Archive for the ‘Sea Creatures and Other Animals’ Category
Lurker in the Depths
Sunday, April 6th, 2014
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
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
Categories: Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: copic marker, for sale, pen and ink, seahorses, skull
Deepest R’lyeh
Saturday, March 8th, 2014
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
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
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: duochrome, for sale, iridescent, more cowbell, watercolor
Shrimp-Crossed Lovers
Saturday, January 11th, 2014
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
Categories: Card Design, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: copic marker, etsy, nfs, octopus, pen and ink, sold, squid, valentine
Five for Silver
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013
Five for Silver, watercolor by Amy Crook
Tuesday seems like a good day for some crows flying through the gloaming. The moon has risen early, gibbous and pale above the evergreens. Soft clouds curl and five black birds fade ghostlike into the shimmering twilight sky.
This is a mix of very different paints that all fall under “watercolor,” with the trees done in pine-scented Christmas paint, the sky textured layers of shimmering Iridescent Moonstone, the moon made of opaque Japanese watercolor, and the birds a translucent black.
Five for Silver, 8″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Five for Silver, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see some of the delicate shimmer on the sky, and the painterly brush strokes in the trees and birds. Below, I have it temporarily matted into a frame so you can get a feel for the unusual size.
Five for Silver, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: crow, horizons, iridescent, moon, more cowbell, nfs, sold, tree, watercolor
Misty Moon 2
Friday, November 8th, 2013
Misty Moon 2 by Amy Crook
A black crow flies against the darkest part of the sky, while mist swirls and floats all around, obscuring the shining moon. The mist drifts in wispy tentacles that light up into spirals when the light hits them just right.
Misty Moon 2, 6″x4″ watercolor and iridescent watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Misty Moon 2, detail, by Amy Crook
The scanner captures the painting in an in-between state, but you can see above how the stars light up violet and the mist glows blue when the sun hits it. Below, the painting in its frame appears more like it does to the naked eye, with the shimmering spirals hidden, and only the slithering tentacles of mist show through.
Misty Moon 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: crow, fairytale sky, iridescent, moon, nfs, sold, watercolor
Sharpie Jellyfishies
Saturday, July 6th, 2013
Sharpie Jellyfishies by Amy Crook
See, what happens when I prompt myself is that you end up with more tentacles! I used some of my more pastel Sharpie markers to doodle these guys, pairing up complementary colors of fine-point and regular Sharpies.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: jellyfish, nfs, sharpie, sharpie week
Houseplants of Cthulhu
Tuesday, June 25th, 2013
Houseplants of Cthulhu by Amy Crook
I was noodling around on Google Images, looking for some sort of phosphorescent creature to paint onto this background with its subtle washes of not-quite-black colors, and I came across some nifty sea anemones. They had squat, coppery bodies and phosphorescent green tentacles, and so I got out the shiny duochrome paint and got my tentacle mojo on. Somehow, they ended up looking rather houseplant-like when all was said and done.
And then I thought, well, in underwater R’lyeh, phosphorescent anemones would make the perfect sort of houseplant for slumbering Cthulhu.
Houseplants of Cthulhu, 5″x5″ Japanese watercolor and duochrome watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
Houseplants of Cthulhu, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the various duochrome paints catching the sunlight, turning to ruby and gold and green instead of the copper and green and, well, darker green. Below, wee plushie Cthulhu is tending to his houseplants like a Great Old One should. Except with less death and doom.
Houseplants of Cthulhu, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: anemone, cthulhu, duochrome, japanese watercolor, nfs, watercolor
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