Ever Outward
Posted on July 8th, 2011
Ever Outward, tiny oil painting by Amy Crook, $129
This is a companion piece to another little oil painting, In and In and In. After the “light at the end of the tunnel” feeling of the first painting, I wanted something that instead felt like emerging from the heart of a mystery. Most of the paint on this is iridescent, the purple and even the black in the middle, though the paint around the outside is an opaque blue-white that frames and grounds the piece.
Ever Outward, 2.75″x2.75″ oil paint on canvas with 5″ wooden easel, $129 with free shipping.
Here you can see the piece on its easel, with the shimmering paint highlighted despite the back lighting that darkens up the white frame.
Ever Outward, with easel, by Amy Crook, $129
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: easel, for sale, oil painting, tiny painting
Goth Vines
Posted on July 7th, 2011
Goth Vines by Amy Crook, $222
Inspired by the same sort of Tim-Burton-esque design as Saturday’s Deplorable Figurine, this piece combines the fractal salt images with pen-and-ink drawing that was later softened with a wet brush.
Despite the fact that I no longer dress up much, my Goth tastes still permeate a lot of my life, from the Living Dead Doll in her coffin atop my bookshelf to the plethora of Nightmare Before Christmas collectibles around the house. I’ve always enjoyed things that make me say, “That’s so weird!” That sensibility shows up in my work sometimes, like today’s piece, not to mention all the zombies, vampires and other such cartoons.
Goth Vines, 5″x5″ ink and salt on watercolor paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
The now-blue spirals started out as black fountain pen ink, but the water drew out the brown-gold portion of the ink, making golden haloes around the blue-grey centers. The effect gives them an odd glow where they attach to the end of the vines, though actually the vines were drawn in later.
Goth Vines, progress, by Amy Crook
I really think this detail shot I got is gorgeous, especially at extreme closeup – click on it (or nearly any image in my posts) to see it bigger!
Goth Vines, detail, by Amy Crook
I like the way the vines seem to grow out of the narrow black frame I found for them.
Goth Vines, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black, for sale, goth, pen and ink, salt
1 Comment »
Zombie Coloring
Posted on July 6th, 2011
Zombie Coloring by Amy Crook
This is thus far the only piece of art I’ve actually finished for my Zombie Family Coloring Book project. Somehow, I just don’t have it in me to draw that many zombies in a row. Who knew?
Still, I’m very pleased with this girl, from her Watchmen t-shirt and bloody, matching socks to her very special crayon holder. Perhaps if I give myself a whole year, I’ll manage a book’s worth of zombies by next Mother’s/Father’s day. Heh.
Zombie Coloring, 7″x5″ pen and ink and Copic markers on paper, not for sale.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: coloring, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink, zombie
Snowflakes
Posted on July 5th, 2011
Snowflakes by Amy Crook, $222
After seeing the lovely crystal formations in Aglow, I decided to test out what I could get with blue ink and the same paper. The effect was extremely simple but quite lovely, so I decided to keep it as is rather than muddle it up with anything else.
Snowflakes, 5″x5″ pen and ink and salt on watercolor paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
Here’s a shot of one of the snowflakes up close.
Snowflakes, detail, by Amy Crook
It’s enhanced well by a very simple black frame.
Snowflakes, framed art by Amy Crook
I’ve put a detailed set of shot of the progress behind the cut, so you can see how the snowflakes grew.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: blue, for sale, pen and ink, salt
1 Comment »
Oil Slick
Posted on July 4th, 2011
Oil Slick by Amy Crook, $199
I’m constantly frustrated by how hard these pieces are to photograph. The few people who have seen them in person agree with me that there’s really no way to capture the texture, the play of light and color, and the overall feel of the sparkling salt. In this case, the salt sucked up the paint and the dark green ink spirals to acquire a dark iridescence like an oil slick or a bird’s wing.
Oil Slick, 5.5″x4.25″ mixed media on embossed card, $199 with free shipping. I’m still on the lookout for frames for these pieces, but they could be mounted in a larger frame quite easily with a simple matte.
You can see below how the salt crystals formed with layers of color, making intriguing tiny patterns within the patterns.
Oil Slick, detail 1, by Amy Crook
And here’s a hint of the way the colors shift and change when you move the piece in the light:
Oil Slick, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Deplorable Figurine
Posted on July 2nd, 2011
Deplorable Figurine by Amy Crook
This morbid little doll started as a midnight sketch, just a few loose lines and the name scrawled on the page. It took me a few weeks to get back and fill in her tiny hands, stitched-together body, and the extra-creepy details on her face. Though I never went quite this far, I totally used to draw elaborate eyeliner designs on myself when I was an earnest young Goth. Ah, the olden days, when I gave a crap enough to wear makeup.
Deplorable Figurine, 5.5″x8.5″ pencil on sketch paper, not for sale.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: goth, nfs, pencil, sketch, swirls
1 Comment »
Haloed
Posted on July 1st, 2011
Haloed by Amy Crook
For this piece I used salt in a more traditional method to get the haloed starbursts in the blue-black sky. I overworked the section with the moon a little too much, so the paper tore in places, but I do like the overall effect and might try to reproduce it later with a bit more care.
Haloed, 9″x5″ mixed media on paper, nfs.
Haloed, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: moon, nfs, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
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