Archive for the ‘Whimsical and Strange’ Category
Spiral Dragon
Monday, October 7th, 2013
Spiral Dragon by Amy Crook
Red Sharpie scales cover the entire page, showing through and informing the shapes of everything above them.
Dragons are often identified by their colors. Red and blue make purple, make violet. This dragon has fire in his eyes and ice along his belly.
Is his breath hot or cold? Is that smoke or mist curling from his mouth? Do those spikes cauterize as they pierce, melt the strongest armor or chill it to shattering, or neither, merely sharp, merely tipped in shining red?
Seemingly endless spiral scales are there to protect him, but as Neil Gaiman says, “dragons have one soft spot, somewhere, always.”
Spiral Dragon, 8″x8″ Sharpie marker, watercolor and iridescent watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Spiral Dragon, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sunlight reflecting off the iridescent sapphire of the dragon’s underbelly, and the way the red Sharpie spirals show through everything. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, just waiting for the perfect wall.
Spiral Dragon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: blue, dragon, iridescent, nfs, purple, red, sharpie marker, sold, spiral, spirals, watercolor
Brass Gates to Midnight 2
Saturday, October 5th, 2013
Brass Gates to Midnight 2 by Amy Crook
Last year I painted Brass Gates to Midnight, and posted it to the blog even though it never quite felt finished to me. I decided to pull out the old piece and rework it. I spent several hours with my brown and gold paint adding depth and weight to the gates, turning the spirals from insubstantial mist to thick vines frozen in a riot of growth. I added a sheen of starlight on the dark trees, and even gave the tiny fairy tucked in the gates a bit more detail and color.
The inner spaces of the gate remain black, blocking our sight to the lands we can see through the gap and over the top. Are you tempted to push them fully open and wander into the starlit places beyond?
Brass Gates to Midnight 2, 5″x5″ Japanese and iridescent watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Brass Gates to Midnight 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the little brown-and-green fairy hiding in among the brass curls of the gate. Is he luring you in, or warning you away? Perhaps it’s a bit of both.
Below, you can see the piece in a frame, like a window onto another set of possibilities.
Brass Gates to Midnight 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black paper, fairy, for sale, iridescent, japanese watercolor, metallic, more cowbell, spiral, spirals, stars, watercolor
Map to an Undiscovered Country
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013
Map to an Undiscovered Country by Amy Crook
I’m going to post a bit more about some of the pieces in October’s Floating Gallery for the next couple of weeks, starting with this one! If there’s a piece you’re curious about, feel free to ask.
This painting was directly inspired by a patron’s reaction to one of last month’s pieces. You know who you are, and thank you! It’s been a month of being fascinated with maps, for me, so this was a good way to explore that.
There’s two kinds of pen and ink on here, my teeny tiny Micron pen outlining the fjords and inlets around this strange country, and the thicker Japanese Pilot fountain pens in deep green and dark brown forming the inner details.
The line across the middle feels like a river and lake to me, but what if it’s a border, a fault, a plateau or crater? I love the mystery created by the map, making you wonder if the yellow is beaches or deserts or something else. Are those deep green spaces forests or mountains? If the brown aren’t roads, what are they? Are there even people in this undiscovered land, or are you the first to gaze upon it?
Map to an Undiscovered Country, 5″x7″ pen & ink and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
Map to an Undiscovered Country, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the paper texture interacting with the media to create detail, the tiny hand-drawn borders making strange borders, the thicker lines intersecting and the edge of the shape in the center. Below, you can see it in the frame I got especially for this piece, though of course once it finds a new home I’ll be able to re-purpose this, should the frame not go with it.
Map to an Undiscovered Country, framed art by Amy Crook
I’ll end on a note about works in pen and ink. Most colored inks are made with dyes and are less lightfast than the pigments in paint. If you put your art somewhere that gets direct sunlight, it will fade like an old map despite the high quality art paper. So don’t do that.
Actually, don’t do that to any art, because even the most lightfast pigments degrade over time. Also, it’s just not nice.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: for sale, green, map, pen and ink, watercolor
J is for Journey
Tuesday, September 24th, 2013
J is for Journey, commissioned illuminated capital by Amy Crook
Predictably, one of the first letters in my Illuminated Alphabet to sell was the J is for Juxtapose. After a lot of wembling and waffling, I’ve finally completed another J for a wonderful patron who commissioned one. He was trying at first to stick to the typographical theme of the finished alphabet, but in the end it just wasn’t working with the elements he wanted.
Instead, I snuck off and finished up the sketch this way, knowing that he’s got a love of maps and using the requested orange for the main capital. The smaller letter is in Tengwar, one of Tolkien’s invented alphabets, and a letter long-beloved by my patron. The squiggly red map-line was added near the end, though usual the glitter gel pen was saved for the very last. The faux Celtic decorations on the J were added in freehand, and you can see them better in the below photo, along with a clearer idea of the orange color behind them, which my scanner tended to oversaturate.
J is for Journey by Amy Crook
Categories: Completed Commissions, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: alphabet, commission, glitter gel pen, nfs, pen and ink, watercolor
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A Hobbity Birthday
Thursday, September 19th, 2013
Hobbit Birthday Traditions, parody art by Amy Crook
Happy my-upcoming-Birthday to you! On Sunday I’ll be properly 40, and in grand hobbit tradition I have some little gifts for you.
- If you get a set of Sherlock or Doctor Who bookmarks in September, you’ll get an extra bonus bookmark. Just don’t blink.
- You can use this coupon code all through September to get 20% off anything in my Etsy shop: WHATDAYISIT
- My novel will be free on Kindle from Sept. 20-22, approximately midnight to midnight Pacific, though their servers are sometimes a bit slow to update.
- I’ll be offering something special to my Art Patron’s list as well, so keep an eye on your inbox!
Bilbo is of course available on a card, being his grumpy old self. I really enjoy antisocial old Bilbo Baggins and his dismissal of everyone else’s gossip about him. Though he still knows how to throw a party!
Bilbo Baggins Birthday card by Amy Crook on Etsy
Categories: Card Design, Sale Post, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: bilbo baggins, birthday, copic marker, hobbit, pen and ink
1 Comment »
Lucky Podsworth
Friday, September 13th, 2013
Lucky Podsworth by Amy Crook
It’s Friday the 13th, and Pod wanted to have his portrait painted, from his tentacle tail to his pink jellybean toes. He’s feeling very elegant and refined here, so clearly I’ve taken liberties.
I put him on a card with the message, “Make Your Own Luck.” I felt like in this picture he was saying something rather superior, so you can add whatever tone pleases you.
Make Your Own Luck greeting card by Amy Crook at Etsy
Categories: Card Design, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: basement cat, cat, pen and ink, pod, watercolor
Minion MWAH!
Thursday, September 5th, 2013
Minion MWAH! fan art comic by Amy Crook
Inspired by this ridiculous gif, I felt the need to do some Minions all on their own. I swear I was going to start holiday cards, but I couldn’t resist! I suppose you could put some mistletoe above him and call it a Christmas card, heh.
I thought he was too plain all by himself, so after I penciled in the giant MWAH! I decided to add some extra Minion shenanigans across the top. My favorite is the one sticking is tongue out, of course.
You can get one to send to all your friends here at my Etsy shop.
Minion MWAH! blank greeting card by Amy Crook on Etsy
Categories: Card Design, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: despicable me, etsy, minion, mwah
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