Ignite
Posted on January 2nd, 2015
Ignite by Amy Crook
Some fireworks to start off 2015!
This is the third in my Aglow series, taking the hues completely away from purple and black and setting them alight.
I want this painting to inspire you to coax the spark of hope and creativity in yourself to a proper bright bonfire. Ignite your passions, ignite your career, ignite yourself.
Ignite, 8″x8″ watercolor and duochrome watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Ignite, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the rich red with the gorgeous metallic word both catching the sunlight and looking like they’re on fire. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, with perhaps the most accurate colors of the three images.
Ignite, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
Tags: aglow, calligraphy, fire, for sale, gold, metallic, orange, red, watercolor, yellow
It’s an Advent Calendar, sort of!
Posted on December 11th, 2014
I rather spontaneously decided to do an Advent Calendar this year on my Instagram account – I’ve been doing a little 10-minute sketch every day and posting a photo. I started with Sherlock and have been going through some of my fandoms, current and old, ever since!
Categories: Words Words Words
Tags: advent, instagram
Christmas Unwrapped
Posted on December 8th, 2014
Christmas Unwrapped by Amy Crook
This piece feels like a Christmas tree, with green branches and splashes of red for garland, metallic splotches in gold, silver, and green for balls or lights. Nothing concrete, just a slice of an abstraction of a tree, but it gets that holiday cheer right out in the open nonetheless.
The paper is a thickly textured cream, almost a pale yellow, and the paint for the branches is actually called “Christmas Tree Green” and scented with pine, though the scent fades when the paint dries. There’s a border of sorts, but the image refuses to let boundaries contain its holiday joy.
Christmas Unwrapped, 10″x8″ duochrome, interference, and pine-scented watercolor on watercolor paper.
Christmas Unwrapped, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the brightness of the green and gold ‘ornaments’ glowing against the warm cream of the paper. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, bringing some Christmas Cheer to my apartment.
Christmas Unwrapped, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Card Design, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: christmas, duochrome, iridescent watercolor, nfs, sold, watercolor
Autumn
Posted on December 6th, 2014
Autumn by Amy Crook
Purple and orange! Two favorite colors of one of my favorite people, who no doubt is wishing I would spell it favourite colours instead.
The purple is dusky, muted, and stormy, with the hint of clouds or even rain in the grainy, textured wash. The reds, golds, and oranges cluster along the gold-tinged horizon, with branches that actually hold leaves. These are totally happy trees, with a central structure showing through and the splotchy, painterly foliage brightening the sky. Seven crows fly above, one dipping down to admire the trees up close, all of them a dark black silhouetted against the stormy autumn sky.
This painting perfectly encapsulates my favorite season, with a touch of Halloween, a little Thanksgiving, and a whole lot of autumnal cheer.
Autumn, 8″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Autumn, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the warm, splotchy trees and cool skies above, and the tiny crows chilling out on an updraft. Below, the piece is in a temporary frame, waiting to go to its new home.
Autumn, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: horizons, nfs, orange, purple, sold, tree, watercolor
Puddle
Posted on December 5th, 2014
Puddle by Amy Crook
This piece was inspired by an Instagram photo I took of a puddle in the rain, hiding under a ledge so my phone wouldn’t get wet. I couldn’t ever get the whole puddle to show all the concentric rings coming off the drops, because the angle of the light washed everything out so you only saw the rings in a little slice from an angle.
So I created this dusky, desaturated blue “puddle” that has surprising rings around the “droplets” when you tilt it into the sun (which washes the whole thing even bluer). The interference blue is basically invisible until light catches it, and then this beautiful pattern of overlapping waves appears.
Puddle, 8″x8″ watercolor and interference watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Puddle, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sunlight has washed this photo bright blue, but also brought out the nearly-invisible rings around each ‘droplet.’ I handed this painting to a friend and he said it was, “like being handed an actual puddle.” Below, you can see it tucked into a frame, a bit of puddle-wonderful that will never dry up.
Puddle, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: blue, interference, nfs, rain, watercolor
Sunset Silhouette
Posted on December 4th, 2014
Sunset Silhouette by Amy Crook
The branches on this tree are fine as lace, a complicated fractal of interlocking shapes with three birds silhouetted inside. A red-gold sunset paints the sky behind, giving drama to this small work of art.
The sky is very loose and painterly, while the tree and birds are stark black in contrast.
This painting is shot of brightness as we approach the darkest time of the year, wintry with the bare branches and yet full of the colors of spring.
Sunset Silhouette, 6″x4″ pen & ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Sunset Silhouette, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can really see the lace-fine details in the branches, and the three birds chilling out in the few open spots. Below, the piece is tucked into a frame so you can admire its compactness.
Sunset Silhouette, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: crow, horizons, nfs, orange, pen and ink, sold, tree, watercolor
Kelp
Posted on December 3rd, 2014
Kelp by Amy Crook
Ah, the foibles of subtle art and electronic reproduction. The monitor tries to wash out this painting into cyan or acid green, but don’t let it fool you, there is a gorgeous seafoam green color to these rising strands. It has a very subtle feeling of being underwater somewhere brightly sunlit, so that the water is washed to white and the kelp glows from within, with only the densest leaves showing darker greens.
This painting is a dreamy abstract watercolor that gives a sense of weightlessness, of drifting slowly upward with a slight sway from some hidden current.
Much like its spiritual relatives, Winter and Midnight, I could stare at it for hours and still find new little details hiding among the pale splashes of paint.
Kelp, 8″x8″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Kelp, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see some of the subtle details that get washed out in the scan. The color in that photo comes out a little too green, but you can get a better feel of how soft and peaceful it is. Below, the sunlight streams in on this piece in its dark frame.
Kelp, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, pathways, water, watercolor
« Or Head Back That Way
More Art This Way »
