Archive for the ‘Flowers, Trees and Landscapes’ Category

Hillside

Friday, March 8th, 2019

Hillside by Amy Crook, a mist-shrouded tree against a glowing sky with a stooping bird of prey overhead

Hillside, 4″x6″ Primatek watercolor on paper

A bird of prey stoops above, but our mere human eyes can’t see what it’s diving for down in the scrub grass clinging to the hillside despite the season. The tree is stripped of its foliage, half vanishing against the twilight, everything softened by mist and distance.

The limited palette blends beautifully, mineral paints that cling together on the soft paper. The sunshine is rust, the sky turquoise and amethyst and barely-there vivianite, creating a glow against which the bloodstone paint seems almost transcendent.

There’s a missing corner on the lower right, but as you can see in the photo, a frame will easily hide the slight imperfection so only you and your artist will know it’s there.

Hillside, detail, by Amy Crook

Hillside, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the twining branches of the tree vanishing into the mists. Below, this small painting rests in its frame, the perfect size to tuck a bit of mystery into your life.

Hillside, framed art by Amy Crook

Hillside, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
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Where the Sun Gives No Light

Thursday, March 7th, 2019

Where the Sun Gives No Light by Amy Crook, an alien city skyline against a strange sky filled with birds

Where the Sun Gives No Light, 8″x4″ watercolor on paper

Despite the bleak (and vaguely naughty) title, this painting is full of light and hope. The sun is a dim orb above the city but its light casts no shadows, which are instead from something off the page entirely.

There’s soft glasslike round buildings, strange towers, completely normal skyscrapers, and of course a sneaky cat. Whimsy and wonder in one alien city, silhouetted against a glow that has no source but still illuminates better than the wan sunlight.

Where the Sun Gives No Light, detail, by Amy Crook

Where the Sun Gives No Light, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the warm stripe of light reflecting off the distant skyline. Below, the city waits in a temporary frame, trying to find its forever world.

Where the Sun Gives No Light, framed art by Amy Crook

Where the Sun Gives No Light, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Life Is Not the Same

Tuesday, March 5th, 2019

Life Is Not the Same by Amy Crook, surreal paint-smear trees against soft purple clouds

Life Is Not the Same, 8″x4″ watercolor on paper

This painting started with such bright skies, it’s not really a surprise that it took such a surrealist bent all the way to the finish line. The trees in the foreground seem almost hyperreal against the softness of the clouds, with a red hawk gliding between the two states.

Perhaps it’s hunting reality.

The title is from the Spiderverse soundtrack, the line, “Life is not the same with your picture in my frame,” that somehow spoke to the sense that each component of this painting lives in a slightly different universe from the others.

Life Is Not the Same, detail, by Amy Crook

Life Is Not the Same, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the red hawk, circling among the fuzzy clouds, above the brushstroke trees. Below, the painting is waiting in a temporary frame to fly to its new destination.

Life Is Not the Same, framed art by Amy Crook

Life Is Not the Same, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Blue Moon 6

Monday, March 4th, 2019

Blue Moon 6 by Amy Crook, three crows flying against a blue near-full moon in a swirling dark sky

Blue Moon 6, 6″x4″ gouache and watercolor on paper

A blue moon hangs gibbous in the dark of night, mysterious colors peeking out through the mist around it. Three birds make their way across, neither entirely silhouetted nor completely illuminated.

This was almost “three for a death” after a different version of the counting crows rhyme, though these feel more like ravens to me. An unkindness of three, though who knows how many more are lurking among the swirling shadows.

Whether waxing or waning, the moon floats serenely in a halo of its own light, secure that the time will bring its cycle back to full soon enough.

Blue Moon 6, detail, by Amy Crook

Blue Moon 6, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the moon glowing, the spirals of darkness reaching, and the ravens soaring. Below, you can see this small art in its frame, perfect for tucking a piece of once upon a time into your own space.

Blue Moon 6, framed art by Amy Crook

Blue Moon 6, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Inktober 2018: Week 4 + The End

Thursday, November 1st, 2018

Inktober is over! One ink drawing per day for the whole month, whew. Today we’ve got the last 10 of these little 2.5″x3.5″ cards, and then on to NaNoWriMo we go!

brush and ink drawing of a slice of pizza with the word YUM!

Inktober 22: Pizza

brush and ink drawing of a black cat staring into your soul

Inktober 23: Your Soul Looks Tasty

pen and ink art of an agouti scratching a capybara's chin

Inktober 24: Giddy Rodents for Kim

ink wash word art of the word MOIST

Inktober 25: Moist for Oscar

brush and ink art of a cute ghost

Inktober 26: Ghost

pen and ink line art of a Drifloon

Inktober 27: Drifloon

brush and ink word art of the word petrichor dripping onto cracked dry ground

Inktober 28: Petrichor for Molly

draw a blod and make it into a cat. call it art.

Inktober 29: Blob Cat

brush and ink art of city skyline

Inktober 30: Skyline

pen and ink art of a fanged skull in a crown resting in an arched niche

Inktober 31: Vampire Skull

Support me on Patreon to see these first when they go up for sale!

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Pretty Words, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Abandonment

Monday, October 8th, 2018

Abandonment by Amy Crook, shadowy abstract city ruins in front of a stormy sky

Abandonment, 7″x5″ ink and watercolor on paper

Often the skies come first and then the foreground goes in to match, but this time the ruins grew up out of the ashes of avoidance, and the purple clouds came rolling in later.

Spiky, burnt-out buildings lean into one another, smudged with smoke and abandoned by everyone but the carrion birds.

More ruins for a world on fire, but hey, at least they’re pretty.

Ruins, detail, by Amy Crook

Ruins, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the most-intact tower and its circle of carrion birds up close and personal. Below, the bleak landscape sits in a frame, like a window to a ruined world.

Ruins, framed art by Amy Crook

Ruins, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Striking Out

Sunday, October 7th, 2018

Striking Out by Amy Crook, a watercolor painting of shimmering purple lightning against dark, roiling violet thunderclouds

Striking Out, 10″x8″ watercolor on watercolor paper

‘Striking out’ is a phrase with many connotations, from violence to adventure to failure.

It seemed fitting for this brooding violet storm with its lightning that lands three times and flashes twice more, the paint translucent white from one angle and vibrantly purple in the light.

Even the clouds hold some secret sparkle in their depths, the promise of rain or perhaps a portent of yet more sparks waiting to emerge.

Striking Out, detail, by Amy Crook

Striking Out, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, sunshine limns the lightning in shimmering purple. Below, the storm is safely contained in a frame, waiting to strike out for its new home.

Striking Out, framed art by Amy Crook

Striking Out, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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