Posts Tagged ‘ruins’

Fire Season

Wednesday, November 6th, 2019

an ink painting of stark ruins poking up against an orange sky, wreathed in smoke, by Amy Crook

Fire Season, 6″x4″ ink on paper

It’s fire season here in California, and it’s been a month for ruins all around.

The beautiful golden-peach glow of the smoldering sky is hard to capture on a monitor, but the inks give a magnificently clear color in person. The charcoal grey of ink wash swoops in fluid lines to suggest some kind of burnt-out ruins, close or distant, large or small.

Birds circle above and around, giving them a sense of scale — unless it’s the birds themselves that are distant.

Fire Season, detail, by Amy Crook

Fire Season, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the shadow of a bird, the soft texture of paper and glow of the sky, and the stark jut of burnt ruins wreathed in their own smoky residue. Below, this dramatic scene is contained safely in a frame, just waiting to grace your wall.

Fire Season, framed art by Amy Crook

Fire Season, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Floating Above the Ashes

Thursday, July 4th, 2019

Floating Above the Ashes by Amy Crook, delicate ruins smoking in front of a ruddy sunset sky, birds flying above

Floating Above the Ashes, 8″x4″ watercolor on paper

Dark carrion birds float on the rising heat from burnt-out fires, ash and smoke and soot smudging what’s left of the city beneath.

The newest in my Ruins series, this painting has a sense that the birds are almost more real than the buildings, which have a ghostly quality to them. Orange glows through the grey of cinder and ash, painting even the few intact buildings with an unreal glow.

I guess if the world’s gonna be on fire, it’s nice if it’s pretty.

Floating Above the Ashes, detail, by Amy Crook

Floating Above the Ashes, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see my favorite building in this scene, and some of the black birds rising above on the warm air. Below, the painting is temporarily in a frame, waiting for a new space to occupy.

Floating Above the Ashes, framed art by Amy Crook

Floating Above the Ashes, 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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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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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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Ruination

Thursday, October 4th, 2018

Ruination by Amy Crook, a muted watercolor painting of smoking ruins against a pale sky full of carrion birds

Ruination, 12″x6″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper

Delicate smoke rises up from these ruins, buildings ranging from whole to merely rubble but all showing evidence of some cataclysm.

Each structure has its own unique character, from the delicately cracked tower to the leaning high-rise with its side shattered by whatever disaster came to call.

Painted with a limited palette of just three colors, the subtle mix of blue, rust, and grey make a gorgeous, atmospheric homage to ruination.

Ruination, detail, by Amy Crook

Ruination, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the tiny details of windows and doors, smoke and rubble and ruins. Below, the painting is floating in its temporary frame, waiting for its final resting place.

Ruination, framed art by Amy Crook

Ruination, 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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Invisible Sun

Monday, August 6th, 2018

Invisible Sun by Amy Crook, a futuristic city skyline in ruins

Invisible Sun, 6″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper

Through the haze of smoke and destruction, a sun faintly glows with the softest sheen of gold. Below, fantastic buildings are shattered, battered, burnt, and broken.

Another set of painted ruins joins the series of apocalyptic visions. This one is small, the size of a postcard. The sky is the color of sunset on a day full of pollution in the city, smog that dulls vision and steals the color and life from the landscape.

The title is, of course, from a song by The Police.

Invisible Sun, detail, by Amy Crook

Invisible Sun, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the smoking city up close, its futuristic shapes shattered and ruined. Below, the piece is in its frame, small in size but powerful in scope.

Invisible Sun, framed art by Amy Crook

Invisible Sun, 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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Shining Apocalypse

Monday, February 5th, 2018

Shining Apocalypse, watercolor ruins by Amy Crook

Shining Apocalypse, 8″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper

Mood: The end of the world, but sparkly.

This painting is full of warm colors and sparkling mineral paints, despite the ghostly city half-destroyed against a burning sky. Carrion birds dot the sky above, circling for their dinner. The buildings have a loose, alien quality to make you wonder just where this city was, and who once lived among its now-abandoned streets.

Shining Apocalypse, detail, by Amy Crook

Shining Apocalypse, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the secret sparkle hiding in the simple palette. Below, you can see the painting framed and ready to let your imagination roam the landscape.

Shining Apocalypse, framed art by Amy Crook

Shining Apocalypse, 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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