W is for Watercolor
Posted on January 24th, 2013
W is for Watercolor, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook
The end of the alphabet draws ever nearer. Today’s W is perfect for a Wendy or William, with watery watercolor and sparkly silver in curvy waves. I tried to let the watercolor paint do its own beautiful thing here, letting the shapes and edges form as they would around this swooping, sparkling letter.
W is for Watercolor, 5″x5″ watercolor and glitter gel pen on paper.
W is for Watercolor, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see the light glinting off the silver water-patterned glitter, and the delicate textures of grainy watercolor that separated beautifully as it dried. Below, you can see the W hanging out with the A and Y to make WAY. In or out, that’s for you to decide!
W is for Watercolor, A is for Arabesque and Y is for Yarn,
framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: alphabet, blue, calligraphy, for sale, glitter gel pen, illumination, silver, watercolor
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Copper Octopus
Posted on January 22nd, 2013
Copper Octopus watercolor by Amy Crook
Somehow all of my painted octopi end up looking a bit worried, as though they’re not quite sure how they ended up here in this painting and they’re definitely concerned that there will soon be a kraken. This little guy is painted almost entirely in shining metallic paints, the water in three shades of blue and the octopus himself mainly in a bright coppery duochrome adobe. His shadows and highlights are made of normal watercolor, but his eyes are the same shining blue as the water he’s swimming in.
Just don’t startle him. He might ink.
Copper Octopus, 7″x5″ iridescent, duochrome and normal watercolor on paper.
Copper Octopus, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sunlight shining off of his distinctive copper skin and lovely sapphire-blue eyes. Below, he’s briefly occupying a frame and fretting about all the imaginary dangers of his empty undersea world. Perhaps you can take him home and let him take on a few of your worries as well, while he’s at it?
Copper Octopus, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: blue, copper, duochrome, for sale, iridescent, octopus, tentacles, water, watercolor
Sunrise Crows
Posted on January 21st, 2013
Sunrise Crows by Amy Crook
The colors of this sunrise will seem familiar from Friday’s post, I hope, with gentler clouds and the birds to bring it out of abstraction. There’s still shimmery spirals in blues and golds, but they’re softer, fluffy clouds instead of stormy ones. The three birds are flying along not really in formation but just hanging out, the sunlight shining on and through their feathers, making them almost ghostly in the morning light.
Sunrise Crows, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).
Sunrise Crows, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sunlight glimmering off the iridescent paint, and the tiny feathery details in the middle crow. The golden clouds get hints of rose and orange, while the blue ones go softly aquamarine. Below, you can see the piece hanging out on my writing desk in a frame, waiting to fly off to their new home.
Sunrise Crows, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: blue, crow, duochrome, gold, iridescent, nfs, sold, spirals, sunrise, watercolor
Sketchy Crows
Posted on January 20th, 2013
3 Crows sketch by Amy Crook
Every time I print postage with Paypal, I get a half-sheet of paper left over printed with a totally useless receipt. I save them and use them for various and sundry things, like testing paint color mixes and, apparently, doodling crows with Sharpie marker. I like that the last one looks a bit Seussian.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: nfs, sharpie marker, sketch
Halloweentown Holmes
Posted on January 19th, 2013
Halloweentown Holmes by Amy Crook
I saw someone posting about Sherlock and Mycroft being originally from Halloweentown in the Nightmare Before Christmas universe, with an older, skeletal brother Sherrinford. I couldn’t resist drawing it up with just a bit of my own silly style added in!
Sherlock’s even dead. Well, undead. Well, you know, Halloweentown. I just couldn’t resist the urge to draw them, given how much my cartooning style owes to Jack Skellington. Sherrinford’s even got a bat for his cravat.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: copic marker, mycroft, mycroft holmes, nfs, nightmare before christmas, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, sold
Spiral Sunrise
Posted on January 18th, 2013
Spiral Sunrise by Amy Crook
This is one of those hard-to-capture pieces, made of cool sky blues and warm sunny golds that mix and mingle in a way that, weirdly, doesn’t actually make much green. Despite the fact that I’m never awake to see them, I wanted to capture a little bit of that feeling of sunrise, when the golden-warm light seeps upward and honey-dips the cool, night-blue clouds. There’s swirls of orangey-gold Duochrome Adobe, shimmery-cold Iridescent Moonstone, and three different metallic blues, all sharing the space with a warm yellow and sky blue background.
Spiral Sunrise, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper.
Spiral Sunrise, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the coppery Adobe, shimmery blue and night-tinted Moonstone catching the sunlight. Below, the pieces is tucked into a frame, hanging out with my iPhone.
Spiral Sunrise, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: blue, duochrome, for sale, gold, iridescent, spirals, sunrise, watercolor
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V is for Value
Posted on January 17th, 2013
V is for Value, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook
Value is a term for how dark something is, the range from black to white, so I explored that in two ways with this piece. First the V itself is a simple triangle shaded with a brush and pre-mixed black sumi-e ink. Then the background is shaded more like an old-fashioned etching, using the red glitter gel pen and my own wobbly handmade lines to create a fade in the opposite direction.
I have to admit, there’s something very ’80s music video about the result, like the logo for some new wave band. Perhaps there’s a Victor or Virginia in your life that are big fans of Duran Duran and need this in their life.
V is for Value, 5″x5″ sumi-e ink and glitter gel pen on paper.
V is for Value, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a bit of the glittery red gel pen making the pen-shaded light-to-dark value in the background, and just the little tip of the V where the ink was determined to mostly stay at a middle tone. Below, you can see the V hanging out with the O and a little preview of X to spell “vox.”
V, O and X, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: alphabet, calligraphy, for sale, glitter gel pen, illumination, red, sumi-e ink
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