Archive for the ‘Floating Gallery’ Category
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis
Thursday, November 7th, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
If you’ve never experienced sleep paralysis, this particular Uncanny Fear might not quite make sense to you.
You’re lying in bed, just on the edge of sleep, and your body has descended into some nether region of unresponsiveness. A fear grips you along with the strange paralysis, and you look around as much as your frozen eyes will allow. Dark figures loom all around, watching, waiting, though you don’t know what for. You probably don’t want to know.
Although I enjoy the pattern on the rumpled bedding immensely, I think the staticky quality of the shadowy figures if my favorite part of this one.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the spooky, swirly footboard on this narrow bed. Below, the piece is in a frame, with my iPhone for size reference.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
Red, Gold, and Green
Wednesday, November 6th, 2013
Red, Gold, and Green, watercolor still life by Amy Crook
That’s right, I painted a still life. On purpose.
I wanted something for my personal holiday cards this year that was in the colors of the season but without too much of the seasonal hype, so I pulled out a few of my Pilot Petit fountain pens and then painted a quick still life. The original was for sale in November’s Floating Gallery, but I won’t be putting the cards for sale. You have to be on my holiday card list to get one.
Red, Gold, and Green, 6″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Red, Gold, and Green, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a little close-up of the green and orange (only the pen body is really gold) pens. They have a plastic support behind each nib that’s colored to match the ink, and you can see the green one here, and a little sliver of the orange one in the background. Below, I’ve put it in a frame, with my phone and the not-gold pen in question (the color is called “apricot”).
Red, Gold, and Green, framed art by Amy Crook
If you don’t know what song this piece puts in my head, I can’t really help you.
And yes, I used Oxford commas in the title just for you.
Categories: Card Design, Floating Gallery, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: christmas, holiday, nfs, watercolor
Mercy House
Tuesday, November 5th, 2013
Mercy House by Amy Crook
“Sometimes one feels that it would be merciful to tear down these houses, for they must often dream.”
-H.P. Lovecraft, “The Picture in the House”
I’ve been wanting to paint a house to go with this quote for a while, and October seemed the perfect month for a fretful, unhappy wreck of a house to emerge from the cool green background. There’s a quality to the paint that’s hard to capture on film, an unnatural wash watery green across the whole thing that slips it sideways into the world of Lovecraft’s special brand of madness.
Mercy House, 8″x10″ watercolor on watercolor paper.
Mercy House, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the tiny glints of sunlight off the blindly staring window, and the black gap where the door once was. I never did decide if those fragments of sun are on shattered glass, or merely filtered through the encroaching leaves surrounding the house. Below, I’ve put the piece in an antiqued gold frame, the better to emphasize the sense of decay.
Mercy House, framed art by Amy Crook
This piece always puts Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “The Mercy Seat” in my head. Because of reasons.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: house, lovecraft, nfs, sold, watercolor
Pollen
Monday, November 4th, 2013
Pollen by Amy Crook
Continuing with my new tradition of reworking old art, this piece has very little resemblance to its forebear. The soft black paper is entirely covered in a dark, velvety red like old blood, and each little salt pool has a halo of iridescent garnet. The salt pools, originally a dull pink from the Himalaya sea salt, have been dyed a bright shimmering blue to match the tentacles. They reminded me of glowing motes of pollen drifting on the breeze, which is how I got the name.
I’ve got to admit, I really hope I don’t ever have to inhale these alien grains of pollen. I’d hate to see what kind of allergy attack they’d produce — or find blue tentacles growing in my brain.
Pollen, 5″x5″ salt and watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Pollen, detail, by Amy Crook
The big central crystal in this formation refused to be dyed blue, so it’s the only bit of the original pink left in the piece. Above, you can see the shimmering iridescent paint fading into the deeper background color — a natural-mineral paint called, appropriately, bloodstone. Below, the piece has been tucked into a frame with some extra tentacles to make it feel at home.
Pollen, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Tentacles
Tags: black paper, for sale, iridescent, more cowbell, salt, tentacles, watercolor
Beacon
Sunday, November 3rd, 2013
Beacon, abstract watercolor by Amy Crook
Swirls of purples, blues and greens both opaque and iridescent move above a vague, abstract shape that might be a tower or a web or something stranger. The night is void beyond, with no stars to be seen, just deeper violet and hints of shimmering blue.
Beacon, 5″x7″ watercolor and iridescent watercolor on paper.
Beacon, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the shimmer of blue and violet against the more matte green background. Below, you can see the piece in its frame, sitting in the sun.
Beacon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: for sale, iridescent, secret fan art, watercolor
Osculate! Osculate!
Monday, October 14th, 2013
Osculate! Doctor Who fan art by Amy Crook
I meant to finish and post this last week after the Floating Gallery closed, by my body had other ideas. I’ve had a horrible head cold, and slept through most of the week. I’m only just recovering, so please do forgive the lateness of this Dalek.
He’s giving up his usual cry of “exterminate” in favor of some holiday spirit! Osculate means “kiss,” so he’s just demanding you give him his due and kiss a Dalek under the mistletoe. I’m sure it won’t kill you.
Well, mostly sure.
Osculate! 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper. Get him on a holiday card at my Etsy shop!
Osculate! Dalek holiday card by Amy Crook at Etsy
Categories: Card Design, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: copic marker, dalek, doctor who, for sale, holiday, pen and ink
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey
Tuesday, October 8th, 2013
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey
Doctor Who art by Amy Crook
Everyone needs a tiny TARDIS in their lives, don’t they? This one is rocketing through the wibbly wobbly timey wimey spaces between possibilities. It looks pretty turbulent, with streaks of blue and green and strange stars of sparkling salt all around.
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, 4″x6″ pen & ink, salt and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, detail, by Amy Crook
One problem with painting in gorgeous bright, clear blues is that they get a bit muddled by my scanner, but you can see the contrast in the piece much more clearly above. The TARDIS floats alongside sparkling salt and strange shapes, with the Doctor and perhaps even a Companion or two tucked safely inside.
Below, the painting hangs out in a frame, safe from the forces of time and space. For now.
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: blue, doctor who, green, pen and ink, salt, tardis, watercolor
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