Flour Sack Tentacles
Sharpie Tentacles on a Flour Sack Dish Towel by Amy Crook
Bonus tentacles for Friday!
It should come as no surprise to anyone that I have fabric Sharpies as well as the regular kind. I bought them a few months ago, and I’ve finally acquired a package of the flour sack dish towels I like for decorating. This one’s been washed but not, obviously, ironed, and then decorated with pink and purple tentacles.
The tentacles are positioned so that they’re in the center if you fold the towel into thirds, and lay it over a towel bar, but most of the towel is still pristine for actually drying your dishes. It’s 28″ square, which is actually a bit bigger than the towels I’m used to, and the Sharpie says machine wash cold, hang dry, but I haven’t re-washed this one yet to test it.
I haven’t decided how much I’ll list these for on Etsy yet, I have seven to experiment with, but if you would like one as a donation gift instead of a Shrinky Dink, just let me know.
Speaking of which, thank you to all the lovely people who have donated or bought something from Etsy so far! I’m not going to name you darlings since I haven’t asked if I could, but just know that I really, really appreciate every one of you.
Tags: dish towel, sharpie, tentacles
Posted on April 20th, 2012 in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Sea Creatures, Tentacles | 3 Comments »
Spiral Lakes
Spiral Lakes, abstract art by Amy Crook, $269
This piece is like the inverse of Spiral Islands, with the rich French Ultramarine mixed straight into the salt-saturated solution. To me it looks like a series of thermal lakes that have burst and melted through a thick layer of ice, crusted around the edges and looking down into the deep blue of the ocean, with little floes of ice still floating, sparkling on the surface.
I admit I considered painting in the white the way I did with Islands, but this arctic image came to me so I let well enough alone this time.
Spiral Lakes, 5″x7″ salt and watercolor on paper, $269 framed, with free shipping.
Spiral Lakes, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of one of the spirals. I really like the way the paint pulls away from the edges of the pool so the color is richer in the middle and fades toward the salt crystals. Below, you can see the lakes in their frame, which you could tuck into a bookshelf or decorate a wall somewhere with a bit of gorgeous blue and unexpected sparkle.
Spiral Lakes, framed art by Amy Crook, $269
Tags: blue, for sale, salt, watercolor
Posted on April 19th, 2012 in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Shop - Abstract and Just Plain Weird | No Comments »
HALP PLS
Help Amy’s Laptop Purchase, Please, Lovely Supporters!
My Poor Sad Laptop
Dying laptop is dying. My current work computer is about 5.5 years old, and has had several parts replaced. New keyboard, new battery, new hard drive. And yet, it regularly has kernel panics, hangs while starting up or shutting down, and generally wants very much to be retired. I use this computer every day to do all those little things like bring you art and work for my clients and pay my bills. At this point it’s a race between me having the money to replace it, and the death rattle turning into actual forever death.
I would very much like to win this race.
Rumor has it Apple will be putting out a new line of Macbook Pros this spring sometime, and I’ll be trying to get my grabby little hands on one as soon as physically possible.
The one I have still runs Photoshop so you can see your daily art, Dear Readers, but every time it’s a little more reluctant. I’ve done all the maintenance I can (oh god, so much maintenance), but the time has come.
I have about 2/3 of the probable cost saved up (based on what they cost now), so I’m not asking for you to cover the whole thing, just to help close the gap between what I have and the computer that will last me for the next 5 years of 16-hour days and Photoshop abuse.
Thus, we have the HALP PLS fund!
What, you might ask, can you do to help? Well, Lovely and Charming Supporter, there’s a few options:
- Donate using the button above! Anyone who donates $25 or more will get a Shrinky Dink of their very own as a thank-you gift from a grateful artist. Or a hand-drawn dish towel! $40 gets you one of the pairs. But, honestly, even $1 will be a big help.
- Buy something! Peruse my Etsy shop there, and my Art shop here, and see if something suits your fancy. If you want something out of your budget, email me — we can talk about a payment plan or some other way to get the art you love into your home.
- Be a Cartoon or commission an original of your very own! Of course you can email me to talk about either of these, and the only way to commission something is to talk to me first.
An Assortment of Fine Shrinky Dinks Available for Supporter Rewards
Note: If I run low on Shrinky Dinks, I’ll just make more. I have sheets of the stuff, but I have to draw each one individually with Sharpie (or colored pencil, but you know I’m a Sharpie girl at heart), so I’m slow at filling the sheets.
Tags: donate
Posted on April 18th, 2012 in Daily Art, Words Words Words | 3 Comments »
Tentacle Deeps 33
Tentacle Deeps 33, watercolor by Amy Crook, $222
Today’s tentacles are muted, odd, and not really opaque. The background is something I painted ages ago and then wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with it, until this week I decided that I’d use some blue-violet I’d dulled with black would make good tentacles to go with the grey-green. I watered the color down a bit for the front ones to get some extra visual texture, and then even more for the back row.
I’ve been looking at some of my older tentacles recently, and I liked the rougher, less perfected shapes in Tentacle Deeps 2, so I decided to revisit those here. Everything’s deliberately wobbly and out of balance, with angular spirals and long, reaching arms. I wonder what’s up there that they’re so keen to get to.
Tentacle Deeps 33, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper, $222 framed, with free shipping.
Tentacle Deeps 33, detail, by Amy Crook
You can really see the texture in the detail shot, the paper and the old paint underneath the new, giving it all a shadowy, desaturated feel. Below, you can see the tentacles happy in their frame, reaching forever for the sky.
Tentacle Deeps 33, framed art by Amy Crook, $222
Tags: for sale, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Posted on April 17th, 2012 in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Shop - Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Tentacles | No Comments »
Horton’s Field
Horton's Field, watercolor by Amy Crook, $169
When I first created this background, there were these water spots of yellow in the midst of the zoisite green fog that reminded me of a cluster of Seussian flowers. I went back in with diluted white to highlight those little spots, and then put in ground and stems and a tree that all stuck to that original Dr. Seuss aesthetic. I actually put the tree in last, because the big open golden sky above the flowers seemed to dwarf them, where the tree shelters without taking over.
Horton’s Field, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper, $169 with free shipping.
Horton's Field, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see a detail photo of some of the flowers, and the grey-green fog of zoisite they’re trying so very hard to cheerfully peek through. Below, you can see the way it looks framed, adding some bright sunshine yellow to my desk.
Horton's Field, framed art by Amy Crook
Tags: Dr. Seuss, for sale, green, watercolor, yellow
Posted on April 16th, 2012 in Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Shop - Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Shop - Whimsical and Strange, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange | No Comments »
King of Cups Sharpie sketch
King of Cups Sharpie sketch by Amy Crook
This little dude was the last thing I decided on for Sharpie Week, by having my houseguest draw a card from my Medieval Scapini Tarot deck. Then I looked at the intricate, complex drawing and doodled up something far less impressive in my wee sketchbook. King of Cups is the patron of artists, though, so I feel he won’t mind the license.
Tags: nfs, sharpie, sketch, tarot
Posted on April 15th, 2012 in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces | No Comments »
Sharpie Mutant Ninja Turtle
Sharpie Mutant Ninja Turtle sketch by Amy Crook
Twitter has once again given us our theme for the day, this time from @EmperorzNou whose presence there is partially my fault anyway. *cough* He asked for a mutant turtle perhaps in his teens of the ninja variety, or something like that, and thus you have an inexpertly weeble-ified turtle with obligatory pizza.
Mmm, pizza.
Tags: nfs, pizza, sharpie, sketch, turtle
Posted on April 14th, 2012 in Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of | No Comments »
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