Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category
Bound Angel 1
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
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
Tags: angel, for sale, pencil
Weeble Wednesday: Obligatory Cultist
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
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
Tags: copic marker, cthulhu, cultist, ia ia cthulhu fthagn, pen and ink, weeble
Honeycake
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010
This recipe started out life in the Winnie the Pooh Cookery Book and then was extensively altered from its original form as a birthday cake.
Basically, every single time I read a fantasy novel, someone is having sticky, delicious honeycakes, and I really wanted to get in on that. But I couldn’t find a recipe that sounded right, so I started with this one and altered it and altered it and messed with it until I got the dense, spiced, super sweet honeyed cake that I’d always imagined.
When this cake is baked up it’s heavy and a bit sticky, and goes wonderfully with a good cup of tea. Experiment to find the just-right baking time for you; my original recipe said 20-25 minutes, but I ended up going about 40 with the white whole wheat flour and that wasn’t quite enough. (Note: I have since had my oven fixed and get shorter baking times these days.)
1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour (I’ve made this with alternative flours with good results, too)- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cardamon
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup honey (spray measuring cup with cooking oil before adding honey for easier pouring)
- powdered sugar and/or nutmeg, for decoration
Preheat oven to 375° F. Sift dry ingredients together. While mixing, slowly add milk, eggs, softened butter, vanilla & honey. I mixed up the milk, eggs, and vanilla, then alternated milk mixture with honey, adding in the butter somewhere in the middle. When a creamy batter has formed (mmm), pour into 1 greased 9-inch round cake pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes (watching carefully if your oven is at all like mine) or until brown around the edges, and a cake tester comes out with just crumbs and no batter goo.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and/or nutmeg and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Use stencils to create pretty patterns if you’re a big dork or Martha Stewart.
Serves 12 (or 6 if you’re like me).
Categories: Daily Art, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: bear, food, honey, recipe, sharpie marker
4 Comments »
Whiteboard Doodles Redux
Monday, November 1st, 2010
My scanner’s on the fritz, so instead of a recipe, you get more expectation-free art from my whiteboard. Lucky you! Photos taken with my iPhone, and therefore of approximately the same quality as the art. 😉
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: nfs, silly, whiteboard
2 Comments »
Zombie: Wait Up!
Friday, October 29th, 2010
Zombie: Wait Up! by Amy Crook
This cheerful guy is one of the bonus zombies in my Cthulhu Coloring Book — I think he’s a little stuck and wants his zombie pals to wait up while he finishes struggling his way up out of the grave in search for delicious, tasty brains.
I’ve colored him here with a ghoulish green, though I think he’d do just fine in deathly grey or a rotting pink, as well. One nice thing about this one was that the style was so loose and scribbly, it was easy to color without worrying too much about staying inside the lines.
Zombie: Wait Up!, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: coloring book, copic marker, for sale, pen and ink, zombie
1 Comment »
Potato Fairy
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Potato Fairy by Amy Crook
When I first started making my own holiday cards, I carved stamps from potatoes, mushrooms, and sponges, and painstakingly hand-stamped dozens of cards — one year I sent nearly 100 cards out! I’ve since graduated to doing one original and printing the cards from that, though I still sometimes add a bit of hand-painted flair to personal cards.
This was the test print for one year’s cards, done using watercolors (including metallics) painted onto those rough handmade stamps. I chose the crouching fairy, though as I recall the cards didn’t get the mushroom-stamped object he’s crouching in front of. I was experimenting with different methods for making the wings, so there’s some extra texture added as well, in metallic gold, red-violet and softly brushed-on blue-green.
Potato Fairy, 9″x12″ watercolor on sketchbook paper, not for sale.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
Tags: fairy, holidays, nfs, potato stamp, watercolor
Weeble Wednesday: Cthulhu has a Coloring Book!
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
Cthulhu Coloring Book by Amy Crook
Encouraged by the success of my Lovecraft-themed greeting cards on Etsy, I decided to up the ante this season and make a whole coloring book! There’s a few weebles you’ve already seen, and a bunch you haven’t — I even did a whole new Cthulhu for the cover (plus he’s on page 1 for your coloring pleasure).
There’s a whole bunch of adorably creepy creatures from the stories of HP Lovecraft and the other authors who’ve played in his Mythos over the years, plus a small mob of bonus Zombies.
You can get the Cthulhu Coloring Book on Etsy, either as a pdf or a printed book.
Weeble Cthulhu 2 by Amy Crook
You see what he has to put up with?
Weeble Cthulhu 2, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper, not for sale.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: coloring book, copic marker, cthulhu, etsy, for sale, lovecraft, pen and ink, weeble
4 Comments »
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