Antemortem Arts | Fine Art & Custom Paintings

Blue Planet 1

Blue Planet 1, watercolor by Amy Crook, $222

This week I’m posting a series of 4 similar paintings, though slightly out of order out of respect for Tentacle Tuesday. I was revisiting some of my more scifi-themed work to decide what if anything I wanted to put in the art show at BayCon this year, and I decided that it had been too long since I painted one of my planets. I added some iridescent green paint in with my remaining mixture of salt and French Ultramarine and got to work.

I’ve numbered them in the order they were painted, this one first. As you can see, the salt crystals are tiny and fine, and the shape runs off the edge of the paper, which is totally what the salt water did. I think it looks a bit like a comet, or some shadowy binary planet, floating in space.

Blue Planet 1, 5″x5″ watercolor and salt on paper, $222 framed, with free shipping.

Blue Planet 1, detail, by Amy Crook

Above you can see the tiny sparkle of salt crystals, the subtle shimmer of the green paint and the sheen of opaque, matte blue that rests between the two. The paint and salt settle out on their own, once I apply the solution and some patience, giving me something unique each time. Below, of course, is the painting tucked into its frame, hanging out with my iPhone for size reference.

Blue Planet 1, framed art by Amy Crook, $222

If you’d like to talk about my planets with me (heh), especially about payment plans, feel free to email me.

Tags: black paper, blue, blue planet, for sale, green, iridescent, planet, salt, watercolor
Posted on April 30th, 2012 in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books, Shop - Abstract and Just Plain Weird | No Comments »

Tea sketch

Tea pencil sketch by Amy Crook

After the week I’ve had, I could use a good cuppa. Shall I pour you one, too?

Tags: nfs, pencil, sketch, tea
Posted on April 29th, 2012 in Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of | No Comments »

Cartoon: Jocelyne Leach

Jocelyne Leach as a Cartoon by Amy Crook

I like to think Jocelyne’s cartoon really shows how far I’ve come with this style of art. She’s doing a simple yoga pose with the legs, has her logo on her tank top, and is toasting us with a tasty green smoothie in her left hand. I think this tall, skinny image is going to go in her sidebar to welcome guests to her website.

Here’s to you, Jocelyne, for being a great client!

If you’d like to Be a Cartoon yourself, just click here to see how! (Hint: there’s a button at the bottom of the page to buy.)

Tags: all rights reserved, be a cartoon, cartoon, commission, copic markers, nfs, pen and ink
Posted on April 28th, 2012 in Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces | No Comments »

Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, interior

Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, interior, drawing by Amy Crook

Yesterday we saw the outside of 221b Baker street, and today it’s the interior. My Baker Street Tinies series combines the world of the recent Sherlock series from the BBC with the worlds and aesthetics of Edward Gorey.

Nicole and Mo wanted to celebrate their own love and their love of Sherlock Holmes with tattoos, and so we created a unique Gorey-ish vision of 221b Baker Street for each of them. You can’t have the originals — they’re spoken for — but you can get the designs on greeting cards at Etsy!

The wallpaper is straight out of the tv show, as are the fireplace and the antelope skull with its white headphones, though in the show none of these things are on the same wall. John’s Union Jack pillow is sitting on a very Gorey-ish sofa, along with Sherlock’s ubiquitous deerstalker cap. The mantel holds Sherlock’s skull, some mail jackknifed into the wood, a portrait of the pair of them, and abandoned milk with cold tea next to it. Now we know why they always have to buy more milk.

The bookshelf on the right is full of little details, most of which are hard to see without looking at the bigger version.

I really enjoyed working on this pair of drawings for Nicole and Mo, and I hope the tattoos come out beautifully. It was a great challenge to reference so many things in two tiny pieces of art, from the tv series to the books to the art and worlds of Edward Gorey. I’m already thinking about what I’ll do with them next!

Tags: 221b baker street, baker street tinies, edward gorey, etsy, nfs, sherlock, sold
Posted on April 27th, 2012 in Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of | No Comments »

Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, exterior

Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, exterior, drawing by Amy Crook

Today’s and tomorrow’s art are the newest in my Baker Street Tinies series, which combines the world of the recent Sherlock series from the BBC with the worlds and aesthetics of Edward Gorey.

Like the previous four, these were commissioned, so the originals are already sold and mailed off to their new owners. Nicole and Mo wanted to celebrate their own love and their love of Sherlock Holmes with tattoos, and so we created a unique Gorey-ish vision of 221b Baker Street for each of them. You can’t have the originals, but you can get the designs on greeting cards at Etsy!

This exterior shot is only somewhat faithful to the series — 221b itself has many of the features of Baker Street in the tv show, but the rest of the buildings are fanciful re-imaginings. You can see a shadow of a certain detective in the window of 221b, talking to the skull sitting atop a pile of books in the other window. Someone seems to have left their umbrella outside, but they can catch one of London’s famous black cabs if it rains. There’s even a binary joke hiding in the windows of the middle building.

My personal favorite is the fourth building, which just looks so very sad and shocked at what goes on in its neighborhood.

“Amy was an absolute pleasure to work with. She asked great questions to get at what we wanted out of the artwork, sent us drafts along the way, and worked with us to shape a final product that is absolutely stunning. She went above and beyond to see that the final product fit our needs, and we had a great experience all around.”

Tags: 221b baker street, baker street tinies, edward gorey, etsy, nfs, pen and ink, sherlock, sold
Posted on April 26th, 2012 in Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of | No Comments »

HALP PLS: Update!

Help Amy’s Laptop Purchase, Please, Lovely Supporters – THANK YOU!

Can Has Progress!

I promise, Dear Readers and Lovely Supporters alike, not all the Words posts will be about my laptop! But, you’ve all been so helpful this past week I thought you needed an update.

Between donations and Etsy sales, I’ve added approx. another 10% to my laptop pool. The above bar is a completely unscientific rendering of how much I’ve got saved up, because of course I have only an inkling of how much New Laptop will cost since they haven’t announced them yet. Basically, I figure you all filled in one of those equals signs, so, THANK YOU.
Tentacle & Snape/Harry shrinky dinks are claimed, but the Tentacle Hand Towel is there to fill the gap. Also, Sherlock/John and the Zombie Head and Cthulhu (with bell!) shrinky dinks are still available to kind donators.
New stuff on Etsy! Mostly Sherlock, but that’s what’s selling right now.

You are still Most Encouraged to Donate, if you can, or buy something. Especially art! Really, even $1 helps, especially since my life keeps running on and requiring money to do so in the meantime — though this fund is fully earmarked for the laptop, it’s hard to keep saving outside of that. Oh, rent, why do you come every month? Heh.

And now, your regularly scheduled Adorable Donate Button:

Tags: donate
Posted on April 25th, 2012 in Daily Art, Words Words Words | No Comments »

Tentacle Deeps 34

Tentacle Deeps 34, watercolor by Amy Crook

I love the way these experimental tentacles came out, with the rich blue at the core fading to iridescent green and then finally the salt that looks almost coppery compared to the cool interior. These are tentacles reaching out from some sort of translucent blob, perhaps a Shoggoth resting at the bottom of his cell, trying to get out and eat his creators.

Omnomnom!

Tentacle Deeps 34, 4″x6″ salt and watercolor on paper, $333 framed, with free shipping.

Tentacle Deeps 34, detail, by Amy Crook

Above you can see a detail of the tentacles forming out of their base and reaching upwards and away from you. I think this image is quite nifty, so I made an iPhone wallpaper for you to share it with me. Below, the usual frame-up job, with my iPhone for scale only.