Archive for the ‘Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths’ Category
Tentacle Deeps 28
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 28 by Amy Crook
You can’t have these tentacles, they’re sold! A friend of mine came over to hang out, asked if he could peek in the Big Drawer of Art, and went home with this piece (he left a check behind, yay!).
This paper is interesting, it’s not really meant for watercolors, I don’t think. It’s very absorbent, almost too much so, and it buckles quite a bit when it’s wet. On the other hand, the interesting particulates in the paper shine through the watercolor, giving an impression of distant lights, whether stars or some underwater bioluminescence isn’t clear. I liked the effect so much I started another one in a different shade of blue.
It’s also bigger than my usual tentacles. I’ve been trying to vary my paper sizes more lately (though 5″x7″ is still the dominant size), so I tore this paper down to two 8″x10″ pieces. I guess sometimes size does matter.
Tentacle Deeps 28, 8″x10″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).
Tentacle Deeps 28, detail, by Amy Crook
Nifty shot of tentacles is nifty. Here, have a wallpaper. Below, you can see the tentacles in my frame with my iPhone, though my friend took the original home all naked to put in a frame he already had. Big tentacles are big!
Tentacle Deeps 28, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: nfs, sold, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 27
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 27 by Amy Crook
We have ghostly tentacles writhing against a textured wash of sunset red, orange and gold for our Tentacle Tuesday. I really love all the texture and detail on this one, so I made a wallpaper to share. I make these sort of huge and not particularly specific on the size so that you can just tell your computer to fill the screen and it won’t matter if some of one edge or another gets cropped. I also make the tentacles go left to right because that’s what works for me on my screen, I almost always have certain windows open so I mostly see a few little stripes of background at the left and right edges.
I really like the way the textured paper here created amazing edges on the wash, and then on top of that I used salt in the more traditional manner to create the almost flamelike blossoms of paint in the background. I was so in love with it, I decided to paint the tentacles in washed-out, transparent black to let the background really show through. The smaller, fainter tentacles give it a sense of looking out over a field of them, almost like seaweed rising up from the ocean bottom.
Tentacle Deeps 27, 5.25″x7″ watercolor on paper.
This isn’t quite small enough for a standard frame, and I haven’t yet matted it properly into a larger one for photography, but I suspect you’ve seen enough framed tentacles by now to know the drill. Instead, enjoy the spooky bottom-up detail shot.
Tentacle Deeps 27, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: orange, red, salt, sunset, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 26
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 26 by Amy Crook
I went for a warm, soft brown on this installment of the tentacles, with layers of tentacles fading into the murky waters. the tentacles are painted with my favorite granulating lunar black to give that lovely texture, and the background itself has some bloodstone in it to add to the texture. I find these very meditative to do, just thinking about how to arrange the curls and swirls in an attractive pattern without too much repeat or too little visual interest.
The visual texture on this one is very rich and soft, though the paper is quite stiff. Beware the velvety tentacles, their embrace is insidious.
Tentacle Deeps 26, 5.25″x7″ watercolor on paper.
I haven’t actually framed this one yet, it’ll have to go in an 8″x10″ frame with a mat because of the slightly too-wide paper that a certain artist was slackery about tearing to size. You can still enjoy the traditional close-up shot below, though.
Tentacle Deeps 26, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: brown, for sale, rust, sharpie marker, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Tentacle Bookmark 1
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Tentacle Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook
I couldn’t neglect Tentacle Tuesday for Valentine’s Day, now could I? After all, it is a nice lovely red.
After I finished this one, I texted a photo to a friend who immediately replied, “Are you giving me the tentacle?”
I drew this in pen and ink on a thick, textured watercolor paper that’s a nice warm white base for the tentacle and its background.
Tentacle Bookmark 1, 1″x7.625″ pen and ink on paper, nfs (sold).
Tentacle Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook
Above you can see this bookmark’s quite a bit longer than yesterday’s, but will still nestle nicely in a hardcover book. May I suggest a volume of Lovecraft?
Tentacle Bookmark, detail, by Amy Crook
The usual obligatory tentacle shot, which is tamer than it sounds. Don’t forget to visit all the bookmarks from this week.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: bookmark, nfs, orange, pen and ink, red, sold, tentacles
Cthulhu & Spider’s Delight Necklaces with Polymath
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
Cthulhu Necklace, collaboration with Shannon Henry
They’re almost ready!
Shannon Henry of Polymath Design Lab has been working with me to create a pair of awesome laser-cut necklaces. Cthulhu is in hand-dyed green leather, and the spiderweb (below) is made of black acrylic. We’re taking pre-orders for the first run, which will ship in March.
Check out Cthulhu and Spider’s Delight on Etsy!
Spider’s Delight necklace, collaboration with Shannon Henry
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: collaboration, cthulhu, etsy, necklace, polymath, shannon henry, spider, spiderweb, weeble
Tentacle Deeps 25
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 25, watercolor painting by Amy Crook
Tentacle Tuesday is upon us once again! I decided to go old school with this next set and paint the wash in the middle of the paper, which gives a very interesting edge to work with. This wash started golden yellow at the bottom and faded up to lemony yellow, but I wanted to give it a bit more oomph, so I went in with a deep goldenrod fine-point Sharpie marker and drew tiny crosshatching in all the background areas. The marker nearly fades into the watercolor down near the base of the tentacles, but you can see the texture clearly in the upper areas.
There’s something soothing about doing these really tedious patterns sometimes, especially since I can do a tiny area for just a minute or two and then do something else (mmmminternets), and then go back to it, which cuts up the process into manageable bites. Otherwise, my wrists might never forgive me!
Tentacle Deeps 25, 5.25″x5″ watercolor and Sharpie marker on paper.
Since this one’s slightly larger than a standard frame I didn’t get a photo of it in its new home yet, but you can see the texture of paper, paint and marker in the cool depth-of-field photo that I can’t resist taking every single time.
Tentacle Deeps 25, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: for sale, hufflepuff, sharpie marker, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor, yellow
Tentanet
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
Tentanet sketch by Amy Crook
Another Saturday, another tentacle monster sketch! This time it’s tentacles over the internet, a subject of which I am obviously quite fond.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: coloring book, pen and ink, sketch
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