Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category

Scribble Goth

Friday, September 30th, 2011

Ditzy Bones fabric print by Amy Crook

Ditzy Bones fabric print by Amy Crook

Friday is for fabric! At least this one is. I’ve created a line of fabrics over at Spoonflower called Scribble Goth, made up of scribbly skulls, spikey stripes and even one lone ditzy print of teeny tiny bones.

I haven’t made all of these designs available for purchase yet, because there’s a small but significant cost associated with doing so (it adds up!). If you’d like to buy one of these fabrics for your own projects, just let me know (comment here! contact there! email! twitter! whatever works for you, really) and I’ll buy a swatch for myself so you can get sewing. I’m even willing to make other colorways, if you’d like a blood red skirt or some Halloween orange pajamas.

Scribble Goth Skull Border fabric design by Amy Crook

Scribble Goth Skull Border fabric design in two colorways by Amy Crook

I’ve also made a version of the above border that’s got the rest of the fabric covered in the polka dots below.

Scribble Goth Skully Polka Dot fabric design in two colorways by Amy Crook

Scribble Goth Skully Polka Dot fabric design in two colorways by Amy Crook

I’ve got a trio of stripes using the spikey cross from the border, though I only put two of them in the post.

Scribble Goth Cross Stripe 1 in two colorways by Amy Crook

Scribble Goth Cross Stripe 1 in two colorways by Amy Crook

Scribble Goth Cross Stripe 1 in two colorways by Amy Crook

Scribble Goth Cross Stripe 2 in two colorways by Amy Crook

And my favorite of all the patterns, a different sort of polka dot with the skulls arranged in florets.

Scribble Goth Skull Florets fabric design in two colorways by Amy Crook

Scribble Goth Skull Florets fabric design in two colorways by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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A Murder of Crows

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

A Murder of Crows, art by Amy Crook

A Murder of Crows by Amy Crook

This piece uses several different techniques together but really just one pen, although I did go back in and add just a hint of color to the shadowy, sunlit crows in their flight. I’m very pleased with the overall effect, which makes me think of a cover or title page to some mystery novel or horror story. There’s even 13 crows in my murder to make it extra spooky.

A Murder of Crows, 6″x6″ pen & ink and salt on watercolor paper.

I like the way the salt is nearly invisible until the sunlight hits it, adding sparkle and color to an otherwise monochrome image.

A Murder of Crows, detail 1, by Amy Crook

A Murder of Crows, detail 1, by Amy Crook

The curving edges on each bird were partially created by the puddles of inky salt water, an imprecise process at best, which helps to give them a sense of being backed and blurred by strong sunlight.

A Murder of Crows, detail 2, by Amy Crook

A Murder of Crows, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
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Weeble Basement Cat

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Weeble Basement Cat cartoon by Amy Crook

Weeble Basement Cat by Amy Crook

Not my usual weeble, but I was inspired by this lolcat to draw my own version of a Basement Cat. What can I say, I spend all day on the internet. At least it’s not Nyancat.

Categories: Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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Tentacle Deeps 16

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 16, art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 16 by Amy Crook

It’s Tuesday and that means tentacles! This is painted on a handmade postcard from India, just like Tentacle Deeps 12 & Tentacle Deeps 13.

I actually use the same two colors of paint for the wash on this as yesterday’s art, but the fade is much looser, and there’s no pure pigment, just different mixtures. When I went to put the tentacles on, it struck me that I hadn’t done a horizontal one yet, and so I used the granular lunar black watercolor to paint in these tentacles. The paint settled into the groovs in the paper, emphasizing the texture of the paper and letting the background color glow through the black as though the tentacles are strangely translucent.

Tentacle Deeps 16, ~4″x6″ watercolor on handmade paper.

I can’t resist taking these bottom-up shots whenever I’m photographing these tentacle pieces these days, even though there’s no salt at all on this one.

Tentacle Deeps 16, detail, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 16, detail, by Amy Crook

Here we are, a photo of the framed piece with my iPhone providing scale.

Tentacle Deeps 16, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 16, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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White Hot

Monday, September 26th, 2011

White Hot, abstract art by Amy Crook

White Hot by Amy Crook

It’s hard to capture the way this piece fairly glows with colour. There’s just two pigments, a pink and a rich orangey-gold that fades to the cream color of the paper in the center. I added seven salt circles, double-drawing the spirals in an orange-red and the apricot gold, so the centers of the salt circles reflect the pink from the corners, and the outer circles of salt crystals reflect the orange from the center.

White Hot, 5″x5″ salt, pen & ink, and watercolor on paper.

White Hot, detail 1, by Amy Crook

White Hot, detail 1, by Amy Crook

The salt crystals add a three-dimensional texture to the image, like planets being drawn into an inverse black hole.

White Hot, detail 2, by Amy Crook

White Hot, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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Zoisite Swirls

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

Zoisite Swirls, abstract art by Amy Crook

Zoisite Swirls by Amy Crook, $77

This piece is an echo of Hibiscus Green, but using the color palette from yesterday’s art. The mixture of the gold tones and zoisite texture gives it an illusion of being an iridescent bronze, even though the paint is actually quite matte. The zoisite is especially matte, soft and velvety looking on the paper’s surface.

Zoisite Swirls, 6.375″x4.25″ hibiscus tea on paper, $77 with free shipping.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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Squamous Turtle

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Squamous Turtle, watercolor by Amy Crook

Squamous Turtle by Amy Crook

I made this little guy in a very similar manner to the Opera Squid, except I mixed rich quinacridone gold with the grey-green zoisite genuine for his palette. He gets his name from one of Lovecraft’s favorite adjectives, which means scaly, and from the texture created when the granular zoisite settles out of the mix, leaving the quinacridone to stain the paper gold.

Squamous Turtle, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
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