Archive for the ‘Flowers, Trees and Landscapes’ Category
Hummingbird at Night
Sunday, October 4th, 2015
Hummingbird at Night by Amy Crook
This time of year there’s hummingbirds all over my neighborhood, and even showing up on my social media feeds. These inspirational little tiny jewels just beg to be captured, not in a cage, but on the page.
This painting features iridescent and duochrome paints on the black paper so everything shimmers and shines the way a real hummingbird does. The duochrome paints are really something, they change color depending on the angle of the light. Despite being a night scene, this piece sparkles charmingly in sunlight.
Hummingbird at Night, 6″x4″ duochrome and iridescent watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Hummingbird at Night, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sparkle in the Hummingbird’s breast and the loose brushstrokes that shape the leaves. Below, this tiny gem is nestled into a frame, waiting to brighten up your life.
Hummingbird at Night, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black paper, duochrome, hummingbird, iridescent, nfs, sold, watercolor
Halloween Trees 2
Friday, October 2nd, 2015
Halloween Trees 2 by Amy Crook
The original Halloween Trees is only a year old, but it feels very different from this sequel. The sky is softer and has more cloud shapes, and the trees are a less imposing brown rather than the starkly silhouetted black. Even the crows are different, coming in for a landing instead of taking off into the sunset.
The brilliant swath of pink behind the lightning-struck tree lets that whole bank of clouds really glow. The three trees each have their own character, slightly different patterns in their branches that make it clear even without leaves that they’re not the same species. If the crows are roosting in the middle one, one might wonder what lives in the lightning-struck tree on the left?
Halloween Trees 2, pen & ink, brush & ink, and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Halloween Trees 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the tiny birds up close, coming in to land in the lacework of branches. Below, the piece is in a temporary frame, just waiting for its new home.
Halloween Trees 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: brush and ink, crow, halloween trees, horizons, nfs, orange, pen and ink, pink, sold, tree, watercolor
Fairytale Sky 11
Monday, September 7th, 2015
Fairytale Sky 11 by Amy Crook
Against the soft background of salt-created stars and matte teal night, the glowing moon and iridescent clouds look like enamel, more substance than mist and light. The clouds are mainly a beautiful turquoise with odd purple lowlights that appear and disappear as you move past it, lined with pearlescent moonlight along the spiral curves and sinuous shapes.
Every Fairytale Sky painting is a little different. This one’s got some serious shine that give it a beautiful feel of a fairy tale just waiting for you to step through and find your magical adventure.
Fairytale Sky, 7″x5″ watercolor, pearlescent watercolor, duochrome watercolor, and salt on paper.
Fairytale Sky 11, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the velvety softness of the sky and the bright enameled moon floating atop it. Below, the night is captured in a frame, safe and cool even in the day.
Fairytale Sky, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: duochrome, fairytale sky, iridescent, moon, more cowbell, nfs, salt, sold, spirals, watercolor
Liminal Autumn
Thursday, September 3rd, 2015
Liminal Autumn by Amy Crook
The leaves have fallen but the cold hasn’t yet set in. Autumn still reigns, with fluffy October clouds rolling across the sky on playful breezes. Winter is just around the corner, but for now there’s still sunshine and a hint of comfort lingering around the edges of the world.
These trees have even more detail than my usual horizons, because the trees are painted in a gorgeous brown ink instead of a stark black. You can really see the texture of bark and the way the light shines through the branches, strong enough at the edge of fall still to make them seem almost translucent against the cloudy blue sky.
Liminal Autumn, 8″x4″ ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Liminal Autumn, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the intricate branches of the intertwining trees. Below, the painting is temporarily in a frame, waiting to be claimed and loved.
Liminal Autumn, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: autumn, for sale, horizons, ink, tree, watercolor, winter
Jade City
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015
Jade City, watercolor by Amy Crook
Every time I paint a new City, I think, this one is my favorite. It’s the inevitable consequence of hours spent filling in the tiny, monochrome details and fleshing out my imaginary worlds.
This gorgeous jade city is besieged by a magnificent purple rainstorm, the violet clouds hanging above in dark spirals while the rain streaks down the page. The patterns of the rain helped determine the shape of the city it fell upon; gaps in the runnels became the buildings in this layered, mysterious skyline.
Jade City, 8″x8″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Jade City, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the tops of a few of the buildings besieged by the beautifully textured rainfall. Below, the city waits in its frame like a window onto another, stranger world.
Jade City, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: city, japanese watercolor, nfs, primatek, sold, watercolor
Painted Ladies
Thursday, August 6th, 2015
Painted Ladies by Amy Crook
This is the summer of paintings that take months to complete! I started this last month with the off-kilter row houses all leaning together against a midnight sky. Then it sat around for weeks while I contemplated this sky or that sky, and finally I found clouds that match with the same whimsical, half-surreal feel as the townhouses below.
Perhaps this is where the London Addams clan lives, the houses joined up by tunnels and secret passages until it’s really one big, beautiful wall of weird. Instead of a swamp they have walled-up cellars that suspiciously moan. Instead of an unmarked, abandoned well, there’s a root cellar that doesn’t seem to stop going back and down into the deep earth.
Which of these painted ladies would you like to live in?
Painted Ladies, 10″x8″ Japanese watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Painted Ladies, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a the detail of the moon and a few of the lovely, strange roofs it’s shining down upon. Below, the painted ladies are in a frame, like a window to another, odder reality.
Painted Ladies, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: city, japanese watercolor, moon, nfs, painted ladies, periwinkle, row houses, sold, stars, watercolor
Sky Scraped
Wednesday, July 8th, 2015
Sky Scraped by Amy Crook
The subtle blue-green-grey of the sky in this painting was remarkably hard to capture in any of the photos. I love the stormy roil of it, almost pre-tornado as even the clouds look like they’re pouring down to become part of the skyscraper.
There’s a sense of decay in the central image, whether it’s a building half-built and abandoned, or a burnt-out husk just waiting to fall down.
I love the mysterious figure hanging out on a lone girder, rain pounding down all around it.
Who are they, and why are they up there? What do you think?
Sky Scraped, 4″x8″ pen & ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Sky Scraped, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the figure up close, mysterious cloak trailing below like the raggedy tail of some giant crow. Below, the painting rests in a temporary frame, waiting to find its place in the world.
Sky Scraped, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: city, nfs, pen and ink, ruins, sold, watercolor
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