Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category
Moonglow
Monday, March 5th, 2012
Moonglow by Amy Crook
Sparkly green and purples sit suspended in deep, rich black. For some reason it reminded me of one of my favorite oil paint colors, even though it’s not at all the same shade of purple, but I still named the piece Moonglow after the paint.
The watercolor paint I used in the salt pools separated, with the green pigment all going into the salt and leaving the sparkly violet swirls attached to the paper for a very nifty effect. I carried it through with purple and green glitter gel pen, adding smaller spiral stars and drawing in the eerie, barely-there moon.
I’ve totally embraced my sparkly side, too, and bought more glittery pens in Japantown as well as some pearlescent paints. Expect to see more shiny!
Moonglow, 7″x5″ iridescent watercolor, salt and glitter gel pen on Arches cover black paper.
Moonglow, detail 1, by Amy Crook
The first detail photo, above, totally exaggerates the separation of the paint, the sunlight making the salt practically glow while the purple spirals catch the light. The second one, below, shows the play of green and purple gel pen in the moon. Spirals!
Moonglow, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, for sale, glitter gel pen, green, iridescent, moon, salt, violet, watercolor
1 Comment »
Grinning Whatever
Sunday, March 4th, 2012
Grinning Whatever sketch by Amy Crook
I have no idea what he is, but he’s one of my favorite coloring book doodles in a while. He’s just so happy! And fuzzy! And evil!
Categories: Daily Art, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: coloring book, doodle, nfs, pen and ink, sketch
2 Comments »
Baby Squid
Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
Baby Squid, cartoon art by Amy Crook
Sometimes, I have to make art just so I can put it on a card in my Etsy shop, and this is one of those times. I’m trying to expand my offerings over there to something that isn’t quite so holiday-dependent. Thus we have a gender-free, geek-positive baby cards. I actually made two versions of this one: one is blank with just the image, and the other says, “Congratulations, it’s a…” on the front, and on the inside finishes with “Well, Congratulations, anyway.” Yes, I can even be sarcastic in the face of those giant soulful eyes.
I did have fun trying to make the cutest widdle squiddy you ever did see, though. The original would be awesome in a baby’s room somewhere, trying to out-cute the offspring.
Baby Squid, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic markers on paper.
Baby Squid, framed art by Amy Crook
Above I have him put into a frame so you can imagine how it would look. Below, you can see what he looks like on the snarky version of the card.
Baby Squid greeting card by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: baby, cartoon, copic marker, etsy, pen and ink, squid, weeble
1 Comment »
Peacock Blue
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
Peacock Blue, abstract art by Amy Crook, $269
When I was a kid, I had occasion to visit a peacock farm for reasons I really don’t remember now, but I was allowed to gather whole bouquet of discarded feathers. I had them in the corner of my room for years, slowly mouldering in a vase, and I’ve had an odd love for them ever since. My favorite colors are in the cool end of the spectrum, and while I don’t wear a lot of bling I do love shiny, iridescent decorations still.
This piece started with pure ultramarine blue spirals, and then I added salt and droplets of water while the paint was still wet. Once I had the results, I decided to carry through the bright blue through a softer blue and out to cool green. As ever, it’s impossible to really reproduce certain shades of teal with a monitor, but then, I always think these pieces look 100% better in real life.
Peacock Blue, 7″x5″ salt and watercolor on paper, $269 framed, with free shipping.
Peacock Blue, detail, by Amy Crook
I am totally in love with the way watercolor pigments ebb and flow in watery washes, leaving them darker at the edges and softening unexpectedly in layers of texture as the water dries. In fact, I’m using Mist as my computer wallpaper right now, which is all about those textures created when paper, water and pigment interact. Speaking of wallpaper, I used a completely different detail photo to make myself you an iPhone wallpaper.
This piece comes in a frame to protect the salt during shipping and generally make everyone’s life easier, and you can see it framed and ready to go below. And if it looks like the same frame I always use, that’s because it is, but there is no shortage of plain black frames in the world, so never fear.
Peacock Blue, framed art by Amy Crook, $269
If you want to talk to me about payments, pigments or even pomegranates (I’m allergic), feel free to comment here or email me.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers
Tags: blue, for sale, green, peacock feathers, salt, watercolor
Zen Teapot
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
Zen Teapot, brush drawing by Amy Crook, $59
I love the specific shape of the round bodies of certain teapots. This one isn’t perfect by any means, but the imperfection adds to its beauty to me. Despite a part of me that is all about the perfectionism, I really do dig wabi sabi and the beauty in flawed, damaged or wonky things.
Zen Teapot, 7″x5″ brush pen on paper, $59 with free shipping.
I really like how peaceful this one looks in a frame, like it would fit pretty much anywhere and just make you feel that much more Zen about life.
Zen Teapot, framed art by Amy Crook
Want to chat about something? Comment here or email me.
Categories: Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: brush pen, for sale, zen
Words on Wednesday & the New Art Week
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Don’t worry, Tentacle Tuesdays are safe! I’m just switching things up a little to give you some posts with actual, relevant stuff in them besides just the pretty. Well, and the tentacley.
Ahem. Anyway, after talking to several of you over the course of the past few months, I’ve discovered that you want to know more about how I make art and how being an artist fits into my life. I’ve got a few things planned including stuff about my studio and my living room which is also my other studio, about how I choose what to paint and what to paint with, and probably at least one post about my cats. Because this is the internet, so I can post about my cats.
Tentatively, the new schedule is going to be:
- Monday, painting or drawing
(often this will be a moon, because New Moon Mondays really amuses me) - Tentacle Tuesdays
- Words on Wednesday
- Thursday, painting or drawing
- Friday, painting or drawing
(because often I have two or three things I want to post together) - Saturday Morning Cartoons
(formerly Weeble Weds and, let’s face it, an awesome childhood memory) - Sunday Sketches
I’m not sure how I’ll feel about not having a day off, but we’ll find out, won’t we? I didn’t want to cut back to only two paintings a week, because I’ve been painting more than that lately even without the tentacles (which I’m several weeks ahead on! So many tentacles…) and it just gets hard to keep track of what’s next to post.
If there’s something you’ve been wondering about, this is a good place to ask. I’d love to have more conversation in my comments, seriously, so really feel free to ask anywhere and I’ll try to answer. Oh, and hey, happy Leap Day!
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: schedule
Tentacle Deeps 27
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 27 by Amy Crook
We have ghostly tentacles writhing against a textured wash of sunset red, orange and gold for our Tentacle Tuesday. I really love all the texture and detail on this one, so I made a wallpaper to share. I make these sort of huge and not particularly specific on the size so that you can just tell your computer to fill the screen and it won’t matter if some of one edge or another gets cropped. I also make the tentacles go left to right because that’s what works for me on my screen, I almost always have certain windows open so I mostly see a few little stripes of background at the left and right edges.
I really like the way the textured paper here created amazing edges on the wash, and then on top of that I used salt in the more traditional manner to create the almost flamelike blossoms of paint in the background. I was so in love with it, I decided to paint the tentacles in washed-out, transparent black to let the background really show through. The smaller, fainter tentacles give it a sense of looking out over a field of them, almost like seaweed rising up from the ocean bottom.
Tentacle Deeps 27, 5.25″x7″ watercolor on paper.
This isn’t quite small enough for a standard frame, and I haven’t yet matted it properly into a larger one for photography, but I suspect you’ve seen enough framed tentacles by now to know the drill. Instead, enjoy the spooky bottom-up detail shot.
Tentacle Deeps 27, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: orange, red, salt, sunset, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
« Or Head Back That Way
More Art This Way »
