Archive for the ‘Flowers, Trees and Landscapes’ Category
Mapping Your Thing
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
Fairytale Path by Amy Crook, for Tara Swiger’s Map-Making Guide
I have to admit I was utterly thrilled when Tara Swiger.* asked me to paint a path for her latest awesome product, the Map-Making Guide*. After some back-and-forth discussion, she ended up commissioning the path itself, and a page of fairytale-related dingbats to go with it. The purple fuzzy monster is even a bit weeble-y, so when he wanted to be posted on a Wednesday, I went with it.
I sketched up the path itself, and then after her enthusiastic approval, painted in the wandering curve, leaving plenty of white space around it for writing, and playing. Then I had fun drawing all the things I could think of to decorate it, most of which you can see here. The extra curve of path is for those whose ambitions sometimes require a detour, for instance, and there’s a dragon and fuzzy monster to represent the scary obstacles along the way. A pot of gold awaits those for whom that’s part of the goal, as well as a castle.
I had a lot of fun printing off a sample page and cutting out all the bits to play with, though I have to admit that I haven’t made it all the way through making my own Map yet. I’m thinking of making myself a page of pennants and banners to act as mile-markers, though I’m also tempted to get some of those Post-It flags for the same purpose. I’ve always wanted an excuse to buy some!
If you’ve got a goal and you’re a bit fuzzy on how to get from Point A to Point B, think about giving Tara’s Map-Making Guide* a try! Just doing Step 1 (spoiler: it’s “define Point A & Point B”) has been a great help in focusing my efforts.
“Working on the map with Amy was fantastic. I came to her while the idea was still just an unformed thought. Not only did she totally NAIL what I only vaguely described, she also helped me think it through. She turned my ideas into actual, visual products and delighted me beyond belief.”
-Tara Swiger
If you’re interested in working with me on an illustration, just drop me a line and I’ll be happy to give you a price quote and timeline estimate.
*Disclosure: I’m using affiliate links! If you buy it, I will get a few dollars. This will make us all happy.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: commission, dragon, monster, tara swiger, watercolor
1 Comment »
Midnight Blue
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
Midnight Blue, art by Amy Crook
This piece is a deliberate echo of last week’s intricate Cross the Sky, but both simpler and using the iconic blue and yellow color scheme from Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
The stars are monochromatic, first using spirals of orange-gold ink, and then a softer gold mixed to match. The moon is salt-free this time, inked in and then gently blurred with the gold watercolor to give it, too, a bright glow. The pure blue watercolor is bright and joyful, and it dried with a lovely texture in the denser areas. I thought about going in with some black to darken it up, but I like the cheery glow of the piece as is.
Midnight Blue, 7″x5″ pen & ink, salt and watercolor on paper.
The pure blue watercolor is bright and joyful, and it dried with a lovely texture in the denser areas. I thought about going in with some black to darken it up, but I like the cheery glow of the piece as is.
Midnight Blue, detail 1, by Amy Crook
You can see the gentle blurring of the moon below, and the line where a pool of pale gold paint dried.
Midnight Blue, detail 2, by Amy Crook
It looks quite nice in its frame, with the bright colors offset by the black wood.
Midnight Blue, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: for sale, moon, pen and ink, salt, stars, watercolor
1 Comment »
Batik Pattern
Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Batik pattern by Amy Crook
Busy busy busy! I’m on a deadline, so I haven’t had time to get something scanned for today.
This is a batik-like pattern I created that never got used — you can see it repeating on a page here. I used Illustrator to make the shapes and get it to repeat cleanly.
It’d make a pretty neat fabric, I suppose, not that there’s not a ton of things just like it out there already, heh.
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: batik, green, illustrator, nfs, pattern
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Snowflakes
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Snowflakes by Amy Crook, $222
After seeing the lovely crystal formations in Aglow, I decided to test out what I could get with blue ink and the same paper. The effect was extremely simple but quite lovely, so I decided to keep it as is rather than muddle it up with anything else.
Snowflakes, 5″x5″ pen and ink and salt on watercolor paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
Here’s a shot of one of the snowflakes up close.
Snowflakes, detail, by Amy Crook
It’s enhanced well by a very simple black frame.
Snowflakes, framed art by Amy Crook
I’ve put a detailed set of shot of the progress behind the cut, so you can see how the snowflakes grew.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: blue, for sale, pen and ink, salt
1 Comment »
Haloed
Friday, July 1st, 2011
Haloed by Amy Crook
For this piece I used salt in a more traditional method to get the haloed starbursts in the blue-black sky. I overworked the section with the moon a little too much, so the paper tore in places, but I do like the overall effect and might try to reproduce it later with a bit more care.
Haloed, 9″x5″ mixed media on paper, nfs.
Haloed, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: moon, nfs, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Twisted Tree
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Twisted Tree by Amy Crook
Today’s art combines a number of techniques into one unusual piece. The base is a heavy, handmade postcard from India, part of a set I bought years ago with irregular, natural edges. The wash was made with strong black tea, and the texture comes from salt crystals placed on the wet paper. Then, I added a touch of blue paint and a little more salt to create the shape of the bird.
I have to admit, once I saw a bird in the blue, I couldn’t help but think of Twitter, but I think that’s just a sign I spend too much time on social networks.
I broke out my fine-point sharpies in brown and black to create the tree and the detail on the bird, using a loose, scribbly style to create an organic shape that fit with the background.
Twisted Tree, 4″x6″ mixed media on paper, nfs (sold).
The bird ended up with a bit of an attitude, and I rather imagine him saying something like, “Yeah, yeah, tweet, whatever.” Despite that, he’s got a bit of sparkle to his personality, as you can see here.
Twisted Tree, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Actually, there’s salt crystals in a fine layer all along the lower part of the painting, giving it texture and a subtle glimmer.
Twisted Tree, detail 2, by Amy Crook
It looks quite nice in a simple black frame, and this painting, like always, will ship wrapped up safely and ready to display.
Twisted Tree, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: bird, nfs, salt, sharpie, sold, tea, tree, twitter
Harvest Moon 2
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
Harvest Moon 2 by Amy Crook
Even as I’m really developing the salt work into a proper technique, I still learn something new with each piece. This painting began with a lot of painstaking drawing that became nearly obliterated by the process, and ended up with a deceptively simple image with a lot of texture and detail just waiting to be found by the careful viewer.
Harvest Moon 2, 7″x5″ salt, pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
The central shape actually started as a dense circle of pen-and-ink spirals, but you can only see a tiny shadow of the original ink if you look very closely.
Harvest Moon 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook
When I added the salt and water to it, the golden-orange ink turned into a vividly orange puddle, which then dried to the softer peach color you see in the final product.
Harvest Moon 2, in progress, by Amy Crook
There’s a dense layer of sparkling salt crystals overlaying the entire surface of the ‘moon,’ adding a physical texture on top of the visual texture.
Harvest Moon 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook
The salt layer, like the ink beneath it, formed unevenly based on where the paper warped and the water pooled. Here you can really see the line of dense crystals that runs vertically through the image.
Harvest Moon 2, detail 3, by Amy Crook
And here it is tucked into a frame, ready to find its new home.
Harvest Moon 2, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: harvest moon, moon, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
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