sold « Antemortem Arts | Fine Art & Custom Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘sold’

J is for John

Monday, March 7th, 2011

J is for John by Amy Crook

My second Sherlock Holmes/Edward Gorey pastiche, this one is based off of “J is for James who took lye by mistake” from The Gashlycrumb Tinies and BBC’s new Sherlock tv series.

Click the image if you’d like to really see the ridiculously obsessive line work — the wallpaper was particularly labor-intensive, and I have no one but myself to blame. I’ve been in a mood lately to do work like this, that involves a lot of tiny pen-and-ink details, and unlike similar attempts when I was younger, I find it rather meditative now. I often put on audio recordings and just sit and let the two things filter into my brain, though there are frequent breaks to IM friends and goof off online, not to mention stretching my back and resting my poor hand.

Now that I’ve got the techniques down, I have to figure out what I can do with them that isn’t a parody, pastiche or plain old copy, though.

J is for John who took lye by mistake, 8.5″x5″ pen and ink on sketchbook paper, sold.

You can still get the pair of them as handmade blank greeting cards on Etsy, though!

Tags: baker street tinies, crosshatching, edward gorey, nfs, pastiche, pen and ink, sherlock, sold, watson
Posted in Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of | 3 Comments »

S is for Sherlock

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

S is for Sherlock by Amy Crook

Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies is my absolute favourite of works — I get to die first, after all — and so when I was experimenting with my Micron pens the urge to parody BBC’s new Sherlock by mashing up the two was irresistible.

Click the image if you’d like to really see the ridiculously obsessive line work, or just enjoy the smaller version where it all blends into a texture.

I decided to combine the pose from “S is for Susan who perished of fits” and the caption and setting from “N is for Neville who died of ennui” in order to capture the essence of modern Sherlock in his state of utter boredom. The window isn’t precisely true to the show (there’s an ornate railing of some kind outside, and curtains), but I really liked the boring brickwork from the N page, so I copied that faithfully and tediously.

I never really thought I’d learn to like shading in such a time-consuming style, but I’m already thinking about other ways I can make use of it. I’ve already got plans to do a companion piece to this for poor John, since Gorey set me up so very well with “J is for James who took lye by mistake.”

S is for Sherlock who died of ennui, 8.5″x6.5″ pen and ink on sketchbook paper, sold.

You can still get the pair of them as handmade blank greeting cards on Etsy, though!

Tags: baker street tinies, crosshatching, edward gorey, nfs, pastiche, pen and ink, sherlock, sold
Posted in Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange | 3 Comments »

Watercolor Ornaments

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

2 Watercolor Ornaments by Amy Crook

A few years back I painted a bunch of one-of-a-kind cards for a friend, and these were two of my favorites. The metallic paint I used for the designs didn’t scan too well, but it does give you the sense of glittery reflectiveness with all the false colors scattered in among the gold and silver. I was trying not to spend more than 15 minutes or so on each card, though I’m pretty sure I cheated on the red ornament’s intricate gold designs.

Happy Holidays!

Tags: all rights reserved, christmas, commission, nfs, sold, watercolor
Posted in Completed Commissions, Daily Art | No Comments »

Sea Turtle

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Sea Turtle by Amy Crook

After I painted a sea turtle for my contest winner, I decided I wanted to do another one just for the heck of it. This little painting depicts a green sea turtle swimming in shallow ocean waters, frolicking through the sunbeams streaming in from above. He’s a perfect size to fit in a little niche on a bookshelf, desk, or side table.

Sea Turtle, 2.75″ x 2.75″ oil on canvas, sold. This painting comes with a little 5″ wooden easel for display.

Sea Turtle, step 1, by Amy Crook

First, I laid down the background, fading from the sunlit top of the water to a clear blue near the bottom, including the edges of the tiny canvas. Then I added in the turtle himself, or at least his shape, which had to dry before I could put in his details and create the charming fellow you see above.

Sea Turtle, step 2, by Amy Crook

You can see how the finished product looks on a shelf with some other tiny paintings (and a little friend) here:

4 tiny underwater scenes by Amy Crook

Tags: nfs, oil painting, sea sale, sold, tiny painting, turtle
Posted in Daily Art, Sea Creatures, Shop - Sea Creatures and Other Animals | 2 Comments »

Catty

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Catty by Amy Crook

This piece was once described as looking like she was wearing a black rubber catsuit, though as the bronze has aged the patina’s gotten some flecks of blue-green verdigris on it that adds an unusual texture. She’s another of my little bronze people series, so the figure is about the size of a child’s doll. I always liked the way the lines of her body combined the lush, heart-shaped derriere with long, slender limbs and a smooth, featureless face to be both sensual and faintly creepy.

The person who bought it was kind enough to send me a better photo than the ones I had, since I wanted to post the whole series and not just the ones I had left.

Catty, approx. 12″ long cast bronze, sold.

Tags: bronze, sex people, sold
Posted in Daily Art, Nudes and Other Sexy Things, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books | 2 Comments »

Pigeonholed

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

Pigeonholed by Amy Crook

I painted this around the same time as some of my other abstract and semi-abstract pieces, and you can see some technical similarity with Precious and Untitled Experiment 1. The jewel-tone colors sneak through the black texture, and contrast with the frame around the sad, pigeonholed head. It’s hard to capture the subtle colors in a photograph, but the piece has a lot of depth in real life.

I actually sold this painting years ago to a friend who was moving at the time, and although it’s long paid for, he never did manage to pick it up and take it home, so I hold it in trust for him. Hey, Josh, come get your art!

Pigeonholed, 16″x20″ oil on canvas, sold.

Tags: nfs, skull, sold, zombie
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things | No Comments »

Stick Figure Shivanaut Volant

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Shiva Nata Volant, detail, by Amy Crook

This rich red Moleskine Volant notebook has been hand-decorated with gold to show our Shivanaut going through all eight hand positions. The stick figure dancer’s mind is a swirl of new ideas and epiphanies!

Wondering what Shiva Nata, or Dance of Shiva, is? You can find out all about it at shivanata.com.

Moleskine’s colorful notebooks are ideal for customization, turning the high-quality book into a work of art in which to wrap your ideas. The acid-free ruled paper is a creamy ivory color, and a delight to write on. The large size Volants have 96 pages between their soft vinyl covers. The design is in oil-based gold Sharpie, and should last as long as the notebook it’s drawn on.

Stick Figure Shivanaut, 5″x8.25″ customized Moleskine Volant notebook, sold.