Blog « Antemortem Arts | Art & Writing by Amy Crook

Weeble Wednesday: Zombie

Posted on November 10th, 2010

Weeble Zombie by Amy Crook

Weeble Zombie by Amy Crook

This morbid fellow is another one of the bonus zombies from my Cthulhu coloring book. I originally had drawn a bunch of these guys for another purpose, but somehow they never got finished until I needed them for the coloring book. Still, I do love the details on this one, from his missing arm to the skull logo on his shoe.

Weeble Zombie, 5″x7″ pen, ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper.

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Chocolate Spice Drops

Posted on November 9th, 2010

This recipe is used with permission from my friend Ellen Fremedon.

I’ve mGinger by Amy Crookade these several times and they’re always awesome — you can put in whatever assortment of spices you want, but I definitely recommend the fresh ginger and pepper both to get a good bite from the spice.

The texture of these cookies is very soft and cakelike, so they don’t keep for very long, but that’s not usually a problem. They store best in shallow tupperware, with parchment paper between layers to keep them from sticking.

Drop Cookies by Amy Crook6 Tbsp strong spiced tea (I used Republic of Tea Cardamom Cinnamon, but any black or herbal spice tea would probably work.)
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp minced ginger (grated, not powdered, but pre-grated from the produce section is fine)
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup good-quality cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, and black pepper
Dash of cloves, allspice

Tea by Amy CrookCream together butter and sugar, then add egg, vanilla, and fresh ginger. Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and spices. I like to use a whisk for this step to break up lumps, especially in the cocoa.

Blend dry ingredients, wet ingredients, and the tea. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 12-13 minutes. The cookies will puff up in the middle.

Categories: Daily Art, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Marbled Eye

Posted on November 8th, 2010

Marbled Eye by Amy Crook

Marbled Eye by Amy Crook

Years ago and miles away I learned a little bit about making marbled papers, the kind used in the endpapers of wonderful old books. While dropping in colour to try to make a pattern, something interesting formed, and I captured it before it could be disrupted — a perfect eye in the middle of all the random swirls.

Sometimes, art is about knowing when to stop at accidental beauty.

Marbled Eye, 8.5″x11″ marbling on paper, not for sale.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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Gate

Posted on November 6th, 2010

Gate by Amy Crook

Gate by Amy Crook

It’s been many years since I did much printing, but I still remember the smell of the different inks and the strange and interesting results that could come from just inking up a plate and seeing what happened when I ran it through the press.

This piece was made with a 3″x3″ square of acrylic, edges smoothed down to keep it from cutting right through the paper. Then I hand-inked the blank plate with water-based monoprint inks, which always reminded me a bit of finger paint in consistency. Each resulting print is one of a kind, so though the transfer from plate to paper is similar to intaglio, no two monoprints are ever alike.

This particular image reminds me of a cave or gateway into somewhere mysterious, with that bit of a glow among the stalactites at the top, and a very spiky path ahead.

Gate, 3″x3″, monoprint on watercolor paper.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Bound Angel 2

Posted on November 5th, 2010

Bound Angel 2 by Amy Crook

Bound Angel 2 by Amy Crook

This is the second version of yesterday’s drawing, this time a stone lithograph. The process involved in this one gave it a more scribbly feel, and the haloing effect washed out the face, and obscured the arms in stark black shadow.

The feel of this image is different than the first version for me, despite being essentially the same thing. It’s rougher, more abstract, as though the angel has begun to fade into his component parts, the whiteout glow of his halo making the shadows deeper and obscuring detail where it’s the brightest.

I ran 6 of these before clearing the stone for other use, on a heavy grey acid-free art paper. The edges of each one are hand-torn so they’re all slightly irregular, and there’s inky fingerprints around the borders of each one as a testament to their handmade nature.

Bound Angel 2, 14″x7″ stone lithograph on art paper, edition of 6, $99 each with free shipping.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Nudes and Other Sexy Things, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
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Bound Angel 1

Posted on November 4th, 2010

Bound Angel 1 by Amy Crook

Bound Angel 1 by Amy Crook

This pencil drawing was the first of 2 images, the second of which is a stone lithograph I’ll post tomorrow. His bindings are invisible, but you can see how his posture hangs as if in chains, face downturned as if contemplating the sin that brought him to this pass.

I’ve always had a fascination with religious imagery, the history and faith that are imbued into these images, the layered ideals and disappointments that each person brings to the viewing. Even if the image is purely representational, every viewer has layers of mental baggage to add to it that makes the piece a unique experience for them.

The graphite goes all the way to the edges of this acid-free bristol board; the black border you can see here is the scanner background. The board is heavy enough to stand on its own in a bookshelf or on a tiny easel, or the image could easily be framed for display.

Bound Angel 1, 6.5″x5″ graphite on bristol board, $99 with free shipping.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Nudes and Other Sexy Things, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
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Weeble Wednesday: Obligatory Cultist

Posted on November 3rd, 2010

Cultist by Amy Crook

Cultist by Amy Crook

After doing all those other Lovecraftian monsters, I decided that one thing my coloring book needed was a proper hooded-robed cultist to worship them. He’s wearing the Elder Sign as sketched by Lovecraft (rather than the more star-like version used in Arkham Horror), and chanting in some sanity-rending ancient tongue in his attempts to summon Cthulhu, or one of the other Great Old Ones. Or maybe just a Shoggoth, who knows.

You can find him and a bunch of the monsters he’s trying to summon in my Cthulhu Coloring Book on Etsy, which you can buy either as a pdf or a printed book.

Cultist, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
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