Archive for the ‘Whimsical and Strange’ Category
Belladonna
Saturday, May 15th, 2010
Belladonna by Amy Crook
This is a messy little doodle of one of my kitties, Belladonna, as seen from behind. She likes to curl up in bed with me whenever I’m reading, writing or drawing, and so I took a few minutes to build up this sketch of her from behind. Her markings are actually a little less defined than the ones in the sketch, but I thought a little extra stripeyness added definition to what was otherwise the big furry blob of her body. Her tail kept twitching while I drew, I think she knew I was looking at her and wanted to be left to nap in peace.
Categories: Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: cat, nfs, sketch
Key to My Heart
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
Key to My Heart, detail, by Amy Crook
It’s been a long time since I had a chance to cast in bronze, but I still have a few pieces left. In this one, a small, abstracted figure stands on a strange landscape of texture and shape, with a small keyhole in the center of his chest.
The entire sculpture is actually quite small — the figure is a bare 2″ tall, and his unusual landscape is 5″x7″ at its widest points, and 3″ tall where it curls up behind him.
Key to My Heart by Amy Crook
Key to My Heart by Amy Crook
I left on most of the random textures created by the casting process, and in fact the cavity from which the piece gets its name was created by the shrinking of metal away from the sprue at the point of contact. The hollow made such a perfect keyhole shape that I decided to keep it rather than filling it in.
Key to My Heart by Amy Crook
Key to My Heart by Amy Crook
The colors were created with a combination of chemical patina that was heated with a blow torch until it bonded with the metal, and the passage of time and the oils from being held by human hands. It will continue to evolve as the piece is exposed to handling and the environment, the browns growing richer and the patterns changing subtly.
Key to My Heart, 3″x5″x7″ cast bronze.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: bronze, for sale, key, sculpture
Fish Man
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Fish Man by Amy Crook
This piece was entirely inspired by reading Koldo Barosso’s wonderful blog posts on the process of creating an album cover. The flying fish with a man’s face stuck with me, and the image of this man stuck in my head until I got up late one night and drew him, coloring his scales on a couple of subsequent late nights, using some old colored pencils. Something about the shape of his nose, the angle of elbow and arm and hand against his fishy body called out to be brought to life, and I just couldn’t not draw him, once his image popped into my mind.
Categories: Whimsical and Strange
Tags: colored pencil, nfs
Sachimoto
Saturday, April 24th, 2010
Sachimoto by Amy Crook
Today’s art is a birthday card I made for a friend this year, an illustration of her newest kitten, Sachi. I did a very soft sketch of him using a photo reference, then used my new Japanese watercolor inks to paint him in, and finally erased the lines so all that’s left is the ghost of his dark markings and pink nose and ears.
Sometimes when I’m coming to visit them, I see him sitting in the sun in the window with this peaceful expression on his face. Of course, that’s one of the few times Sachi ever sits still, but hopefully he’ll grow out of being quite such a troublemaker. We have a habit of expanding cat names into nicknames, and one of his first ones was Sachimoto.
Categories: Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: cat, nfs
Pin Heads
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
3 Pin Heads by Amy Crook
I saw some decorative pin toppers to spruce up people’s pincushions a while back, and I loved the idea, but somehow none of them quite fit my personality. So, I made my own!
The first one is a rather morbid pink bunny head, decapitated just to decorate your sewing box or pincushion. He’s got black button eyes and his smart mouth’s been “sewn” shut with some black polymer clay thread, so he won’t give you any sass. He’s made of polymer clay, fully cured and varnished with some acrylic paint accents. His head’s been mounted on a heavy-gauge 2″ steel bank pin, and he’s ready to decorate your sewing kit.
Next we have a glow-in-the-dark zombie head, decapitated just to decorate your sewing box or pincushion. He’s made of polymer clay, fully cured and varnished with some acrylic paint “blood” accents. His head’s been mounted on a heavy-gauge 2″ steel bank pin, and he’s ready to haunt your sewing.
The last one is a perky purple squid, with metallic gold eyes and ten tiny tentacles. He was painted with acrylic to give him a little dimension, and then given a shiny gloss varnish to finish it. He’s hanging onto a heavy-gauge 2″ steel bank pin, and he’s ready to add his personality to your sewing.
These are all a little bit fragile, so you won’t want to actually use them sew, but the zombie or bunny would make a neat tie tack or lapel pin if you could keep the pointy end from making a pincushion out of you.
The pincushion pictured was made by the wonderful Kirashapedgirl on Etsy.
Pin Heads, polymer clay on 2″ steel bank pins, sold.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: bunny, nfs, sold, squid, zombie
2 Comments »
« Or Head Back That Way
