Archive for the ‘Series and Books’ Category
Red Planet
Friday, June 1st, 2012
Red Planet, watercolor by Amy Crook
This piece is a combination of old ideas and new toys. I got some nifty waterbrushes to test out, and some new eyedroppers for my salt solution, and used them together to paint another planet. First I used the waterbrushes to paint in the circular wash in two shades of red, and then I added a few drops of salt solution to the mix while the paint was still wet and forced myself to set the whole thing aside to dry without any further interference.
There’s not a lot of sparkle in this one, mostly the salt created texture rather than crystals, but I love the way the texture looks like the surface of some far-away alien planet.
Red Planet, 8″x8″ salt and watercolor on paper.
Red Planet, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see the texture and a tiny bit of shine where the salt catches the light. Below, I’ve got it put in a wall frame (they don’t make many 8″x8″ standing frames), which can be yours for a small additional fee mostly relating to the shipping costs where you are.
Red Planet, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, pink, planet, red, salt, watercolor
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Tentacle Deeps 36
Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 36 by Amy Crook
This week’s art is all full of color, and the tentacles are no exception! A soft, granular periwinkle background plays host to rich teal tentacles, seven of which reach up for whatever mysterious light shines down from above. All this rich color is hard to represent online, but I do what I can to be as accurate as possible, at least on my monitor.
It’s hard to believe I’ve painted three dozen of these, but the proof is in the tag. I have a few more planned yet before I give up the series, so don’t fear for Tentacle Tuesday just yet.
Tentacle Deeps 36, 6″x6″ watercolor on paper.
Tentacle Deeps 36, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see my tradition tentacles-up detail photo. Below, I’ve temporarily tucked them into an 8″x10″ desk frame for photographing, with my iPhone for reference. If you’re wondering where the sticker went, it’s a whole new phone – the old one had an in-warranty mechanical issue, and so I have a brand new one in its place. New sticker soon, this time with Jellyfish!
Tentacle Deeps 36, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: nfs, periwinkle, teal, tentacle deeps, tentacles
Mother Hydra Weds Father Dagon
Saturday, May 26th, 2012
Mother Hydra Weds Father Dagon, cartoon by Amy Crook
When I was done coloring this and Monday’s zombies, I realized that I’d managed to do only 2 drawings, but color 4 figures with 7 heads between them. Whew!
This one was also done specifically to be a card, this time to bring a little Cthulhu to your wedding season. Dagon is the big bad from Shadows Over Innsmouth, and while Lovecraft’s Hydra doesn’t get a lot of description, it was easy to adapt the classic many-headed monster of myth to this purpose. I especially enjoy the boutonniere pinned straight to Dagon’s chest.
Yeah, I’m a little morbid.
Mother Hydra Weds Father Dagon, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic markers on paper.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: cartoon, copic marker, cthulhu, dagon, etsy, for sale, hydra, pen and ink, weeble
Sherlock Flock
Thursday, May 24th, 2012
Sherlock Flock - from wallpaper to fabric by Amy Crook
If you’re a fan of Sherlock on the BBC and enjoy my Baker Street Tinies, then I have a fabric design for you — Sherlock Flock! I took the tiny-pen-rendered wallpaper from B is for Baker Street, interior, and used my mad Photoshop skillz to create a repeating pattern, then uploaded it to Spoonflower at rather a larger size than the original. You can put it on a skirt, pillow, purse or have a hanky made, whatever your heart desires!
Sherlock Flock, digital pattern for fabric, available at Spoonflower.
My sample swatch came and I may have made a squeaky noise at how cool it was to have and to hold. No idea what I’ll do with it, but here it is in silk crepe de chine:
Sherlock Flock, actual fabric from Spoonflower by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: crosshatching, fabric, scribble goth, sherlock, spoonflower
Tentacle Deeps 35
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 35, watercolor by Amy Crook
Someone asked me at the gallery on Saturday why I like tentacles, and I didn’t have a really good answer. I like painting them a lot, in part because it’s an interesting combination of spontaneous and planned art, in that the tentacles can go all over the place but keep a certain smooth taper to them while they do, and I always try to get a certain distribution of shapes and sizes in so that the piece itself is aesthetically pleasing as well as creepy.
This particular paper isn’t really meant to be watercolor paper, and it absorbed the paint without letting it float on top at all, giving a stripey quality to the blue gradation in the background. The paper itself has a lot of little dotted inclusions that add texture to the piece, and the tentacles themselves are painted in Japanese sumi-e ink rather than watercolor to take better advantage of the paper’s absorbency.
Tentacle Deeps 35, 8″x10″ ink and watercolor on paper.
Tentacle Deeps 35, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the shine off the very base of the tentacles where the black sumi-e ink is the thickest. Below, the piece waits in its frame, taking up nearly my whole tiny writing desk as it poses with my iPhone for scale.
Tentacle Deeps 35, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: blue, for sale, sumi-e ink, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Doctor Who Bookmark 1
Saturday, May 12th, 2012
Doctor Who
Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook
I’ve optimistically numbered this 1, assuming I’ll get the urge to do more Doctor Who bookmarks in the future. The Eleventh Doctor is contemplating his lot with his TARDIS parked a bit precariously on a hill, and not liking his options at the moment. But don’t worry, he’ll figure some way out.
He’s the Doctor. It’s what he does.
Doctor Who Bookmark 1, 1.5″x7″ mixed media on paper, nfs (sold).
Doctor Who Bookmark 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, a close-up of our pouting Doctor. Below, he’s hanging out with my Free Comic Book Day book from last Saturday’s outing, an excellent reminder that I love sequential art and ought to do more of it.
Doctor Who Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: bookmark, doctor who, nfs, pen and ink, sold
Salt Bookmark 4
Friday, May 11th, 2012
Salt Bookmark 4
by Amy Crook
The second smallest bookmark for your Friday viewing, this one’s a little shorter but wide enough to win the by a nose on total surface area. (What? You knew I was a nerd.)
This one echoes the flaked-off salt textures in Blue Planet 4, but in miniature, with the smallest pools keeping all of their paint and only the larger four pulling away to show the iridescent green beneath. I gave this one a meticulous background of blue lines radiating outward without ever quite intersecting thanks to the stopping points I snuck in at the start.
Salt Bookmark 4, 1″x5″ mixed media on paper, nfs (sold).
Salt Bookmark 4, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the textures of salt and paint, ink and paper, and how they all interact on a tiny level (given that the bookmark is barely and inch wide). Below, it’s snuggled up with a book for size perspective, though I’m not sure I’d want to risk leaving blue powder in my books by actually using this one for reading.
Salt Bookmark 4, with book, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: blue, bookmark, nfs, pen and ink, salt, sold, watercolor
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