Posts Tagged ‘starcycles’
Harvest Moon
Saturday, December 18th, 2010
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.
Categories: Daily Art
Tags: harvest moon, moon, oil painting, starcycles
2 Comments »
2011 Starcycles Calendar Cover
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
2011 Starcycles Calendar, cover by Amy Crook
Way back in 1999, Georgia Stathis first approached me to take over the design on her then-print astrology dayplanner-style calendar. We’ve skipped a few years here and there, but this year I painted several images in watercolor and then put them together with Photoshop to create this dreamy image for Year of the Rabbit. Georgia’s 2011 Calendar is available as a pdf download, or she’ll print and bind them for an additional charge. You could even print your own and have it hole-punched to fit in a Dayplanner, if you wanted.
I’m just starting to get a feel for using watercolors, so this was a great excuse for me to get them out and experiment, knowing I could fix any issues in Photoshop later. My favorite part is the subtle “rabbit in the moon” version of the moon’s shadows popular in Chinese mythology.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: nfs, rabbit, starcycles, watercolor
Sunset
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
Sunset by Amy Crook
Over a decade of doing the Starcycles Calendar off and on, I’ve gotten to create a variety of gorgeous art. In 2003, we tried out a wall calendar format, and I created this simple drawing using pastels on rich midnight blue paper. The drawing is very loose and I’ve always liked the way everything in the sky is reflected in the vast ocean below.
Sunset, 22.5″x19″ pastel on colored pastel paper
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: for sale, pastel, starcycles
Ophiuchus
Monday, June 21st, 2010
Ophiuchus by Amy Crook
The second Starcycles Calendar I ever laid out was in 2001, and when Georgia asked for Ophiuchus on the cover, I decided to dive in with an oil painting. The image wrapped around the book, so the snake’s tail and field of stars were the back cover, while the figure was the main focus on the front.
Ophiuchus, 9″x12″ oil on canvas, sold.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
Tags: constellation, greek myth, nfs, oil painting, snake, starcycles
2 Comments »
Year of the Water Horse
Friday, November 13th, 2009
Year of the Water Horse by Amy Crook
One of the design projects I do every year is the Starcycles Calendar, a dayplanner-style appointment book with an astrological bent by Georgia Stathis. For me, the covers are always my favorite part, and something I look forward to every year. 2002 was year of the Water Horse in Chinese astrology, and at the time Georgia had a guest writer who contributed an essay to the book. We were still doing them in print with these three-panel coves that wrapped around, and so when I found this giant 18″x36″ canvas, I just knew I had to use it for that project.
When we were discussing ideas for the cover, I kept thinking of the various stories and legends of horses or unicorns born out of the foam of the ocean, and being the good sport she is, Georgia let me run with it. I first painted the sunny beach in blues and sandy browns with its white, foam-capped surf coming in, and then added the mysterious watery horses with soft pastels on top of the canvas, once it was dry.
Year of the Water Horse, 18″x36″, oil and pastel on canvas.
Above is a study I did of just the horses, and below you can see a photo of the painting before I put the horses in.
Categories: Floating Gallery
Tags: beach, horse, nfs, oil painting, sold, starcycles
