Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category
Tentacle Bookmark 1
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Tentacle Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook
I couldn’t neglect Tentacle Tuesday for Valentine’s Day, now could I? After all, it is a nice lovely red.
After I finished this one, I texted a photo to a friend who immediately replied, “Are you giving me the tentacle?”
I drew this in pen and ink on a thick, textured watercolor paper that’s a nice warm white base for the tentacle and its background.
Tentacle Bookmark 1, 1″x7.625″ pen and ink on paper, nfs (sold).
Tentacle Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook
Above you can see this bookmark’s quite a bit longer than yesterday’s, but will still nestle nicely in a hardcover book. May I suggest a volume of Lovecraft?
Tentacle Bookmark, detail, by Amy Crook
The usual obligatory tentacle shot, which is tamer than it sounds. Don’t forget to visit all the bookmarks from this week.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: bookmark, nfs, orange, pen and ink, red, sold, tentacles
Salt Bookmark 2
Monday, February 13th, 2012
Salt Bookmark 2
by Amy Crook
It’s bookmark week! Lately when I tear giant sheets of art paper down to the sizes I like to work in, I’ve been saving the blank scraps, and this week I have enough finished bookmarks to make a week of it. I tried to do at least one in each of the styles I’ve been using, so there’s quite a variety, and they’re all for sale and a bookmark-friendly price. I’m not going to put them in the main art shop, but you can always go look at the collection (plus my older couple of contributions) by going to the bookmark tag. I’ve priced these nice and low so that you can get your hands on an Amy Crook original without breaking the bank, and have a bit of art to carry with you, keeping your place safe and beautiful.
Each one of these is an original, one-of-a-kind work of art, and I decided to start the week off with a salt painting. Barely-green salt and two colors of green glitter gel pen give this piece a shimmer that’s really appealing. The salt crystals are small enough not to get crunched off or damage your book, though they might wear over time, the way these things do.
Salt Bookmark 2, 1″x5″ ink-dyed salt and glitter gel pen on black paper, nfs, sold.
Salt Bookmark 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see the contrast between the pen that’s mostly glitter, and the pen that’s a fine metallic ink, both in color and density. The salt and its halo both glimmer in the sunlight. Below, you can see its size compared to a standard hardcover book.
Salt Bookmark 2, with book, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: black paper, bookmark, crosshatching, gel pen, nfs, pen and ink, salt, sold
Sherlock Says: Do Not Bend
Saturday, February 11th, 2012
Sherlock doodle by Amy Crook
Sometimes, just writing “please do not bend” on the back of a package just doesn’t seem enough. This time, Sherlock had his say — don’t worry, he’s hiding inside, too, so it’s not completely random. Really.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: etsy, sharpie marker, sherlock, sketch
Mood Ring
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Mood Ring, abstract watercolor painting by Amy Crook, $323
More experiments with the awesome black paper this week. This paper is actually colored by a chemical reaction in the paper pulp when they manufacture it, so the velvety black color is completely lightfast. Possibly more so than the paint and inks I use, actually.
The deep purple paint nearly disappears into the paper, but the opaque red pulls it into visibility, and both colors dye the salt here and there. I think I did tint this salt with ink as well, but I’m having a hard time remembering. The end result had a very ’70s feel to it to me, hence the title. Yeah, I said hence.
Mood Ring, 5″x5″ watercolor and salt on paper, $323 framed, with free shipping.
Something about the middle ring in the group of 3 catches the light much more than the other rings, which you can see in the detail below.
Mood Ring, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Below you can see the purple and red paint bleeding into the salt in the circles down in the lower right. I also made an iPhone wallpaper of the three central circles, and am sneaking it in here for those who read all the words.
Mood Ring, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And this one actually does fit into a frame, so you can see it next to my iPhone (for scale only, sorry) below.
Mood Ring, framed art by Amy Crook, $323
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers
Tags: black, for sale, purple, red, salt, watercolor
Cthulhu & Spider’s Delight Necklaces with Polymath
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
Cthulhu Necklace, collaboration with Shannon Henry
They’re almost ready!
Shannon Henry of Polymath Design Lab has been working with me to create a pair of awesome laser-cut necklaces. Cthulhu is in hand-dyed green leather, and the spiderweb (below) is made of black acrylic. We’re taking pre-orders for the first run, which will ship in March.
Check out Cthulhu and Spider’s Delight on Etsy!
Spider’s Delight necklace, collaboration with Shannon Henry
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: collaboration, cthulhu, etsy, necklace, polymath, shannon henry, spider, spiderweb, weeble
Tentacle Deeps 25
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 25, watercolor painting by Amy Crook
Tentacle Tuesday is upon us once again! I decided to go old school with this next set and paint the wash in the middle of the paper, which gives a very interesting edge to work with. This wash started golden yellow at the bottom and faded up to lemony yellow, but I wanted to give it a bit more oomph, so I went in with a deep goldenrod fine-point Sharpie marker and drew tiny crosshatching in all the background areas. The marker nearly fades into the watercolor down near the base of the tentacles, but you can see the texture clearly in the upper areas.
There’s something soothing about doing these really tedious patterns sometimes, especially since I can do a tiny area for just a minute or two and then do something else (mmmminternets), and then go back to it, which cuts up the process into manageable bites. Otherwise, my wrists might never forgive me!
Tentacle Deeps 25, 5.25″x5″ watercolor and Sharpie marker on paper.
Since this one’s slightly larger than a standard frame I didn’t get a photo of it in its new home yet, but you can see the texture of paper, paint and marker in the cool depth-of-field photo that I can’t resist taking every single time.
Tentacle Deeps 25, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: for sale, hufflepuff, sharpie marker, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor, yellow
Distant Skies at Endgame in Oakland, CA
Monday, February 6th, 2012
Distant Skies, art by Amy Crook at Endgame in Oakland, CA
Did you miss the tentacles? Never fear, new art is here! Well, here at Endgame in Oakland, anyway. I decided to theme the show with skies, stars and moons, and so you can see there’s pieces ranging from last week’s Blue Moon to some of my earliest salt pieces like Aglow. It’s funny, it feels like I’ve been working on the salt technique for ages, but really it’s not quite been a year, so this is a good sampling of the things I’ve done over the past year.
As before, the art is upstairs in the open gaming area, and I’m there most Wednesday evenings playing boardgames with the guys, so feel free to stop in. Of course the room up there is open most of the time, so if you just want to take a peek when I’m not around to stare to you, feel free.
The salt paintings are just so much cooler in person, I want you all to see them, I admit it. There’s even one token non-salt watercolor, Mountains of Madness, just for variety. You can click the image above to get a better view of the 13 pieces included in the show.
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Words Words Words
Tags: endgame, moon, show, stars
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