right edges.

I really like the way the textured paper here created amazing edges on the wash, and then on top of that I used salt in the more traditional manner to create the almost flamelike blossoms of paint in the background. I was so in love with it, I decided to paint the tentacles in washed-out, transparent black to let the background really show through. The smaller, fainter tentacles give it a sense of looking out over a field of them, almost like seaweed rising up from the ocean bottom.

Tentacle Deeps 27, 5.25″x7″ watercolor on paper, $222 framed, with free shipping.

This isn’t quite small enough for a standard frame, and I haven’t yet matted it properly into a larger one for photography, but I suspect you’ve seen enough framed tentacles by now to know the drill. Instead, enjoy the spooky bottom-up detail shot.