Blog « Antemortem Arts | Art & Writing by Amy Crook

Deep in the Middle Twilight

Posted on April 5th, 2022

Deep in the Middle Twilight, 12″x6″ watercolor on paper

This fanciful painting is also a foot wide, but a mere six inches tall! Thick, textured watercolor gives us a deep ocean current on which floats a plethora sea life. Well, and a ghost.

The watery backdrop is a deep matte teal, while the sea life all sparkles and shines, much like the actual creatures that live in the Twilight Zone (not the tv show). The giant squid waves hello from off to the left, our little ghost meditates on the right, and both tropical fish and jellyfish dance through the rest of the space.

This art would be a fun addition to any room, a little spark of whimsy to brighten up any space.

Deep in the Middle Twilight, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see our little green ghostie shining brightly from the strength of its own spirit. Below, I’ve badly stuck this in a temporary frame to show how big it is — a larger frame will do it better justice once you’ve got it home!

Deep in the Middle Twilight, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Time is Escaping

Posted on April 4th, 2022

Time is Escaping, 12″x24″ mixed media on paper

This piece has been through a number of transformations, starting with a very pink wash of rhodonite and ending with a spattering of metallic watercolor. There’s both mineral and synthetic pigments, watercolor and acrylic paints, and a variety of techniques in this big, beautiful work of art.

Larger than my usual (two feet tall — Trotsky for scale!), this painting would add shine and color to any space. It’s a gorgeous statement piece, a mix of intense blues and purples softened by sparkle and shine, and the pearly sheen of genuine black tourmaline.

Time is Escaping, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a close-up of all the gorgeous texture in the central spiral. Below, you can see the swirls and dots of the lower portion of the painting, as lit by actual spring sun!

Time is Escaping, detail, by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery
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Concentric 11

Posted on April 2nd, 2022

Concentric 11, 5″x5″ watercolor on black paper by Amy Crook

The soft black Arches paper, originally created for printmaking, makes a gorgeous charcoal surface to use with metallic watercolor.

Blue and gold spirals made a soft layer on which to build the concentric shapes, which stick to the palette and come in many shades of blue, gold, and silver. There’s even a few that mix the blue and gold to make soft greens, and one that fades into warm coppery golds from a nearly-silver center.

This shining painting is just the right size to bring some beauty to a little corner of of your desk, a tiny hidden bit of wall, or to nestle among some books on a shelf.

Concentric 11, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can really see the colors of the dot pattern as they flow one into another, and the hints of spirals hiding beneath the bursts of metallic shine. Below, this small painting is in a temporary frame, just waiting to come live on your desk and give you some good good dopamine throughout the day.

Concentric 11, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
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January 2022 Patreon Sketches

Posted on March 15th, 2022

All caught up! I’ll post February’s patron sketch cards probably in early April, as I give my supporters the month of to request, and then give myself the month after to draw them and then post to Patreon on the 28th. Now that I’ve made them all this cool artist trading card/artist card edition original (ACEO) size, it’s been a lot less friction for me to sit down and get started on a set of them, and get them done with a few days of work.

ACEO sketch cards by Amy Crook

I did a half dozen this time around, almost entirely watercolor. From the top left:

  • Nick prompted “besos!” and gets Bruno from Encanto smooching a capybara, but we shouldn’t be talking about it
  • Roxanne B wanted tea, and gets this precarious pile
  • Amy B asked for a “cheeky monkey” of a kitty, and gets this little jerkface
  • this sunny sky in watercolor on yupo is just for my own amusement, and I guess if CSI ever needs my fingerprints
  • Jefferson asked for coffee and gets addict Ditto
  • Rey & Amber asked for “if you’re not bleeding, it’s not an emergency” and Amber got sky blue hair without having to go to the salon

I may do a sketch sale pretty soon, which posts to my Patreon first and then to my email list, so join one of those if you’d like a chance to own some of these!

Categories: Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Pretty Words, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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Patreon Headers & Tiers

Posted on March 10th, 2022

I decided to lean into the cat sketch life along with a refresh of my Patreon page this year! I redid the tiers and gave them all-new art, and made headers for all of my monthly posts. Check it out on the page, and enjoy the weird originals below!

cat sketch cards and a bonus sticker by Amy Crook

The original on the House Cat tier is long gone, but I did all-new sketch cards for the other 4! From the top left:

  • Snow Leopard ($25)
  • Pallas Cat ($10)
  • Kitten ($3)
  • Voidcat ($100)
  • House Cat ($5) sticker from last quarter’s swag rewards

I had fun exploring different styles for the different tiers, though next time perhaps I’ll stick to one style, haha.

Patreon header sketch cards by Amy Crook

I made a whole posting schedule for myself to spread out the goodies and keep from losing track of time, and so far it’s been great on my end. You’d have to ask my supporters how they’re enjoying it, but hey, every post comes with a cat photo as well as the fancy header art!

From the top left:

  • Art Works in Progress ft. Mal
  • Art WIP lettering, some of which also shows up in the Writing header
  • Sketch Requests (with alternate q) ft. Pod
  • Writing Works in Progress ft. Raccoon
  • Poll ft. Pod’s paw
  • Art Vault (oddly catless)

There’s also a monthly sketch card post for the finished requests from the previous month, but so far I haven’t done a header for that — the cards are the art on that post, after all!

Patreon is an easy way to support your artist for a small monthly donation, and you can get wallpapers, sketch requests, stickers and swag, dibs on new works of art, and of course a cavalcade of cat pics!

Categories: Pretty Words, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
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December 2021 Patreon Sketches

Posted on March 8th, 2022

And December! Which were done in January and just… not posted in a timely manner here. Sorry, guys! I’m a work in progress. XD

  • teacup asked for “ghosts of the mountain” and I had fun doing many tiny ghosts
  • Eric wanted Sailor Pluto so Mal had to cosplay for us
  • Rebecca S asked for a walrus and got this prim purple darling

If you want sketches of your own, or just to support your artist, you can find me on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/amysnotdeadyet

Categories: Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Things I'm a Fan Of
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November 2021 Patreon Sketches

Posted on March 3rd, 2022

And here is November! As you can see, some of these got done in January, but I am, in fact, currently caught up, so go me! These days I need extras for my Snow Leopards and Voidcats that don’t make requests, so everyone gets some fun art in their swag mailings. We’ll see how long those quarterly packets last, but the first one was a success!

From the top left:

  • random night scene with Copics on Yupo
  • “spice coffee” for Jefferson
  • another random night scene with watercolor on black paper
  • a variation on concentrics with white gouache on sparkly watercolor
  • “autumn eeveeon” for Eric
  • blobcat ft Trotsky’s liquid bones
  • “tyrannical threes” for Rey & Amber

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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