Archive for the ‘Sea Creatures and Other Animals’ Category

Distance

Friday, June 6th, 2014

Distance, art by Amy Crook

Distance, art by Amy Crook

Two paintings of crows this month, what is this world coming to? Obviously, I’ve had my blinds open to watch the birds outside my window. Pod appreciates this very much, though he doesn’t seem to understand that he’d be very sad if he actually could try to leap and catch one.

This time the crow and branches are sketched in with pen and ink, while the sunlit mist and distant castle are watercolor. It reminds me of the opening scene of some fairytale, an establishing shot waiting for us to swoop over the dead, misty forests and up to one of the towers to see who’s hiding in the castle.

Distance, 6″x4″ pen & ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.

Distance, detail, by Amy Crook

Distance, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the crow and the mist-shrouded, distant castle, bracketed by dark, dead branches. Below, you can see the painting, sun-washed and petite next to my phone.

Distance, framed art by Amy Crook

Distance, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Three Crows

Monday, June 2nd, 2014

Three Crows, watercolor by Amy Crook

Three Crows, watercolor by Amy Crook

Good things come in threes. One crow flapping, one crow diving, and the middle one gliding away on an updraft to avoid the swirling cloud. The sky has bright blue arching down and sunny yellow shining upward, but it’s the spiralling clouds in metallic silver that really make it beautiful. The silver paint shows up grey at some angles, shining white at others, and sometimes it blends right into the background so well it nearly vanishes.

Three Crows, 7″x5″ watercolor and metallic watercolor on paper.

Three Crows, detail, by Amy Crook

Three Crows, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, a close-up of shimmering clouds and two of the three crows. I’m especially fond of the shape of the upper right cloud. Below, the piece in a frame, with my iPhone for scale.

Three Crows, framed art by Amy Crook

Three Crows, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Harbingers

Thursday, May 8th, 2014

Harbingers by Amy Crook

Harbingers by Amy Crook

These crows are flying in ahead of the storm, lightning waiting silvery and shining in the dark clouds above, sunshine glowing off the white clouds in the foreground. They’re harbingers of the storm, bringing rain and darkness and sweeping change in behind them. Each crow is like a smudge on the horizon, that resolves itself into a flying bird when you look at it closely, black in the midst of the blue and violet of the sky.

Harbingers, 8″x4″ pen & ink, watercolor, and glitter gel pen on Fluid watercolor paper.

Harbingers by Amy Crook

Harbingers by Amy Crook

Above, I’ve tilted the painting so that the glittering spirals catch the light, lightning limning the dark clouds. Below, you can see the painting in a temporary frame, a snippet of stormy sky like the smell of ozone on a hot day.

Harbingers by Amy Crook

Harbingers by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Nine Crows

Saturday, May 3rd, 2014

Nine Crows by Amy Crook

Nine Crows by Amy Crook

 

Nine tiny crows fly in from afar, black against a stark white page. The widescreen expanse of paper adds to the feeling of distance.

 

 

Nine Crows, 8″x4″ pen & ink on Fluid watercolor paper.

Nine Crows, detail, by Amy Crook

Nine Crows, detail, by Amy Crook

As above, so below.

Nine Crows, framed art by Amy Crook

Nine Crows, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Lurker in the Depths

Sunday, April 6th, 2014

Lurker in the Depths by Amy Crook

Lurker in the Depths by Amy Crook

Most of this seahorse is pale, like a creature evolved in a place where there’s little to no light, but his fin is decorated with a rather morbid splash of red. His eye swirls with yellow and white, making him look blind. He lurks in the swirling waters next to a barnacle-bedecked skull.

Despite all these rather ghoulish details, there’s an adorable sort of whimsy to him. Go figure.

Lurker in the Depths, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.

Lurker in the Depths, detail, by Amy Crook

Lurker in the Depths, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see some of the subtle detail in the seahorse, his creepy yellow-tinged eye and the blue shadows on his pale body. Below, you can see him in a frame, hanging out with a squid.

Lurker in the Depths, framed art by Amy Crook

Lurker in the Depths, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Deepest R’lyeh

Saturday, March 8th, 2014

Deepest R'lyeh, abstract art by Amy Crook

Deepest R’lyeh, abstract art by Amy Crook

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”
(“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”)

-HP Lovecraft

Strange, tentacled things grow in the depths, with the horrible spheres of the ancient city of R’lyeh shining dim and strange through the murky waters. Colors shift and change, and objects seem to flow into one another in ways that the mind can’t quite comprehend. What strange horrors lie just out of sight, waiting for the stars to be right?

Deepest R’lyeh, 5″x5″ watercolor and duochrome watercolor on Arches cover white paper.

Deepest R'lyeh, detail, by Amy Crook

Deepest R’lyeh, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a close-up of one of the strange, multicolored tentacle creatures. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, a window into a world of madness.

Deepest R'lyeh, framed art by Amy Crook

Deepest R’lyeh, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Shrimp-Crossed Lovers

Saturday, January 11th, 2014

Shrimp-Crossed Lovers, comic by Amy Crook

Shrimp-Crossed Lovers, comic by Amy Crook

The fates are conspiring to keep these two lovers apart, but they’ve used their shrimp treats to express their devotion. Will someone buy them both and put them in the same tank, or are they doomed to live forever alone?

You can get a Valentine at Etsy to show that long-distance love how much you miss them. With shrimp.

Shrimp-Crossed Lovers, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.

Shrimp-Crossed Lovers Valentine at Etsy by Amy Crook

Shrimp-Crossed Lovers Valentine at Etsy by Amy Crook

Categories: Card Design, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
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