Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category

New Leaf

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

New Leaf, decorative art by Amy Crook

New Leaf by Amy Crook

A lot of the time I resist the urge to make things pretty and decorative, so with this piece I let myself make smooth, lovely progressions of shapes and colors all I wanted. I was experimenting with salt on a new paper, which turned out to be a bit too absorbent to make formations, but still left sparkly pools of color. Then I got my awesome new Japanese gouache-like paints out (watercolors, but opaque!) and just noodled about with two shades of green and a series of shapes and patterns.

Although the scanner tends to shift it to yellow, the lighter parts of this painting are a vivid new-leaf green, and the whole thing has a lovely rough, hand-torn edge. I’m thinking of framing it with photo corners on black mat board to bring out the roughness around the edges of the otherwise smooth, decorative shapes.

New Leaf, 8″x8″ mixed media on paper, nfs (sold).

Even my camera didn’t really like the lighter green color, but here you can see just a touch of the salt sparkle nestling amongst the matte paint and finely textured paper.

New Leaf, detail, by Amy Crook

New Leaf, detail, by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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Crayon Duckies

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Crayon Duckies, commissioned art by Amy Crook

Crayon Duckies by Amy Crook, commission

They’re not quite weebles, but every once in a while I get to do something so awesome for a client I can’t help but share. These were drawn with actual crayons for a client’s promotion involving dressed-up Halloween rubber duckies. Illustration clients ftw!

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
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Tentacle Deeps 18

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 18, mixed media art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 18 by Amy Crook

More tentacles! I started this piece with salt that had already been gently used and had a coating of color on the outside, arranging them in a pattern that made me think of balloons floating up or perhaps fluff blowing off a dandelion. Once I got the idea to attach them to tentacles, however, I couldn’t resist! I used several shades of red and orange ink to create the tentacles, and of course my scanner hates red dyes and so a lot of the subtle gradation you can see in person is lost.

I decided to create the “deeps” part of the painting with simple crosshatching, electing to go with a fairly loose style which often ran into the tentacles, which makes them just a bit more unreal. I do wonder what the salt pools represent in this context, attached at the end of each vivid red tentacle. Egg sacs? Sensory organs? Lunch?

Tentacle Deeps 18, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper.

Tentacle Deeps 18, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 18, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Snape-o-Ween Costumes, cartoon by Amy Crook

Snape-o-Ween Costumes by Amy Crook

I drew this years ago for a Halloween card exchange. Each costume and caption filled one eighth of one of those paper fortune tellers of the sort I used as a kid. I had to Google how to fold one, it had been so long! Perhaps next year I’ll make a Cthulhu one. Or Harry Potter himself, just so Snape can enjoy sharing the misery.

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Whimsicle Dragon sketch

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

Whimsicle Dragon sketch by Amy Crook

Whimsicle Dragon sketch by Amy Crook

Look out! Rawr!

This guy was totally inspired by the art in the credits of How to Train Your Dragon. He just wants some fish and a head-scratch, really!

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Snape – Don’t Look Back Moleskine

Friday, October 28th, 2011

Snape - Don't Look Back customized Moleskine by Amy Crook

Snape - Don't Look Back customized Moleskine by Amy Crook

The winner of my $101 gift certificate chose a tiny painting for her prize, and with her leftover credit she got this customized Moleskine notebook. She wanted a Harry Potter parody of the famous Bob Dylan movie poster for Don’t Look Back, so I got out the Sharpies and got to work. I admit I have no idea what the movie’s about, but the concept seemed to fit poor Severus!

Snape Moleskine, back, by Amy Crook

Snape Moleskine, back, by Amy Crook

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Mountains of Madness

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Mountains of Madness, watercolor by Amy Crook

Mountains of Madness by Amy Crook

This piece started out as an experiment in painting mountains for a client, and turned into a bewitchingly creepy landscape once I put in the sky. I used salt to create the ghostly texture in the sky, which one person described as a crowd of people staring down. Spooky!

I named it after a classic HP Lovecraft story that I haven’t even read (I know! Bad artist! No biscuit!), but the name just seemed to fit with the looming sky and lunatic moon.

Mountains of Madness, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).

Here you can see it tucked into a frame, which can be included for an additional fee.

Mountains of Madness, framed art by Amy Crook

Mountains of Madness, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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