April 2022 Patreon sketches
Posted on March 23rd, 2023
Guess who’s been doing sketches on Patreon for months and not posting them to the blog? It’s me! I’ll be getting the last many months of them out on the blog over the next few weeks, so please enjoy the ridiculousness.

April 2022 ACEO sketches by Amy Crook
- This one wasn’t a prompt, I just wanted to draw trees and birbs on this orange sunset
- Jeff asked for ‘distracted’
- Another non-prompt experiment with salt and watercolor on yupo that got some marker topography
- And ‘rose candy’ for Eric
These have all found a new home, but some of the later ones are still available for the discerning collector. You can also make an account and follow me on Patreon for free, where these are always posted publicly, or Instagram or Twitter, where I post some things as the mood strikes me.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Pretty Words, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: copic marker, patreon, pen and ink, trees, watercolor, yupo
Random Recipe: Minted Lemonade
Posted on August 18th, 2022
A recipe made of 4 ingredients, and to your own taste!
You will need:
- a pitcher
- boiling water
- fresh mint
- fresh lemons
- sugar
Make mint tea! Pour boiling water over washed fresh mint and steep for 5-7 minutes. Longer goes stronger, but much over 7 minutes and you’re adding flavors you probably don’t want.
Filter out the mint and then pour the tea into your pitcher.
Add the sugar to taste, keeping in mind that you’ll be adding a lot of lemon juice later. You want very sweet, minty tea. Cool it down.
Add lemon juice to taste and drink up!
For reference, I added 1/4 cup of sugar to 4 cups of tea, and the juice of 3 lemons. It could maybe have used a fourth for real tartness. I used a bundle of mint from our farmshare, and everything else was just guesswork and experimentation.
It’s pretty tasty, though.
PS – Please enjoy my new hobby, 8-bit pixel art!
Categories: Whimsical and Strange, Words Words Words
Tags: 8-bit art, digital art, recipe
Phosphorescence
Posted on June 14th, 2022

Phosphorescence, 12″x24″ mixed media on paper
In the same vein as Time is Escaping, this larger-scale painting uses shimmering, textured paint to create a feeling of water and movement.
The spiral structure suggests a deep whirlpool or concentric waves, with something brightly phosphorescent bursting out, escaping with its darker-hued cousins. Despite the feeling of depth, the paint in the center is thickly layered in textural swashes, though some peeks of the first layer, an iridescent fluorite green wash, still show through.
The palette of black, purple, blue, and green is reminiscent of a peacock feather, as is the sheen of sparkle that covers the entire painting.

Phosphorescence, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see sunlight picking up the flecks of tourmaline in the black, and the varying shades of purple floating atop the central vortex. Below, the same purples drift down into the shimmering metallic greens at the bottom of the painting.

Phosphorescence, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
Tags: interference, iridescent, nfs, primatek, soft body acrylic, sold, vortices, watercolor
The Reaching Tree
Posted on June 8th, 2022

The Reaching Tree, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper
It’s a tree of a different color! Deep violet-black and slightly glittery, this amethyst paint uses real minerals to create gorgeous textures. The moon has a little extra shine of its own, as it should, but the painting is otherwise entirely monochrome.
The tree reaches into the sky, always seeking something in the way of trees. Below it, the figure has more hands than seems strictly warranted, reaching just as the tree is, though possibly not for the same thing.
Just in case, perhaps stay out of arms’ reach. If you can figure out how long that is, anyway.

The Reaching Tree, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the way the figure’s ghostly arms reach and reach. Is one of them reaching for you? Well, you can keep it safely behind glass in a frame, should you wish to.

The Reaching Tree, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: amethyst, crow, for sale, ghost, primatek, tree, watercolor
Storm Crow
Posted on June 4th, 2022

Storm Crow, 8″x8″ watercolor on paper
A blooming tree takes up most of the paper, black branches holding up blue-green puffs of foliage and deep fuchsia blossoms.
Despite that, the crow with rain falling from beneath its wings is the first thing to draw the eye, caught in fluid motion as it brings a storm with it. A glowing full moon ducks behind the tree, but it can’t hide from the clouds forever.
Despite the darkness of the color palette, this painting has a lovely whimsy to it that belongs in someone’s home, adding some dark delight to their decor.

Storm Crow, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the crowd raining droplets down from its wings onto the swirling tree. Below, this larger painting fills its frame beautifully.

Storm Crow, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: crow, for sale, moon, more cowbell, watercolor
