Blog « Antemortem Arts | Art & Writing by Amy Crook

Gifts of the Fairy Queen

Posted on January 9th, 2022

Consulting Magic has a new installment!

After the events of The Guardianship of Julian St. Albans, Alex and Julian take a few weeks to rest and recover before diving into the new challenges ahead.

This is a warm, domestic novella in the same vein as Rosemary for the Holidays, where we check in with our beloved characters but do not, for once, have a murder to solve. However, the Queens have seen fit to give gifts to our boys, and like all gifts from such personages, there are strings attached.

Read it on Kindle today!

Categories: Series and Books
Tags: book, consulting magic, fiction

It’s finally 2022!

Posted on January 1st, 2022

Self Portrait for 2022 by Amy Crook

May your 2022 be measurably better in some way!

It’s been a crazy year, and the last quarter especially sapped my will to create, but, as the very end of the year came around I’ve finally gotten some stuff done. A lot of it was on a personal project that’s currently secret, but I do have a backlog of sketch cards to show you. Plus, there will be our traditional State of the Kitties post in a few days, and then a Floating Gallery sometime very soon.

How soon? Who even knows, time is meaningless.

Categories: People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
Tags: copic marker, formaldehyde, pen and ink, pod, self portrait, watercolor

Concentric 12

Posted on August 4th, 2021

abstract art by Amy Crook in yellow, orange, and metallic turquoise

Concentric 12, 8″x8″ watercolor on paper

Looking into the white-yellow-orange glare of this highly saturated painting, I was compelled to add some lens flare in an oceanic blue iridescent paint. It’s less chaotic than the usual bursts of Concentric color, but has the same feeling of circles around circles that gives the series its name.

I used a smoother watercolor paper on this one so that all the texture is from the paint itself, brush strokes adding depth to the white-hot glow of the center.

Concentric 12, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the brush-stroke face to the white-hot center, and the sparkle of concentric dots forming an offset lens flare shape. Below, the painting is framed and waiting to be shipped off to its new owner.

Concentric 12, framed art by Amy Crook

It’s new! It’s orange.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
Tags: concentric, duochrome, nfs, orange, sold, watercolor

May 2021 Patreon Sketch Cards

Posted on July 28th, 2021

Another day, another bunch of Patreon sketch cards! I got some nifty black mixed media ones in, and tried that out with my shiny paints for the cocktails on the bottom left. I try to have fun with my sketches whenever I can, y’know?

From the top left:

Amber’s April showers/May flowers
a summer bat for The Other Amy
Nott the Brave for Eric
Wally the Nonbinary Welsh Walrus for Booskerdu
Cocktails for Jefferson
Kim’s new job ft. books
and 40s music for Roxanne B, with my personal favorite song from the era, “Swingin’ on a Star.”

Carry some moonbeams off in a jar, darlings!

Categories: Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: bat, black paper, book, copic marker, duochrome, ink wash, iridescent watercolor, pen and ink, walrus, watercolor, yupo

The Sight of the Stars

Posted on July 22nd, 2021

abstract art in the Aglow series by Amy Crook

The Sight of the Stars, 8″x10″ mixed media on metallic paper

Metallic photo paper makes a fascinating substrate, you can’t ever lift color once it’s put down. Instead, all the texture here is physical, soft body acrylic that rises above the paper in bumps and ridges formed by the brush strokes. On top of that a scattering of iridescent watercolor stars adds to the shine that already comes through the semi-translucent paint.

“The sight of the stars makes me dream.”
-Vincent Van Gogh

Sometimes I start an Aglow painting with words in mind, and sometimes I create the image and find words that go with it. I think this was the latter, but time is meaningless here in 2021 so who knows.

The Sight of the Stars, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a close-up of the textured paint and shiny paper catching the golden light overhead. Below, the painting is in a frame, waiting to be shipped off to its new home!

The Sight of the Stars, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Pretty Words, Series and Books
Tags: acrylic, aglow, blue, inkjet print, metallic paper, more cowbell, nfs, purple, soft body acrylic, sold, van gogh

Resonate

Posted on July 20th, 2021

Resonate, 6″x4″ watercolor and tea on paper

This piece sprang from a long-lost art challenge: I took the 2 teabags out of my giant mug of tea and put them on the page to create random shapes. I left them out for a few hours, then tossed the tea and let the paper dry thoroughly, by which I mean didn’t work on it again for a couple of months.

This abstract has a feeling that makes me think of the drip of tea back into the cup, of the shape made by a splash of milk, of the way sounds or ideas reverberate in your head.

What resonates with you?

Resonate, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the mix of bronzite and gold and the subtle ways they sparkle against the soft, tea-stained paper. Below, this small painting sits in a frame, ready to help you resonate.

Resonate, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Pretty Words
Tags: brown, for sale, gold, metallic, tea, watercolor

Waning

Posted on July 19th, 2021

Waning, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper

This misprint had an alignment issue that made it all sky and no earth. I couldn’t resist painting in the very end of twilight in rich blue and fading violet. The moon is a special iridescent paint that looks white at some angles and lavender at others. The tree has some intriguing physical texture, painting over with soft-body acrylic paint, and its details were extended into a network of lacy growth.

There’s a few little birds in the sky as well, hidden mostly behind the mist of tiny dots that might be fireflies or snowflakes or even a light rain reflecting moonlight at the viewer.

Every part of this artwork got a touch of new life, from the waning gibbous moon to the color-washed streaks in the sky.

Waning, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the way the paint shines, the moon going purple and the tree’s texture picking up the golden sunlight. Below, this piece is in a frame and happily showing itself off for you.