sold « Antemortem Arts | Fine Art & Custom Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘sold’

Tentacle Deeps 28

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 28 by Amy Crook

You can’t have these tentacles, they’re sold! A friend of mine came over to hang out, asked if he could peek in the Big Drawer of Art, and went home with this piece (he left a check behind, yay!).

This paper is interesting, it’s not really meant for watercolors, I don’t think. It’s very absorbent, almost too much so, and it buckles quite a bit when it’s wet. On the other hand, the interesting particulates in the paper shine through the watercolor, giving an impression of distant lights, whether stars or some underwater bioluminescence isn’t clear. I liked the effect so much I started another one in a different shade of blue.

It’s also bigger than my usual tentacles. I’ve been trying to vary my paper sizes more lately (though 5″x7″ is still the dominant size), so I tore this paper down to two 8″x10″ pieces. I guess sometimes size does matter.

Tentacle Deeps 28, 8″x10″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).

Tentacle Deeps 28, detail, by Amy Crook

Nifty shot of tentacles is nifty. Here, have a wallpaper. Below, you can see the tentacles in my frame with my iPhone, though my friend took the original home all naked to put in a frame he already had. Big tentacles are big!

Tentacle Deeps 28, framed art by Amy Crook

Tags: nfs, sold, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles | No Comments »

Spiral Bookmark 1

Saturday, February 18th, 2012

Spiral Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook

And so we wave a cheerful goodbye to Bookmark Week with this last installment.

I was experimenting with these pigment-dense watercolor sticks I picked up, using the teal and orange pair to create a very bright contrast indeed. I wasn’t quite happy with it as is, though, so I added in the silver spirals on top with this awesome silver brush pen I got in Japantown, which gives a nice bit of shine to the piece.

Spiral Bookmark 1, 1.5″x7″ watercolor and brush pen on paper, nfs, sold.

Spiral Bookmark 1, detail, by Amy Crook

Above you can see the various textures from the drawn lines to the washes created by running a wet brush over the watercolor stick, to the shining silver paint floating atop it all. Below, the bookmark sits happily with a book, just waiting to fulfill its intended purpose.

Spiral Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook

Tags: bookmark, brush pen, nfs, orange, silver, sold, teal, watercolor, watercolor stick
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art | No Comments »

Jellyfish Bookmark 1

Friday, February 17th, 2012

Jellyfish Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook

The second-to-last day of Bookmark Week is upon us! I’ve already got a few ideas for next time, too, so I hope you’re enjoying the shift from small to super-small art this week.

This one I actually just doodled idly while I was on the phone, thinking of my larger piece Jellyfish Deeps as I worked. I thought about going back in to try to add a little color, but I liked the slight reddish cast the mat board gave to the white gel pen. I’m sure I’ll do another of these sometime, though, the jellyfish are just too entertaining.

Jellyfish Bookmark 1, 0.875″x5.875″ white gel pen on black mat board, nfs, sold.

Jellyfish Bookmark 1, detail, by Amy Crook

Above you can see how the black mat board bled red into white of the ink, though it’s made much more pink by my camera here. The mat board is quite thick, but it would still slip easily into a book as long as you don’t shove it all the way to the spine. Below, I have the jellyfish hanging out with a hardcover, for size comparison.

Jellyfish Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook

Tags: bookmark, crosshatching, gel pen, jellyfish, nfs, pen and ink, sold, tentacles
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Sea Creatures, Tentacles | No Comments »

Meadow Bookmark

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Meadow Bookmark by Amy Crook

The only horizontal bookmark from this week uses opaque Japanese watercolors on recycled paper. By recycled I mean my printer had a spaz printing some cards and I’ve painted over the old image, though a tiny bit of it seeps through at the right angles. Instead of throwing away these mistakes, I save the paper for other experiments, since the blank cards I use are thick and have a lovely texture for drawing or painting.

Every once in a while, after drawing all the tentacles and monsters a girl could desire, I just feel like painting an abstract field of wildflowers. I can almost imagine the bees buzzing lazily as they collect all the different pollen to make tasty honey just for me.

Meadow Bookmark, 6.75″x2″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).

Meadow Bookmark, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, this photo reveals all the textures in this little bookmark, from the paper to the little bumps made by the flowers as the beaded droplets of paint dried. Below is the obligatory photo of the bookmark with a book, for scale.

Meadow Bookmark, with book, by Amy Crook

On my monitor this last picture is the best one to show the colors off, but really, your monitor and mileage may vary. Just one of the frustrations in showing art online, I suppose.

Tags: bookmark, nfs, sold, watercolor
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes | No Comments »

Tentacle Bookmark 1

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Tentacle Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook

I couldn’t neglect Tentacle Tuesday for Valentine’s Day, now could I? After all, it is a nice lovely red.

After I finished this one, I texted a photo to a friend who immediately replied, “Are you giving me the tentacle?”

I drew this in pen and ink on a thick, textured watercolor paper that’s a nice warm white base for the tentacle and its background.

Tentacle Bookmark 1, 1″x7.625″ pen and ink on paper, nfs (sold).

Tentacle Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook

Above you can see this bookmark’s quite a bit longer than yesterday’s, but will still nestle nicely in a hardcover book. May I suggest a volume of Lovecraft?

Tentacle Bookmark, detail, by Amy Crook

The usual obligatory tentacle shot, which is tamer than it sounds. Don’t forget to visit all the bookmarks from this week.

Tags: bookmark, nfs, orange, pen and ink, red, sold, tentacles
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles | No Comments »

Salt Bookmark 2

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Salt Bookmark 2
by Amy Crook

It’s bookmark week! Lately when I tear giant sheets of art paper down to the sizes I like to work in, I’ve been saving the blank scraps, and this week I have enough finished bookmarks to make a week of it. I tried to do at least one in each of the styles I’ve been using, so there’s quite a variety, and they’re all for sale and a bookmark-friendly price. I’m not going to put them in the main art shop, but you can always go look at the collection (plus my older couple of contributions) by going to the bookmark tag. I’ve priced these nice and low so that you can get your hands on an Amy Crook original without breaking the bank, and have a bit of art to carry with you, keeping your place safe and beautiful.

Each one of these is an original, one-of-a-kind work of art, and I decided to start the week off with a salt painting. Barely-green salt and two colors of green glitter gel pen give this piece a shimmer that’s really appealing. The salt crystals are small enough not to get crunched off or damage your book, though they might wear over time, the way these things do.

Salt Bookmark 2, 1″x5″ ink-dyed salt and glitter gel pen on black paper, nfs, sold.

Salt Bookmark 2, detail, by Amy Crook

Above you can see the contrast between the pen that’s mostly glitter, and the pen that’s a fine metallic ink, both in color and density. The salt and its halo both glimmer in the sunlight. Below, you can see its size compared to a standard hardcover book.

Salt Bookmark 2, with book, by Amy Crook

Tags: black paper, bookmark, crosshatching, gel pen, nfs, pen and ink, salt, sold
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art | No Comments »

Blue Moon

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Blue Moon by Amy Crook

I chose soft blue pen and ink to pair with a rich, deep blue background, and then added salt in two different ways for texture. The brightest stars are the now-familiar salt pools, and there’s a scattering of dimmer ones formed by salt sprinkled onto the damp watercolor paint and brushed off once it dried. It was still too stark for me, so I went and found my tiny dot-card sample of interference blue and added haloes of half-there light around each salt pool and the moon, too, which you can barely see in the above scan, and better down in the detail shots below.

Blue Moon, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, nfs.

Blue Moon, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Above you can see three of the salt pools up close and personal, light glinting off their facets and a faint shadow of the interference blue. Below, the shimmer’s caught the light and you can see the brushed haloes around each large object, as well as the little starbursts of texture in the background of the deep blue sky.

Blue Moon, detail 2, by Amy Crook

And of course I took a photo of it framed, once I had it all ready for the show. In the sunlight, the background looks less black, though it’s still velvety-matte against the shimmering, sparkling stars and moon.