Growth 14
Posted on July 14th, 2021
Growth 14, 5″x7″ pen & ink and watercolor on paper
The sheen of rainbow colors in this Growth painting is extremely subtle and hard to see. The paper is phenomenally textured, thick and bumpy and imperfect in the best of ways. It was wonderful for making a wobbly, squashed, off-kilter circle to spin out into the tiny circles of growth, and to support the light brush of color in the middle.
The mixture of delicate pen strokes and thick, rough paper makes this piece unique, though it still follows the themes of outreach, growth, and expansion. In the middle there’s the quiet pride and confidence one needs to be able to put themselves out there, bumps and all.
Growth 14, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can really see the imperfections in the paper and the circle both, the wobbly little circles floating off into bumpy space. You can really see how faint the rainbow is in that photo as well. Below, the painting is in a frame, shining with pride.
Growth 14, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
Tags: duochrome, for sale, gay pride, growth, pen and ink, watercolor
Artifacts of the Resolution
Posted on July 14th, 2021
Artifacts of the Resolution, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper
Making prints work out is always an interesting challenge with a new program and a new printer.
Instead of recycling this low-res misprint, I used my mineral-based watercolors to paint over it. I added the cloudy russet sunset and gave the tree texture, body, and new details. All of the birds stayed at their original resolution, which gives the painting its name.
Look, I can’t be expected to resist a pun that good.
Artifacts of the Resolution, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see up close the motion-blur of the branches next to the clear pixelation on the birds, as though they’re visiting from some other, lower-resolution reality. Below, the painting is resting in a frame, waiting to be sent to someone new.
Artifacts of the Resolution, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: crow, ghost, horizions, inkjet print, mixed media, more cowbell, nfs, primatek, print, sold, tree, watercolor
Concentric 9
Posted on July 12th, 2021
Concentric 9, 5″x5″ watercolor on paper
A fitting start for a gallery full of abstract artwork and reclaimed images, here’s an old painting that gained a lot more cowbell.
This mostly-green painting had some sneaky color-changing shine to it already, so I doubled down on that palette and brought in some blue to go with the gold, green, and surprising pops of red. There’s just one big set of Concentric bursts that fade through the palette, and finally trail off and fade out into nothingness.
This is a painting I wish I could show you in person, since it looks different from every angle and has a lot more to offer than I can capture in photos. A very familiar complaint, sadly!
Concentric 9, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sunlight reflecting off the green-gold and green-red paints, turning everything into new colors and showing off hidden details. Below, the painting is in a frame, ready to bring a bit of peace and beauty into your life.
Concentric 9, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, concentric, duochrome, for sale, green, iridescent, japanese watercolor, more cowbell, watercolor
April 2021 Patreon Sketch Cards
Posted on July 7th, 2021
Having standardized the sketch size to these pre-cut ATC/ACEO cards makes my life so much easier — they come in vellum for drawing, watercolor paper, and some cool new stuff like Yupo synthetic substrate. It gives me a lot of room for play! Which I did with several of these that weren’t for anyone specific, heh.
From the top left:
- Do Good Recklessly, a recent tumblr meme
- Capybaras for Rebecca S
- A wee Concentric doodle to play with some of my new watercolors
- Bats and Mushrooms and Sun and idk man, sometimes you just gotta paint mushrooms I guess.
- Purple dragon for Andria, who wanted to have a golden hoard of their very own, which was pretty easy since they are very wee
- Amy B asked for a kitten and got a blobcat with a Christmas tree tail, which is a feature of kittens of a certain age that I find delightful. It has brought you a mouse toy like the mighty hunter it is, and is all fluffed up about it.
From the top left:
- Amber asked for “seasonal (holiday) allergies” and I may have chosen to tease her husband.
- A is for Amy wants to play with her yupo paper some more.
- Roxanne asked for Falcon & the Winter Solider and apparently this is what my brain wanted.
- Rey asked for “conditionally huggable” and of course I had to draw a hedgehog.
I love my Patreon supporters with all my heart — thanks, you guys! You’re the best.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Completed Commissions, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Illuminated Alphabet, People, Figures and Faces, Pretty Words, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: bat, capybara, cat, concentric, copic marker, dragon, duochorome, hedgehog, iridescent, mcu, pen and ink, primatek, watercolor, word art
Yupo sketch cards
Posted on May 25th, 2021
I got a new substrate to try, Yupo, which is an interesting synthetic that comes in a transluscent thin sheet, a more normal sheet, and a fat cardstock, all very smooth and non-absorbent. Basically the opposite of watercolor paper! I got a package of sketch card sized pads, and did some non-request sketch experiments on them in various media.
5 sketch cards by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Pretty Words, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: aceo, cat, counting crows, crow, duochrome, salt, watercolor, yupo
March 2021 Patreon sketches
Posted on May 18th, 2021
8 sketch cards by Amy Crook
From the top left:
- Rebecca S asked for “tea time” and got this little test of my new paint palette full of interesting mineral colors
- Andria asked for “looking forward to graduation” and got this little hedgie admiring itself in the mirror in its grad cap
- Amber asked for “rage quit” and got this little Posca marker experiment on a tiny card-sized art board (sold)
- Corinne asked for the obscure combination of lolrus meme and Cap & Bucky (aka Bucket), to which I added the Tsum design for, uh, reasons. Cap kindly modeled. (sold)
- Eric asked for a cat Pokemon and got Mew doing “I fits, I floats” with its tail (sold)
- Amy B asked for Big Kitten Energy and got this b&w doofus (sold)
- Jeff asked for “enjoying retirement” and got his Kobold Curry Chef avatar enjoying someone else’s curry for a change (sold)
- a view of my tiny cool new palette, from which the tea was painted, because why not
- And finally, Booskerdu asked for Q’s cats and got these two b&w kitties laying down the law: food before tea.
Thank you to all my lovely patrons, who have been so, so patient and supportive through everything. If you’d like to become one of them and get your own requests interpreted, you can support me on Patreon here!
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: basement cat, cat, copic marker, hedgehog, kobold, pen and ink, pokemon, posca marker, tea, tsum tsum, watercolor
February 2021 Patreon sketches
Posted on May 12th, 2021
4 sketch cards by Amy Crook
From the top left:
- Booskerdu asked for lilac cats, and got this mostly-monochrome blobcat. I even got the child to help paint the sugilite blob that got turned into a cat! I gave it a few tiny enhancements with some amethyst paint for shading, but I don’t feel I cheated too badly on my b&w commitment.
- Kim asked for Cigfran and got this shy fellow painted in full flight.
- Eric asked for Snorlax and got this slightly pop-art colored Posca marker meme.
- Amy B asked for a wintry bat, and got this little dude in his scarf, chillin’ on a snowman’s head. And yeah, I cheated here, too, and added the tiniest bit of orange watercolor, because reasons.
3 sketch cards by Amy Crook
From the top left:
- Corinne wanted something inspired by a story we both like, and I felt like making an obscure meme joke, so if you don’t get this, don’t worry — you don’t have to. Remember, they’re not temporary dogs, they’re werewolves.
- Rebecca S asked for Dragon Tony and gets this ridiculous chibi masterpiece.
- My BFF Jeff asked for “us” so he gets a stolen joke from a Munchkin card, and his icon plus my inner lazy kitty.
I’m not sure how these didn’t get done until April or put on the blog until May, but time has become meaningless in 2021. I’m getting more caught up, however, so expect to see at least two more sketch card posts in the coming weeks!
As always, you can become a patron to request your own sketches and spin the wheel of creativity.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Nudes and Other Sexy Things, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: bat, cat, copic marker, crow, dragon, kobold, mcu, pen and ink, pencil, pokemon, posca marker, primatek, watercolor, wolf
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