Impressionist Flowers
Posted on June 4th, 2010
Impressionist Flowers by Amy Crook
With the tiny paintings, I will often paint a batch of skies, or water, or whatever, and go back in and decide what to do with it later. When I pulled out this warm blue sky to work on it again, I wanted to do something impressionistic for spring that really brought that feeling of warm sleepy days with bees buzzing around the flowers.
The edges of this canvas board are finished, the image wrapping around to the sides to add a some extra dimension. The easel is included, so this painting can be displayed as is on a bookshelf, desk, windowsill, or anywhere you want a little spring sunshine.
Impressionist Flowers, 6″x4″ oil painting on canvas board with 5″ tall wooden easel, sold.
Impressionist Flowers by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: bees, canvas board, flowers, nfs, oil painting, pansies, snapdragons, tiny painting, violets
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Man Dressing
Posted on June 3rd, 2010
Man Dressing 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Today’s art is an etching, which means there’s several prints, though I only have 1 of each edition below. All of my prints are hand-pulled the old-fashioned way using a printing press, whether they’re etchings or monoprints, and while I still have some of my old plates I doubt they’re in any shape to be printed from these days.
I’ve always been fascinated with our rigid ideas of gender, and the way that costumes that were considered the height of masculinity in their day (including the ruffles and corset in the image) are considered effete and downright kinky nowadays. This image was drawn with the help of a model, though we didn’t lace him fully into the corset, and uses a painstaking cross-hatched shading style that I vowed never to try again after this image. I’ve gone back to the technique now that I’m older and more patient, but it’s still one of my least-favorite methods due to the time and precision required.
Click below to see all three editions on their full pages. Don’t forget most images you can click on to see a bigger version, too.
Categories: Daily Art, Nudes and Other Sexy Things, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
Tags: corset, etching, for sale, handmade paper, intaglio
Reading Under a Tree 2
Posted on June 2nd, 2010
Reading Under a Tree 2 by Amy Crook
Technically I think this should be 1, as this sketch is a bit older than the one I posted last week. The willow tree shows a definite influence from Dr. Seuss — or perhaps Lawrence Yang — and the figure is taking shelter in the lee of the tree. Apparently, I also forgot to draw in clothes, since I put most of my attention into the tree, oops.
The colored background is actually from the sketchbook I was using, which has thick, creamy paper. It’s always interesting how different materials can affect the way the work comes out — I swear almost everything I’ve done in that particular sketchbook has an air of whimsy about it.
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: doodle, nfs, pencil, tree
Green Sea Turtle
Posted on June 1st, 2010
Green Sea Turtle by Amy Crook
A few months back I held a contest on the Not Dead Yet Studios blog to give away one Cartoon, and one custom tiny painting. The very patient CaZ from 2 Chicks at Home won the painting, and it’s finally done.
She asked for a green sea turtle (which I was surprised to find after some Googling wasn’t particularly green), and so I went looking for reference photos and got started. Rather than using one of the tiny 2.75″ square canvases, I decided to go with a slightly larger canvas board to give the little guy some room to swim.
As soon as he’s dry enough, he’ll get packed up and shipped off to his new home. He was fun to paint, and I’m thinking perhaps I need to do another contest soon — though maybe this time for an existing work.
Green Sea Turtle, 4″x5″ oil on canvas board, commission.
Read on to watch the turtle swim into being.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, nfs, oil painting, sea turtle, tiny painting, underwater
Loligoth Bride
Posted on May 30th, 2010
Goth Bride by Amy Crook
The delightful Ang of Lowbrow Events commissioned this girl through my Be a Cartoon service over at Not Dead Yet Studios. She does alternative weddings, so she gave me free reign to doodle up any bride I wanted, as long as she was a little off the rails.
From her stripey stockings to her tiny top hat, this bride has a definite Gothic Lolita theme. I added a few spiders for extra morbidity, and then spun their web in the lining of her layered skirt. I considered doing the roses the same blood red as her hair and heart-shaped lipstick, but I decided to go with an eerie purple to match her pale violet eyes instead.
I’m happy to say Ang was thrilled, and you can find my bride lurking on the contact page of her site.
Loligoth Bride, 5″x7″ pen and ink and copic marker on watercolor paper, commission.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: all rights reserved, bride, cartoon, commission, copic marker, Lowbrow Events, nfs, pen and ink
Pigeonholed
Posted on May 29th, 2010
Pigeonholed by Amy Crook
I painted this around the same time as some of my other abstract and semi-abstract pieces, and you can see some technical similarity with Precious and Untitled Experiment 1. The jewel-tone colors sneak through the black texture, and contrast with the frame around the sad, pigeonholed head. It’s hard to capture the subtle colors in a photograph, but the piece has a lot of depth in real life.
I actually sold this painting years ago to a friend who was moving at the time, and although it’s long paid for, he never did manage to pick it up and take it home, so I hold it in trust for him. Hey, Josh, come get your art!
Pigeonholed, 16″x20″ oil on canvas, sold.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: nfs, skull, sold, zombie
Work In Progress: Bone Orchard
Posted on May 27th, 2010
Bone Orchard, work in progress by Amy Crook
Hard drive problems today, so you get one of my WIPs instead of a proper art post. This one has a great story that I’ll tell another day.
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Works In Progress
Tags: oil painting, sky, wip
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