Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category
Tentacle Deeps 37
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 37 by Amy Crook
Today I bring you, in a completely unsurprising move, more tentacles! My computer really hates the color of these tentacles, so if you’re hoping for accuracy the framed photo is the closest. Photoshop and I just couldn’t come to an agreement here for some reason. Madness!
Anyway, these tentacles are painted with watercolor onto canvas board, which gives them an intriguing texture both in the background and the tentacles themselves, and causes the paint to dry slightly muted from what I expect, so that the blacks are soft and matte.
Tentacle Deeps 37, 8″x10″ watercolor on canvas board.
Tentacle Deeps 37, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see how the paint sinks into the texture of the canvas. Below, the framed shot for scale and color closest to the reality. Which is to say, not very, heh.
Tentacle Deeps 37, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: blue, canvas board, for sale, green, tentacle deeps, tentacles
Milk White Moon
Monday, June 4th, 2012
Milk White Moon by Amy Crook
I’ve done moons in blue and orange and yellow, silver and gold and iridescent lavender, and I thought I’d try one in simple white. The salt, too, is undiluted with paint, so there’s nothing but the black paper, white ink and white salt, and any color is just refracted light through the crystals.
There’s two sets of salt pools, the deeper ones with spirals at the center that grew from fat droplets of water carefully applied, and the shallow ones dripped down from a height to splash onto the paper. There’s even little tiny crystals here and there where smaller droplets splashed away from the bigger, which brings a lovely depth to the piece like a real sky.
Milk White Moon, 5″x5″ gel pen and salt on Arches cover black paper.
Milk White Moon, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the delicate splash of one single careless drop of water, surrounded by deeper pools of salt. Below is a close-up of one of those pools, the largest one in the lower center with the large white spiral hiding in its depths.
Milk White Moon, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And finally the piece in the warm summer sunshine, and a frame of course, basking on the blotter of my writing desk with my iPhone for scale.
Milk White Moon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: black and white, black paper, for sale, gel pen, moon, salt
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Conjoined or just Annoyed?
Sunday, June 3rd, 2012
Conjoined Twins sketch by Amy Crook
I’m not sure if this is really twins or just some really strange dress-up, but either way the one on the right is really not thrilled about it all.
Hope your Sunday’s awesome!
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: coloring book, doodle, pen and ink, sketch
Octopus Loves Boba
Saturday, June 2nd, 2012
Octopus Loves Boba cartoon by Amy Crook
This cheerful octopus shares with me a deep love for boba tea, also known as bubble tea or pearl milk tea. I would totally drink this every day if I could afford the habit, but much like some people’s expensive coffee habits, I’ve kept myself weaned down to once or twice a week for the most part. It makes a good reward for getting out of the house and doing my errands instead of staying inside like the hermit I am, heh.
I have a houseguest coming next week (eek! peoples!), so I foresee a lot of boba in my future. And possibly another Sharpie week, heh.
Octopus Loves Boba, 5″x5″ pen & ink and Copic markers on paper.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: cartoon, copic marker, for sale, mmmmmboba, octopus, pen and ink, tentacles
Red Planet
Friday, June 1st, 2012
Red Planet, watercolor by Amy Crook
This piece is a combination of old ideas and new toys. I got some nifty waterbrushes to test out, and some new eyedroppers for my salt solution, and used them together to paint another planet. First I used the waterbrushes to paint in the circular wash in two shades of red, and then I added a few drops of salt solution to the mix while the paint was still wet and forced myself to set the whole thing aside to dry without any further interference.
There’s not a lot of sparkle in this one, mostly the salt created texture rather than crystals, but I love the way the texture looks like the surface of some far-away alien planet.
Red Planet, 8″x8″ salt and watercolor on paper.
Red Planet, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see the texture and a tiny bit of shine where the salt catches the light. Below, I’ve got it put in a wall frame (they don’t make many 8″x8″ standing frames), which can be yours for a small additional fee mostly relating to the shipping costs where you are.
Red Planet, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, pink, planet, red, salt, watercolor
1 Comment »
Thistledown
Thursday, May 31st, 2012
Thistledown, watercolor by Amy Crook, $169
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with this once I painted in the sky and the grass, but then the idea of thistles came into my head. I like the way the little sneaky bubbles in the grass echo the centers on the flowers, and of course these are the sort of thistles that stare at you. But don’t worry, I’m sure they’re thinking totally harmless flower-thoughts while they do. They’re not thinking about how they outnumber you at all.
Really.
Thistledown, 8″x4″ watercolor on paper, $169 with free shipping.
I slipped the piece into an 8″x10″ frame so you could get a sense of the scale, and of course I’d be happy to more permanently frame it for you for a small additional fee. Just drop me a line!
Thistledown, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: flowers, for sale, things that stare at you, watercolor
Why Tentacles?
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 30 by Amy Crook
I’ve had some time to think about this question since I was asked at the STUDIO Gallery reception (the show’s now over but it was wonderful to be a part of it), and I’ve come up with some answers that are probably true some of the time. Your mileage may vary.
First off, tentacles are fun. I’ve said this before, but it’s probably the top reason I keep up with the series, just because I really enjoy doing it. The scribbly ones are fun to draw, the painted ones are fun to paint, and there’s still new things I can do with them that I haven’t done before.
Now that the shallow answer is out of the way, we can dip our toes a little deeper, though in the end the answer is still about fun. What can I say, I’m a fan of fun.
Being scared is fun.
It is when you know it’s harmless, anyway. And it’s wonderful to explore the edge where scary meets something else. I love things that are morbidly funny, frighteningly beautiful, or creepy-cute, just to name a few. It’s those ragged edges where tentacles are gorgeous and otherworldly and creeping into our thoughts like, well, tentacles, that keeps me coming back not just to the Tentacle Deeps series, but to weeble Cthulhu and logos with skulls on them and pendants of spiderwebs.
Real-life spiders give me the willies, but art that makes them fascinatingly lovely is amazing to me.
I enjoy taking people to that place where you go, “Huh, I never would’ve thought of that.” I like creating something that is, let’s be honest here, not just another fucking landscape. If I’m going to obsessively detail anything, I want it to be something interesting, fascinating and maybe even a little bit repellent, something funny or charming but also morbid and grim.
It may be that that narrows my audience to a very small sliver of people who, like me, enjoy seeing the horrific beauty in the tentacles that slide up from the depths for purposes unknown. But you can kind of guess they aren’t savory, that these strange alien arms reaching upward aren’t straining towards the surface of our world, our pond, our imaginations, for anything that’s good for our health.
But then, since when has anything that’s really fun been all that good for your health?
Tentacle Spiral 1 by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Tentacles, Words Words Words
Tags: info, tentacles, why
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