Archive for the ‘Things I’m a Fan Of’ Category

Weeble Wednesday: King in Yellow

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Weeble King in Yellow by Amy Crook

Weeble King in Yellow by Amy Crook

The King in Yellow is the fourth weeble in my series of depictions of the mythos of HP Lovecraft. He’s often associated with Hastur, and originally appears in the short story “The Repairer of Repuations.” He is the titular character in a play said to reveal such irresistible truth as to drive any reader or viewer mad.

In keeping with the Neil Gaiman theme of the week, the play is a central part of a pastiche of Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes that he wrote, entitled “A Study in Emerald.”

King in Yellow, 5″x7″ pen, ink and Copic marker on watercolor paper.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Endless: Desire

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Endless: Desire by Amy Crook

Endless: Desire by Amy Crook

Today’s print is the second in a series of 4 which were inspired by Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.

This plate represents one of a pair of “twins,” Desire — whose sister is Despair. This time I used delicate lace to give texture to the top half of the plate, and below we have a pile of shiny, discarded hearts. The face of Desire is reflected in the largest, central heart, vague yet compelling as it represents the secret desires hiding in us all.

Desire, 2″x2.75″ etching on 6″x6″ watercolor paper, 1/1, $199 with free shipping.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Endless: Dream

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Endless: Dream by Amy Crook

Endless: Dream by Amy Crook

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series has inspired thousands of artists of all sorts since it began in 1989. I made a total of 5 of these small etching plates for the Endless, though for some reason I never printed the Death plate by itself, although it’s used in one of my larger pieces, Red Death.

This plate represents the series’ main character, Dream. His dark robes, at times, showed the faces of infinite dreamers around the hem, and so I used a tattered piece of silk to create the impression of cloth at the top of the plate. Then I drew the faces in by hand, young and old, male and female, each of them dreaming with their eyes shut tight.

Dream, 2″x2.75″ etching on 6″x6″ watercolor paper, 1/1, $199 with free shipping.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Pooh and Piglet Picking Violets

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Pooh and Piglet Picking Violets, color edition, by Amy Crook

Pooh and Piglet Picking Violets, color edition, by Amy Crook

One of the easiest way to etch a printing plate is called dry point, where you basically draw on the softer metal of the plate with a sharp steel point, creating grooves in the plate. These never last very long, I only got half a dozen prints out of it (I did 2 editions, 3 each of the black and white, below, and the color, above), but there’s something very satisfying about working directly with the material this way.

The color edition was created by carefully rubbing the inks just into the parts of the plate where I wanted them, and then taking care not to overly clean off the excess, leaving the soft glow of yellow on Pooh bear, as well as the gentle shading on the greenery.

This was actually my very first attempt at printmaking, and I wasn’t sure what to do, so I drew two of my most favorite characters. I’ve given away the rest of the edition so I only have the two examples left, which I’m choosing not to sell because of the copyright still surrounding A. A. Milne’s wonderful characters.

Pooh and Piglet Picking Violets, 10″x6″ etching on watercolor paper, not for sale.

Pooh and Piglet Picking Violets, black and white edition, by Amy Crook

Pooh and Piglet Picking Violets, black and white edition, by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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Bobtail Squid

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Bobtail Squid by Amy Crook

Bobtail Squid by Amy Crook

I think bobtail squid are just the cutest of the squid family, so I decided to paint one up for another tiny painting. He’s actually a deep-sea creature, so he should rightly be floating in a serene black depth, but I wanted to give him a little lighter of a background, so I made it a dark blue with a bit of sunshine coming in. Maybe it’s really the lights of an oncoming research vessel, who knows?

Bobtail Squid, 4″x6″ oil paint on canvas board with a 5″ wooden easel.

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Weeble Wednesday: Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Nyarlathotep Weeble by Amy Crook

Nyarlathotep Weeble by Amy Crook

Adding another weeble to my depictions of the mythos of HP Lovecraft, I give you Nyarlathotep. He appears at least twice as a handsome, charismatic Pharaoh gathering armies for the Great Old Ones. He’s also known as the Crawling Chaos, and he shows up in a few other, less palatable forms, in other stories. I had fun drawing his creepy-crawly shadow, not to mention the sneaky monsterified details on his otherwise traditional costume.

Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, 5″x7″ pen, ink and Copic marker on paper.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Red Death

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

Red Death by Amy Crook

Red Death by Amy Crook

This piece has a bit of a story to it. It’s a large monoprint, with a very small etching plate near the center of the paper. The two more random images were created by mixing up the blood-red ink and then smushing it between two plates, and then printing the result. I love the way the bottom image looks a bit like a heart (of the anatomical sort), while the left image seems to hold a whole world of secrets, a landscape of crimson mystery.

The etching plate is part of a series I started and never finished, depicting Neil Gaiman’s Endless from his Sandman comic series — but not the people, the ideas they represented. This plate was, I think, the most successful, the image for Death. I did print a single edition of the plates by themselves, and I’ll post those next month sometime (very Halloween appropriate).

Together the 3 images seem to tell a story, or to invite the viewer to tell their own story. I think every piece of art has something to say to the viewer, but not every person gets the same message. I’m always curious what a piece says to other people — what does this one say to you?

Red Death, 22.5″x16″ etching and monoprint on watercolor paper, $699 with free shipping.

Red Death, detail, by Amy Crook

Red Death, detail, by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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