Posts Tagged ‘harvest moon’

Harvest Moon 6

Tuesday, August 14th, 2018

Harvest Moon 6 by Amy Crook, 3 sandhill cranes in silhouette against a golden full moon

Harvest Moon 6, 5″x5″ watercolor on Arches cover black paper

Three sandhill cranes are flying across this minuscule moon, golden-yellow and full like a proper autumn moon should be.

After June’s Harvest Moon painting, a patron suggested I try another on black paper instead of white. It’s a very different process, and the results have a darker, more solid quality.

The stars have a little shine to them, a hint of gold to add sparkle. The cranes have a little complexity in their color, both from the Payne’s grey and the way the thick, opaque Japanese paints mix into the top layer.

Harvest Moon 6, detail, by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 6, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a close-up of the cranes and the textural surface of the moon. Below, the painting is in a frame, waiting to fly to its new home.

Harvest Moon 6, framed art by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 6, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Harvest Moon 5

Thursday, June 7th, 2018

Harvest Moon 5 by Amy Crook, a watercolor painting of three herons flying in silhouette against a golden full moon

Harvest Moon 5, 8″x8″ watercolor on Arches watercolor paper

Today’s beautiful golden moon silhouettes three great blue herons against its warm glow.

The stars have a little sparkle to them, but the sky is a flat, swirling velvety grey nestling them like little droplets of molten gold.

Any moon that’s close to the horizon will look orange, but those autumnal full moons that presage the season of crunchy leaves and spooky ghosts have a special sort of mystique to them. You never know what you’ll see, whether it’s a bird or a bat, a swirl of fallen leaves — or a ghost.

Harvest Moon 5, detail, by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 5, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see one of the cranes in closer detail, a dark blot of feathers and grace against the bright moon. Below, the moon is captured in a frame, just waiting to become a part of your sky.

Harvest Moon 5, framed art by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 5, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Harvest Moon 4

Friday, February 2nd, 2018

Harvest Moon 4, watercolor by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 4, 8″x8″ watercolor on Arches watercolor paper

A colony of bats crosses a golden harvest moon in a graceful, curving flight. Dozens of batty forms flit their way from here to there, each one frozen in a single moment of time.

Bring these bats home to roost and you’ll never get tired of finding new ones to admire.

My Patreon supporters voted on what to add to this glowing golden moon, and bats won hands down. Sky puppies are popular!

What’s your favorite thing to see silhouetted against the moon?

Harvest Moon 4, detail, by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 4, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a close-up of a few of the many specific bat poses that are scattered in an curve across the moon. Below, the moon is trapped in a frame, forever frozen in its moment of fullness.

Harvest Moon 4, framed art by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 4, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Harvest Moon 3

Saturday, November 5th, 2016

Harvest Moon 3, art by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 3, 6″x6″ ink wash and gel pen on Fluid watercolor paper

Remember, remember, the fifth of November — happy Guy Fawkes Day, Brits! Don’t forget to check your bonfire for hedgehogs and Watsons (same thing, really).

This ink painting uses a gorgeous wash of honey-gold to create a lush harvest moon, and then a deep, opaque black for the sky and silhouetted crow flying across the moon. There are slightly shimmery copper stars in the vast blackness of the sky adding a touch of life to the dramatic image.

There is a beautiful sense of movement as the crow glides across the moon, not quite centered but wonderfully detailed despite being a single color of deep black.

This golden harvest moon will add a bit of mystery to its new home.

Harvest Moon 3, detail, by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 3, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see all the lovely pinfeathers in silhouette against the orange moon. Below, the piece is stunning in its frame.

Harvest Moon, framed art by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Harvest Moon 2

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Harvest Moon 2, framed art by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 2 by Amy Crook

Even as I’m really developing the salt work into a proper technique, I still learn something new with each piece. This painting began with a lot of painstaking drawing that became nearly obliterated by the process, and ended up with a deceptively simple image with a lot of texture and detail just waiting to be found by the careful viewer.

Harvest Moon 2, 7″x5″ salt, pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.

The central shape actually started as a dense circle of pen-and-ink spirals, but you can only see a tiny shadow of the original ink if you look very closely.

Harvest Moon 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook

When I added the salt and water to it, the golden-orange ink turned into a vividly orange puddle, which then dried to the softer peach color you see in the final product.

Harvest Moon 2, work in progress by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 2, in progress, by Amy Crook

There’s a dense layer of sparkling salt crystals overlaying the entire surface of the ‘moon,’ adding a physical texture on top of the visual texture.

Harvest Moon 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook

The salt layer, like the ink beneath it, formed unevenly based on where the paper warped and the water pooled. Here you can really see the line of dense crystals that runs vertically through the image.

Harvest Moon 2, detail 3, by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 2, detail 3, by Amy Crook

And here it is tucked into a frame, ready to find its new home.

Harvest Moon 2, framed art by Amy Crook

Harvest Moon 2, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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Harvest Moon

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

Harvest Moon by Amy Crook

This painting, like several others, was done for the cover of the Starcycles Calendar (in this case for 2004). We wanted something simple with rich colors, though later on we added in an image of Thoth as a shadow on the golden harvest moon.

Harvest Moon, 10″x14″ oil painting on art board.

As the paints have aged, the once deep blue has taken on a really interesting sheen that only shows in certain lights, adding a really nice violet depth to the sky that contrasts well with the matte, earthy golds.

Harvest Moon by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art
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