Posts Tagged ‘horizons’

Sunset Haze

Monday, July 8th, 2019

Sunset Haze by Amy Crook, a watercolor painting of trees and a flight of birds silhouetted against the sun

Sunset Haze, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper

It wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t some kind of horizons painting with a fading sunset, flying birds, and silhouetted trees.

I went for a different sort of tree this time, though I couldn’t tell you what kind, and some sea birds for variety as well. The sun is a red haze just vanishing below the horizon, ruddy against the warm buff color of the paper itself.

A tiny bit of exotic warmth for those days the AC is turned to 11 and one is missing the summers of old.

Sunset Haze, detail, by Amy Crook

Sunset Haze, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see some smudgy foliage and tiny birds against the buff-orange sunset sky. Below, the painting is in a frame, like a window into some other, more tropical reality.

Sunset Haze, framed art by Amy Crook

Sunset Haze, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Murder at Sunset 2

Wednesday, May 8th, 2019

Murder at Sunset 2 by Amy Crook, a watercolor of brown winter trees in front of an orange sunset with five flying crows

Murder at Sunset 2, 6″x4″ watercolor on paper

It’s only a little murder — five crows swoop in almost like snapshots of a single bird, arcing down to make their home in the biggest of this grove of trees. The rich orange sunset behind them glows through a stack of fluffy clouds, lighting everything up in rich autumn colors.

Where would you nestle this tiny painting, to bring a bit of brightness into your daily life? It’s about the size of a postcard, perfect to tuck into a bookshelf, sit on busy desk, or decorate a stray bit of wall.

Murder at Sunset 2, detail, by Amy Crook

Murder at Sunset 2, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see three of the tiny crows making their way across the bright sky. Below, this tiny frame is holding a lot of detail for such a small artwork.

Murder at Sunset 2, framed art by Amy Crook

Murder at Sunset 2, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Morning After

Monday, May 6th, 2019

Morning After by Amy Crook, a watercolor pastel sunrise against a panoramic foreground of smoking ruins

Morning After, 8″x4″ watercolor on paper

The sky holds the softness of spring, the delicacy of an Easter egg, the gentlest of sunrises. In front of these lovely colors, there are smoking ruins, the aftermath of some mystery calamity. Carrion birds wheel and turn on the thermals, looking for a choice meal among the destruction. The pall of smoke hanging over the burnt-out husks is no deterrent to the scavengers.

There’s a curious juxtaposition with the grey-green ruins backed by the seashell pink, baby-chick yellow, and robin’s egg blue of the sky.

Morning After, detail, by Amy Crook

Morning After, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the delicate, tiny brushstrokes that make up each hollow, destroyed building. Below, the carrion birds circle and swoop inside their temporary frame.

Morning After, framed art by Amy Crook

Morning After, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Life Is Not the Same

Tuesday, March 5th, 2019

Life Is Not the Same by Amy Crook, surreal paint-smear trees against soft purple clouds

Life Is Not the Same, 8″x4″ watercolor on paper

This painting started with such bright skies, it’s not really a surprise that it took such a surrealist bent all the way to the finish line. The trees in the foreground seem almost hyperreal against the softness of the clouds, with a red hawk gliding between the two states.

Perhaps it’s hunting reality.

The title is from the Spiderverse soundtrack, the line, “Life is not the same with your picture in my frame,” that somehow spoke to the sense that each component of this painting lives in a slightly different universe from the others.

Life Is Not the Same, detail, by Amy Crook

Life Is Not the Same, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the red hawk, circling among the fuzzy clouds, above the brushstroke trees. Below, the painting is waiting in a temporary frame to fly to its new destination.

Life Is Not the Same, framed art by Amy Crook

Life Is Not the Same, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Abandonment

Monday, October 8th, 2018

Abandonment by Amy Crook, shadowy abstract city ruins in front of a stormy sky

Abandonment, 7″x5″ ink and watercolor on paper

Often the skies come first and then the foreground goes in to match, but this time the ruins grew up out of the ashes of avoidance, and the purple clouds came rolling in later.

Spiky, burnt-out buildings lean into one another, smudged with smoke and abandoned by everyone but the carrion birds.

More ruins for a world on fire, but hey, at least they’re pretty.

Ruins, detail, by Amy Crook

Ruins, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the most-intact tower and its circle of carrion birds up close and personal. Below, the bleak landscape sits in a frame, like a window to a ruined world.

Ruins, framed art by Amy Crook

Ruins, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Solar Wind

Saturday, October 6th, 2018

Solar Wind by Amy Crook, a watercolor painting of crows and a windblown tree at sunset

Solar Wind, 18″x6″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper

A lovely, large panorama of sunset and birds and a windblown tree, this painting is a moment at the edge of night, just as the sun is slipping away below the horizon and off the page.

The clouds reflect the bloody light from below, refracting it into orange and pink as well as red. Five beautiful blackbirds ride the winds of evening, slipping past the tree that autumn’s already caught ahold of and stripped of its summer foliage.

A full foot and a half wide, this painting will need some special framing, but it would make a beautiful, warm addition to any room.

Solar Wind, detail, by Amy Crook

Solar Wind, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, an up-close view of the windswept tree and wispy clouds, as well as one of the five intrepid crows riding the breezes. Below, a very wide shot indeed to encompass this whole panorama.

Solar Wind, a panoramic watercolor painting by Amy Crook

Solar Wind, a panoramic watercolor painting by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Grove

Wednesday, June 6th, 2018

Grove by Amy Crook, a waterclor painting of five dormant trees against a sunset with three birds flying

Grove, 6″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper

Now that spring is sprung and summer is on its way, it’s back to longing thoughts of autumn and winter, and trees bare of their leaves (and their evil, evil pollen).

The sky is painted with gold and red, pink and orange, and the trees have a depth to them that invites the eye to trace out branching pathways like handmade lace against the peachy clouds.

What’s on your horizon?

Grove, detail, by Amy Crook

Grove, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the soft oranges of the sky and the interlacing branches of these dormant trees. Below, they’re in a small frame, perfect for adding a bit of beauty to a tiny space.

Grove, framed art by Amy Crook

Grove, framed art by Amy Crook

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