Archive for the ‘Flowers, Trees and Landscapes’ Category
Filigree Moon 2
Monday, July 9th, 2012
Filigree Moon 2 by Amy Crook
This painting is the shining golden harvest moon version of the cool Filigree Moon from two weeks ago. The moon is rising up in one corner, covered in gold spirals, adding its light to a sky full of stars. There’s faint white salt pools, deep golden yellow ones, and some glittery gold spirals as well decorating the black paper the same way the stars dot the sky.
I’d been using my cooler glitter pens for my planets, the blue and purple, and I wanted to use the gold for a bit. So, I got out some black paper and first made the golden moon background, then scattered in some stars with salt, water and paint, then a few more of just salt water. Finally once it was all dry, I came in and added spirals, first to the moon and then to give the sky even more sparkle.
Filigree Moon 2, 7″x5″ Japanese watercolor and glitter gel pen on Arches cover black paper.
Filigree Moon 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above you can see a very close photo of two of the tiny salt pools, including the one big crystal that formed. Below is a shot of the moon itself, in all its glittery glory, with the same two pools in the distance on the upper left.
Filigree Moon 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And finally, you can see it in a frame (with the glass left out), hanging out with my iPhone so they can talk about whether size matters.
Filigree Moon 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, filigree, for sale, glitter gel pen, gold, moon, salt, spirals, watercolor
Filigree Planet 2
Monday, July 2nd, 2012
Filigree Planet 2 by Amy Crook
One more example of all the tiny spirals, this one with a few purple spirals sneaking in among the blue just to switch things up. The planet itself is a rich, grapey purple with some splashes of lighter periwinkle as highlights. The black space around it has quite a mysterious, almost wormhole-like texture to it, swirling around the planet’s inexorable gravity.
Filigree Planet 2, 7″x5″ watercolor and glitter gel pen on paper.
Filigree Planet 2, detail, by Amy Crook
I love the way the light shimmers off these glittery pens, but they fade to near-invisibility at other angles and distances. I even made you, well, okay, I made myself a computer wallpaper off of the detail shot above, but you can use it, too. Below, you can see the piece tucked into a black frame, reflecting serenely in my iPhone (as usual, it’s not included, heh).
Filigree Planet 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books
Tags: blue, filigree, for sale, glitter gel pen, planet, purple, spirals, violet, watercolor
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Pomegranate
Thursday, June 28th, 2012
Pomegranate watercolor by Amy Crook
This would be one of the pieces full of little tiny spirals (as were both this week’s prior art posts, really) that caused me to Instagram my poor ace-bandaged wrist instead of posting art on Saturday. Well, this combined with a work project that involved a lot of sustained precision trackpad work, anyway. Two things that really don’t go together, apparently!
Speaking of things that caused me trouble, it’s very hard to find a good quote about pomegranates not from the Bible. I was very pleased to finally find this quote from a translation of Homer, though I swear pomegranates figured in more stuff in English class.
I originally painted this as another mostly-circular wash, but when the shape and color started to become decidedly pomegranate-like, I embraced it. The spirals are like the seeds, to me, the mystery hiding inside the lovely fruit. The quote came last, and as you can see below, the word “glows” was done with two shades of red and a nice little smear to create a halo.
Pomegranate, 7″x5″ pen & ink and watercolor on paper.
Pomegranate, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above, the glow, both in the inner line work of a brighter red, and the soft pink smear around it created by running an eraser over the still-wet ink. Below, you can see a close-up of the spirals and the way the burgundy ink interacts with the various shades of watercolor beneath it.
Pomegranate, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And finally here what it looks like in a frame, just waiting to bring a bit of glowing mystery to your home, or the corner of your office. The frame isn’t included, but I’m happy to add it in for a small additional fee.
Pomegranate, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Whimsical and Strange, Words Words Words
Tags: calligraphy, for sale, pen and ink, pomegranate, spirals, watercolor
Filigree Moon
Monday, June 25th, 2012
Filigree Moon by Amy Crook
I’m utterly delighted by this piece, from the salt pools with their soft, chalky centers to the fine filigree of glittering spirals over the subtly colored moon. I almost didn’t put a price on it at all, and I’ll definitely find a spot for it among my shelves where it can bring me delight for as long as it lives here.
The glitter gel pen has no actual pigment in it, and the glitter in it is remarkably large, so that you get an effect of translucency that reminds me of glitter nail polish. From some angles the filigree is bright and obvious, but from others, like the one in the scanner, it’s barely there at all. The tiny salt-pool stars add their own bit of sparkle to the piece, and the velvety black paper makes the perfect space backdrop.
Filigree Moon, 7″x5″ salt, Japanese watercolor and glitter gel pen on Arches cover black paper.
Filigree Moon, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the filigree lit up by the sunlight, spirals and curlicues that shimmer and vanish when you turn the painting away from the sun. Below, you can see that I’ve finally had the brilliant idea to photograph the black paper pieces without the glass in the frame, and magically there’s no glare. Fancy that.
Filigree Moon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: black paper, filigree, for sale, glitter gel pen, moon, periwinkle, salt, spirals, watercolor
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Blue Flower sketch
Sunday, June 24th, 2012
Blue Flower watercolor sketch by Amy Crook
Just a little sketch I did with my water brush in my little notebook to cheer up your weekend. It’s not really meant to be any specific flower, just a pretty one.
Happy Sunday!
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: nfs, sketch, watercolor
Dirigible
Friday, June 22nd, 2012
“Should we haul him up?”
“Nah, let him dangle a little longer.”
Dirigible, Girl Genius art by Amy Crook
I seem to have become obsessed with patterns, though I already knew I had a strange thing for spirals. I used my water brush, which is a nifty device with a well of water the way a brush pen might have ink. I dipped the tip in paint and began at the center, then brushed outward, the color getting more and more diluted until there’s hardly any blue left. Then, of course, once I had the spiraling clouds, I needed something to float in them. I put a brass trilobyte on the side of a dirigible as an homage to the wonderful Girl Genius webcomic.
The dirigible’s dangling passenger is just a bonus.
Dirigible, 8″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Dirigible, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the lovely purple Dirigible with its golden trilobyte and passenger holding on for dear life below, next to a dime for scale. Below, it’s resting temporarily in a 10″x8″ frame, hanging out with my iPhone for an entirely different sort of size reference.
Dirigible, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: for sale, girl genius, spirals, things that are actually steampunk, tiny fandom, watercolor
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Dramatic
Thursday, June 21st, 2012
“If you’re quite done with the dramatic poses, there is a case, you know.”
Dramatic, Sherlock art by Amy Crook
This one’s actually based on a bit in the second episode of Series 2, The Hounds of Baskerville. There’s a point at which Sherlock is up on a windy promontory, looking over the moors, with John down below waiting patiently for him to stop enjoying the way his coat looks blowing in the breeze.
He does so love to be dramatic.
Dramatic, 6″x6″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Dramatic, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see the strange clouds and impatient John with Sherlock off in the distance, framing a perfectly boring dime. Below, it’s temporarily in the same 8″x10″ frame you’ll have grown used to seeing this week, for scale.
Dramatic, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: for sale, sherlock, sunset, tiny fandom, watercolor, watson
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