Tentacle Deeps 11
Posted on May 10th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 11 by Amy Crook
I tried something a little different with today’s tentacles, and I think the results are really interesting.
The background was a wash of periwinkle gouache with large already-paint-stained salt crystals set int the wet paint and left to dry. The resulting spots seemed to me like excellent starting points for some tentacles, so it looks like they’re each emerging from their own interdimensional portal. I went for a lighter color of tentacles, a deep green instead of the opaque black or blue-black I usually use, giving the whole thing a sense less of depths than heights.
Tentacle Deeps 11, 5″x7″ watercolor and salt on watercolor paper.
Below you can see a close-up of the way the paint and salt reacted to each other, and the way they layered when a tentacle was painted over one of the salt “portals.”
Tentacle Deeps 11, detail, by Amy Crook
And here you can see it in its lovely new frame:
Tentacle Deeps 11, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, periwinkle, salt, tentacle deeps, watercolor
Water Lilies 2
Posted on May 9th, 2011
Water Lilies 2 by Amy Crook
This is currently sitting in a frame on my bookshelf next to Water Lilies 1, and the two of them catch the morning sun beautifully. The salt “flowers” have a soft sparkle to them that really draws the eye to their three-dimensional shapes. I especially like the way the electric blue spirals dissolve into a soft but very clear cyan that tints the salt crystals.
The nerd in me also likes that the lily pads came out with a very Pac-Man
Water Lilies 2, 7″x5″ watercolor and salt on watercolor paper, $199 framed with free shipping.
Water Lilies 1 & Water Lilies 2, framed, by Amy Crook
Water Lilies 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Water Lilies 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, framed, salt, watercolor
The Fool sketch
Posted on May 7th, 2011
The Fool sketch by Amy Crook
Ages ago, a friend of mine was getting his artist friends to draw/paint interpretations of the Fool tarot card. I painted a background on a little 3×5 piece of canvas board, and then forgot all about finishing it for one reason or another. The other day I pulled out the old background and was contemplating adding in a figure properly. When I decided to sketch it out, I was amused to find that what came to mind was the iPod-wearing, oblivious hipster you see above.
Categories: Daily Art
Tags: nfs, pencil, sketch
2 Comments »
Works in Progress – Tea Edition
Posted on May 6th, 2011
Tea Washes, works in progress by Amy Crook
In the spirit of exploration, and because it’s something I drink nearly every day, I decided to make up a very strong little cup of tea and experiment with using it as a wash. I used two different kinds of paper, and only added salt to one of the pieces, over-wetting the other two so they could air dry overnight into interesting patterns. Once I see how I like the effect, perhaps I’ll try a few more.
I’ve also left the tea, which you can see in its little dish on the right, to strengthen overnight so I can do a few more experiments.
Categories: Daily Art, Works In Progress
Tags: salt, tea, wip
Curiosity
Posted on May 5th, 2011
Curiosity by Amy Crook
My scanner can really take the sparkle out of anything, I think. This piece in real life is pure play — bright, cheery cyan with clusters of sparkling salt crystals, and even a single shining confetti star in the center of the “o” in curiosity.
I was experimenting once again with the various materials, salt and water, ink and paint, and by drawing my spirals in the still-wet paint I created these fascinating shapes. Then I put salt in the spirals and dripped more water over them, and it spread and pooled and dried in a glittering pattern. When it had dried, I thought the piece needed something, so I added the criss-cross stitching down the righthand side, and the word “curiosity” that seemed to fit so well with how the piece came to life.
Curiosity, 5″x7″ watercolor, salt, pen & ink and confetti star on watercolor paper.
You can get a better idea of the way the salt crystals look with this shot I took before it got its final touches:
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: blue, for sale, pen and ink, salt, spirals, watercolor
3 Comments »
Son of Weeble
Posted on May 4th, 2011
Son of Weeble by Amy Crook
I admit it, I ran out of finished weeble cartoons for my Wednesdays and had to just doodle something up. I started out just drawing up a “blank” weeble – shape of the head and body, arms and hands and feet. The idea of doing a blank-faced one then made me think of Magritte’s Son of Man, and thus I give you Son of Weeble to weird up your Wednesday.
I gave myself the rule of only using pens within reach to shade him, which is why his clothes are a light grey and his skin left paper white. Maybe next time I’ll bring out the Really Useful Box o’ Sharpies before I get started, I’m pretty sure I have a better range of pinks and browns there.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: doodle, magritte, nfs, weeble
2 Comments »
Lovecrafty
Posted on May 3rd, 2011
Lovecrafty by Amy Crook
While some pieces come together with effortless synchronicity, others are a struggle from start to finish. This piece was definitely one of the latter, but I’m finally happy with the end result. There’s just something that really amuses me in the way it seems like a cross between Lovecraftian horror and a 12-year-old girl’s diary.
The grey writing is done with a brush pen usually used for shading, the barely-legible words are a couple of especially creepy quotes from HP Lovecraft’s fiction. Blank spaces on the left were filled in with single words or shorter phrases, giving the whole thing a sense of mad, frantic writing, the deranged mind getting out what it’s seen. Or, possibly more insanity-inducing, the inner feelings of a pre-teen.
The images themselves are layered, everything from printer ink to sharpie marker, watercolor to pen and ink. I used water to blur things left and right and there’s even a tiny bit of salt texture, though it doesn’t take very well on this type of paper. I considered adding some tentacle monster green into the mix to dull down the overall cheeriness of the palette, but in the end I couldn’t resist the juxtaposition of color and intent.
Lovecrafty, 5″x7″ pen & ink, watercolor, Sharpie marker and salt on paper.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: for sale, lovecraft, pen and ink, quote, salt, sharpie, watercolor
2 Comments »
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