Blog « Antemortem Arts | Art & Writing by Amy Crook

May 2022 Patreon sketches

Posted on March 28th, 2023

More sketches! A lot of these get sent to patrons for my quarterly packets, so they vanish into the mist never to be seen again. I’m pretty sure these have all been sent off to new adventures!

May 2022 ACEO sketches by Amy Crook

May 2022 ACEO sketches by Amy Crook

The right column is all filler cats, because I felt like continuing with some no-line, super sketchy cats after I finished the patron sketches. We have Raccoon, Pod, and Mal from top to bottom.

The left column, top down, is for patrons! Who all asked for machines, so I decided to break out the markers and have some sketchy no-line fun.

  • Rebecca S asked for trains and got this VROoooM train
  • Eric wanted Giant Robots and got the most ridiculous kitty kaiju training bot. He knows why. (sold)
  • Jefferson prompted “vacuum cleaner” and got a tumblr meme he won’t even know (sorry), Stabby the Roomba. (sold)

Categories: Completed Commissions, Pretty Words, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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April 2022 Patreon sketches

Posted on March 23rd, 2023

Guess who’s been doing sketches on Patreon for months and not posting them to the blog? It’s me! I’ll be getting the last many months of them out on the blog over the next few weeks, so please enjoy the ridiculousness.

April 2022 ACEO sketches by Amy Crook

April 2022 ACEO sketches by Amy Crook

  • This one wasn’t a prompt, I just wanted to draw trees and birbs on this orange sunset
  • Jeff asked for ‘distracted’
  • Another non-prompt experiment with salt and watercolor on yupo that got some marker topography
  • And ‘rose candy’ for Eric

These have all found a new home, but some of the later ones are still available for the discerning collector. You can also make an account and follow me on Patreon for free, where these are always posted publicly, or Instagram or Twitter, where I post some things as the mood strikes me.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Pretty Words, Whimsical and Strange
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Random Recipe: Minted Lemonade

Posted on August 18th, 2022

A recipe made of 4 ingredients, and to your own taste!

You will need:

  • a pitcher
  • boiling water
  • fresh mint
  • fresh lemons
  • sugar

Make mint tea! Pour boiling water over washed fresh mint and steep for 5-7 minutes. Longer goes stronger, but much over 7 minutes and you’re adding flavors you probably don’t want.

Filter out the mint and then pour the tea into your pitcher.

Add the sugar to taste, keeping in mind that you’ll be adding a lot of lemon juice later. You want very sweet, minty tea. Cool it down.

Add lemon juice to taste and drink up!

For reference, I added 1/4 cup of sugar to 4 cups of tea, and the juice of 3 lemons. It could maybe have used a fourth for real tartness. I used a bundle of mint from our farmshare, and everything else was just guesswork and experimentation.

It’s pretty tasty, though.

 

PS – Please enjoy my new hobby, 8-bit pixel art!

Categories: Whimsical and Strange, Words Words Words
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Phosphorescence

Posted on June 14th, 2022

Phosphorescence, 12″x24″ mixed media on paper

In the same vein as Time is Escaping, this larger-scale painting uses shimmering, textured paint to create a feeling of water and movement.

The spiral structure suggests a deep whirlpool or concentric waves, with something brightly phosphorescent bursting out, escaping with its darker-hued cousins. Despite the feeling of depth, the paint in the center is thickly layered in textural swashes, though some peeks of the first layer, an iridescent fluorite green wash, still show through.

The palette of black, purple, blue, and green is reminiscent of a peacock feather, as is the sheen of sparkle that covers the entire painting.

Phosphorescence, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see sunlight picking up the flecks of tourmaline in the black, and the varying shades of purple floating atop the central vortex. Below, the same purples drift down into the shimmering metallic greens at the bottom of the painting.

Phosphorescence, detail, by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
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The Reaching Tree

Posted on June 8th, 2022

The Reaching Tree, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper

It’s a tree of a different color! Deep violet-black and slightly glittery, this amethyst paint uses real minerals to create gorgeous textures. The moon has a little extra shine of its own, as it should, but the painting is otherwise entirely monochrome.

The tree reaches into the sky, always seeking something in the way of trees. Below it, the figure has more hands than seems strictly warranted, reaching just as the tree is, though possibly not for the same thing.

Just in case, perhaps stay out of arms’ reach. If you can figure out how long that is, anyway.

The Reaching Tree, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the way the figure’s ghostly arms reach and reach. Is one of them reaching for you? Well, you can keep it safely behind glass in a frame, should you wish to.

The Reaching Tree, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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District of the Small Gods

Posted on June 7th, 2022

District of the Small Gods, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper

This thickly textured paper is porous and absorbent, but brushed tend to skip over the deep valleys in the page and leave fascinating voids in the wash.

A cat-shaped temple holds center court in this strange alien district, with other small gods represented by their own odd architectures. Is the building made of pointy things a god of war or merely one of pointy things? Does the the shape on top of the spire represent a blind eye, or an all-seeing one?

What small gods do you think reside here, waiting for their small offerings?

District of the Small Gods, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see thee way the light glows over and through the Temple of the Cat. Below, the art is properly encased in a frame, ready to bring strange delight to a shelf or wall.

District of the Small Gods, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Concentric 15

Posted on June 6th, 2022

Concentric 15, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper

The joy of experimenting with chaos in art is that sometimes you get happy accidents, and sometimes you get gibbous moons that stare at you like a creeper.

Despite that, the matte black makes a beautiful backdrop for these shimmering bursts of color, each one fading from one thing to another as it echoes out onto the page. Gold and violet, lavender and blue-green, each one is a unique combination that changes as you look at it.

Which is your favorite part of this painting, the spooky, the pretty, or the contrast between the two?

Concentric 15, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, the dots sparkle with tiny flecks of iridescent paint. Below, you can see this moody, colorful piece in a frame, waiting to add some strangeness to your life.

Concentric 15, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
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