Posts Tagged ‘fish’

Angler Fish 1

Friday, May 24th, 2013

Angler Fish 1 by Amy Crook

Angler Fish 1 by Amy Crook, $250

After I painted this bloody red background, deliberately deep and dark, I thought that a glowing blue Angler fish would be the perfect thing to go on top of it. I love the contrast between the abstract, color-field-like painting in the background, all matte and dark Japanese watercolors that sank into the textured black paper, and the drawing-like simplicity of the fish on top. She’s got deceptive amounts of detail, from the subtle shading on her creepy blank eye to the deliberate comic “shine” marks around her phosphorescent lure. The paint itself is a little bit shiny, with some duochrome Aquamarine mixed in with the white and turquoise to create a shiny paint that sits on top of the background rather than blending in.

Also, she’s magnificently creepy. Win!

Angler Fish 1, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper, $250 with free shipping.

Angler Fish 1, work in progress, by Amy Crook

Angler Fish 1, work in progress, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the murky background painting along with the little pre-sketch I did to fix the design in my head. I didn’t want to pencil directly onto the paint, so I just doodled it on a bit of scratch paper instead. Below, you can see a close-up of the angler’s lure and her shiny paint looking very bright against the matte depths behind her.

Angler Fish 1, detail, by Amy Crook

Angler Fish 1, detail, by Amy Crook

And finally, you can see the fish in her frame! I keep saying her because, of course, male angler fish are wee, pathetic little things doomed to die in the service of their species. I feel comfortable putting these links off my site here, because none of you ever read this far down, anyway.

Angler Fish 1, framed art by Amy Crook

Angler Fish 1, framed art by Amy Crook

  • Title: Angler Fish 1
  • 7 in. x 5 in. watercolor, Japanese watercolor, and duochrome watercolor on Arches cover black paper
  • $250 for the original (tax will be added if you live in CA)
  • Frame is not included, but can be added for $50 (shipping included)
  • Shipping is free anywhere in the world
  • Payment plans are available, just email me
  • The button below will take you to Paypal – if you’d like to pay another way, just let me know and we’ll work it out

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Implied Goldfish

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Implied Goldfish, watercolor by Amy Crook

Implied Goldfish, watercolor by Amy Crook, $399

This is the sort of art that just makes me feel a little bit more delighted with the world when I look at it. Happy little goldfish swim around partially camouflaged by the white paper, while rings of sparkly blue gel pin circle the three-dimensional salt formations. Are they stones? The first fat drops of rain? Strange portals to another world? The implications are endless.

Implied Goldfish, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $399 framed, with free shipping.

Now here’s where I admit something very silly: today’s art is inspired by one of my mismatched cereal bowls. Really they’re rice bowls, but I mostly use them for Cheerios.

Omnomnom Fishies!

Omnomnom Fishies!

I buy a lot of my dishes in Japantown and this is no exception. Maybe one of these days I’ll do a giant picspam on a Weds of a bunch of them. There’s kitties!

Below, you can see the sparkly salt and glittery pen next to the totally unconcerned fishies. The color’s a bit off, because this is the paper my camera likes to think is secretly red (hint: it’s not).

Implied Goldfish, detail, by Amy Crook

Implied Goldfish, detail, by Amy Crook

And finally we have the usual framed art, a peaceful little pond to sit on your desk or tuck into a tiny bit of wall space.

Implied Goldfish, framed art by Amy Crook

Implied Goldfish, framed art by Amy Crook, $399

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
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Evil Fishie sketch

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

Evil Fishie sketch by Amy Crook

Evil Fishie sketch by Amy Crook

I managed a sketch for Saturday, whee! I realized that a lot of what I sketch is the preliminary drawings for things I’d rather post finished, so that’s why I never seem to have any sketches for my Saturday posts. This guy seems rather Lovecraftian to me, perhaps I can do a properly inked version of him of I do another coloring book sometime.

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Dance of the Octopi – Fabric!

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Dance of the Octopi fabric by Amy Crook

Dance of the Octopi fabric by Amy Crook

You may remember a while back I posted a design called Dance of the Octopi and contemplated how it would make good wallpaper or fabric pattern? Well, I’ve finally gotten around to putting it up on Spoonflower for sale! You can see my little sample above, which is a fat quarter of unironed quilting weight (I don’t own an iron, haha) gathered into a pretty swath for the photo.

I love the dreamy, blue and purple creatures and vibrant green seaweed against the soft blue background, and am still contemplating whether I want to get a few yards and try to sew myself a tentaclicious pair of pajama pants. I suppose I’d have to buy an iron, though…

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
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Dance of the Octopi

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Dance of the Octopi by Amy Crook

Dance of the Octopi by Amy Crook

I can almost imagine sleeping in a room with one wall papered with dancing octopi, squid and jellyfish, all swimming in their Victorian frame of swaying seaweed. Though, actually, once I get the colors adjusted to my satisfaction, I may upload the design to Spoonflower and see about making some pyjama pants out of it, so I can sleep cool in my underwater dreams.

I drew the individual pieces up with pen and ink, and then scanned them in simple black, adding color as I worked with the design. There’s no original per se for this one, just a bunch of sketches in a couple of sketchbooks. At some point I’ll need to crop just one panel out for repeating properly, but I want to adjust the blue background and purple squid first.

Now you can better imagine the Octopi as wallpaper/curtains: Click here!

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
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Blue Fish

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

Blue Fish by Amy Crook

Blue Fish by Amy Crook

It’s not properly a weeble despite it being Wednesday, but this sad little fishy has the same cartoonish, playful tone, I think.

I decided to experiment a little with a medium I acquired some time ago and have never quite made peace with, watercolor crayons. I’m not sure if it’s the quality of the sets I’ve got or just the medium itself, but I’m never quite happy with the childlike texture that clings to the page even when I go in after and activate them with water.

This fish wanted to be blue in honor of Dr. Seuss, so perhaps a cheery red fish will make it up sometime next week.

Blue Fish, 7″x5″ watercolor crayons on watercolor paper, not for sale.

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
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Zombie Koi

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Zombie Koi by Amy Crook

Zombie Koi by Amy Crook

This cheerful undead fish is just looking for a few scraps of brains left for him — zombies are notoriously sloppy eaters, after all. He’s on the back cover of my Cthluhu Coloring Book (one of the bonus zombies!), and was one I was most looking forward to coloring myself. His tattered flesh glows an eerie green, but his attractive orange-and-white spots still show through in places.

Zombie Koi, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper.

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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