Archive for the ‘Words Words Words’ Category
How to Buy Art as a Gift
Wednesday, October 17th, 2012
So, you’re the sort of awesome person who wants to buy your loved ones some original art for the next gift-giving occasion. You’re here, so clearly you have excellent taste, you like to support independent artists, or you got lost on Google.
We’ll pretend it’s the first two.
What do you want to know before you buy?
So, the first question to ask yourself whenever you’re gift-shopping for someone is, what’s my budget? It might seem mercenary, but there’s a world of difference between a $20 gift and a $50 gift, let alone a $500 gift. If you’re spending less, it’s good to find someone who sells prints, or small items with art printed on it. If you’re specifically looking at art from me for under $20, my Etsy shop is a great place to find prints and cards, or you can check and see which bookmarks are still looking for a home.
The next question is, what do they like? It’s all well and good if you love my art (and yay you!), but your mom might not want tentacles on her wall. Or she might, in which case, go her, too! It’s wonderful to introduce your friends and loved ones to an artist you adore, but it’s always good to make sure they really want the piece you’re buying. This is a bit selfish, but as an artist I hate the idea that someone might get my art and then not like or display it, or even declutter it to the trash someday.
Plus, you want them to make the good face when they open the package. You know the face I mean.
There’s also the “art of things they love” clause — a Cthulhu original will generally go over well with a Cthulhu fan no matter what artist made it. Though it’s good to make sure it is something they love, and not something they once told their mom they liked and have gotten one of every holiday for the last 20 years.
Have you considered asking?
It may seem strange, but if you’re really into the idea of getting an original for someone that you think is just perfect for them, consider talking to them about it. Not just, you know, “hey do you want this,” (although that has worked for me in the past!), but showing them some links of art you like in another context. It’s a good sneaky way to disconnect the piece from your ego, so they’ll tell you what they really think instead of worrying about not liking your gift.
Think, too, about whether you want the art framed or gift-wrapped or sent directly to the recipient, and then find out if the artist can accommodate you. For me, I will gift-wrap free, ship wherever you like (but I prefer to be told if it’s going to a recipient so the thank-you card can make sense), and frames are usually optional and cost more, but sometimes included (for the salt pieces).
So, once you’ve figured out your budget, and the kind of art they like, and how you want to present it, what’s next? Buying, of course.
Why would you want to give someone art, anyway?
Original art is by definition unique, and hopefully something they’ll value and treasure for years to come. If you’ve paid attention to what they want and what they like, you can add a lot of simple happiness and beauty to someone’s life with art. It might sound cheesy, but the right art for the right person will improve their environment, which in turn improves their smile to frown ratio.
And who doesn’t want more smiles?
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: info, words
Spooky!
Wednesday, October 10th, 2012
Yesterday’s art put me in the mood to do a post of art suitable to bring a bit of Halloween to your life all year round. If you’re reading this on a feed or in email, click through the red linked title above this to see it with the proper layout!
If that’s not enough spooky for you, check out my Etsy shop for Cthulhu cards, Monster coloring books and more!
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: halloween, wordless weds
Denouement – How Commissions Work
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012
(or at least how this one did)
Denouement, commissioned oil painting by Amy Crook
Denouement, 36″x24″ oil paint on canvas, nfs (commission).
This commission was many months in the making, as all my oil paintings are, but in the long run both Kristen (the commissioner) and I are happy with the results. I believe there was something about squeaking noises during the unboxing, specifically…
We chatted a little about the commission process from her end, and this is what she had to say:
I tend not to buy ‘pre-created’ art a lot. Much of what I have in my possession (walls, hidden in the closet, etc) is from commissions, because it’s exactly what I want. I’ve had some smaller things done from other people, but nothing else on this large a scale. I was Natalie’s roommate when she got Till the Walls Shall Crumble to Ruin, and that was kinda what pushed me to go to you for this big piece. She told me that you guys had some many conversations about her art that you had to use a separate conversation on gmail, which boggled my mind, but then we ended up doing the same!
Mostly I just thought of every beautiful thing I really wanted to put into it, and how to make an amalgam of six different things into one idea, and what would that idea look like at the end of the day. So even though the image was so freaking clear in the my head I knew it needed to be adjusted. That’s where you came in. And I knew the basic idea: the hero standing at the end of a journey and going into the light, but the specifics were hard coming. Photo references were totally helpful, plus the mood I wanted, melancholy instead of heroic. It’s Luke burning Vader rather than a bunch of ewoks singing.
Then there were sketches — it was like slowly seeing what I had in my mind’s eye but also redefining it, because what i had in my head could never be exactly put onto canvas, and I knew that. So it was looking and quirking an eyebrow and readjusting and asking questions, figuring out what worked in silhouette and what didn’t. The waiting from my end was agony, but a lot of it was on me. It took ages to figure out exactly what I wanted.
It was a very interesting little journey but completely worth it. It’s amazing to have something so important to me on my wall, in my life, tangible. Which is what is. It’s an incredibly important idea that I can touch, and that’s a wonderful thing. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience, even the agony of waiting. It went on my wall very quickly once it came, though!
Denouement commission, various studies by Amy Crook
Above you can see some of the sketches we went through, starting in the lower right of the four-panel page I made myself. I did a lot of studies for this one, because I knew once I was painting the process demanded I know exactly what I needed to do. The watercolor study came out a bit mushy because of the paper I was using, which wasn’t at all suited to it, but I took a very good scan of the sketch on that page before I added color.
Denouement commission, transferring to the canvas
That sketch got printed off onto a few sheets of paper, and then I cut them out and used them to transfer exactly the image we’d agreed upon to the canvas.
Denoument commission, work in progress by Amy Crook
Then I painted in the color, which looks super bright with the background still white. You can see where I wanted to have everything decided upon before it got to this stage. Plus, this way the carving above the door was almost perfectly symmetrical, heh.
Denouement commission, detail, by Amy Crook
Here you can see a really nice view of the sunlight glow, which was the last thing to go in, and also the texture of the paint that gives all of the detail in the black areas without any actual color variation beyond the glow.
It takes me months and months to do one of these commissions, but I always love the results. There’s something really special about doing a painting just for someone else, knowing it’s just what they wanted.
What about you, would you like to commission one of your own?
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Words Words Words
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, info, nfs, oil painting, words
Random Recipe: Earl Grey Tea Shortbread Cookies
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012
These are so fragrant and rich and delicious with a cup of tea, I wish I could waft the scent at you through the internet. The measurements below are technically for a half recipe, which makes about 2 dozen, or one big cookie sheet full, which is perfect for little old me. If you’re baking for a crowd, you’ll want to double it and make two logs of dough to chill, and then when you turn the cookie sheets you’ll also want to swap racks.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon finely ground Earl Grey tea leaves (from about 2 bags)*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
- Whisk flour, tea, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.
- Put butter, sugar, and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture until just combined.
- Transfer dough to a piece of parchment paper; shape into a log. Roll in parchment to 1 1/4 inches in diameter. The original recipe suggests pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow the log and force out air, but I am lazy. Freeze 1 hour until firm, or chill overnight in fridge.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut log into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment.
- Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 5 days.
These are omnomtastic with any compatible sort of tea flavor, not just Earl Grey. If you want to make them with matcha, leave out the orange zest, but all other measurements remain the same. Go on, you know you want some. Tell me how they came out!
If you want to see what excitement my darling vegan friend Tara Swiger came up with using this recipe, she’s got her version over here. With pictures!
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: omnomnom, recipe, sharpie marker
3 Comments »
On Calligraphy
Wednesday, July 18th, 2012
Red Irony, detail, by Amy Crook
Like basically every other artist I’ve ever talked to, I’ve been drawing stuff from a very young age. We all do, really, even the non-artists among us are given crayons, cheap finger paints, sidewalk chalk, and pencils (not to mention in-class boredom to inspire margin-doodling). So, with that in mind, I think the first time I really chose an art form to try to pursue in a meaningful way, on purpose, it was calligraphy.
A Murder of Crows by Amy Crook
I started out with one of those Schaeffer calligraphy sets basically just like this one, which I’m pretty sure I still have somewhere, along with a couple dozen of the little ink capsules that fit into those pens. I remember painstakingly learning a few different fonts, writing out song lyrics in a slightly wobbly hand, and doing all those things young girls do when they learn to make their writing pretty.
Once I got older, sometime in college when I was trying Real Serious Art, calligraphy got set aside as a childish plaything, and the pens went into the black hole of art supply hoarding. I’d pull them out once in a while to do something, but in the long run (even now), I tend to prefer simple pointed fountain pens rather than the chisel tips, and drawing the shapes by hand rather than counting on the shape of the pen to create them.
A is for Arabesque, detail, by Amy Crook
Recently I’ve been exposed to a few more examples of grown-up calligraphy, from Melissa Dinwiddie‘s gorgeous professional work to the plethora of Qs I visited online while working on the Quadrivium logo. I’ve seen a lot of people successfully integrating words into their art, as well, often using stamps or collage to add a message to their work.
With all this inspiration and the whole internet full of it as well, I’ve started getting back into calligraphy, not just as a long-forgotten habit but a legitimate art form of its own. Monday’s art may be part of a trend, I’m not sure yet — I don’t always have words to put on a piece. Sometimes Google can find me a quote that fits, like in Pomegranate below, but not always. I’m definitely going to continue my illuminated alphabet, though. I love the intersection between tradition and absurdity, modern glitter gel pen and ancient motifs.
I don’t always have something to say with my art, but when I do, at least I’ve got the skills to make it as beautiful as the pieces deserve, I hope.
Pomegranate by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: calligraphy, info, words
1 Comment »
Make Good Art
Monday, July 16th, 2012
Make Good Art calligraphic painting by Amy Crook
Although I think many people have said this before (including several of my prior art teachers), it’s come most recently from Neil Gaiman. I also find the advice later on about freelancing to be very good and very true — to paraphrase, you must do good work, be on time, and be pleasant, and people will continue to hire you; actually, two out of three will do, most days. And thank goodness for that, because some days all three is more than anyone can manage.
I made this very pink wash when I was mucking about with my red palette of Japanese watercolors, going from the color that is almost exactly the same as the Orchid crayon in my childhood set, through a bright fuchsia pink and on to a lovely deep burgundy. I used my poor abused fountain pen to scribble in the lettering, then took my water brush and blurred it out, which gives an interesting effect, especially in the capitals. Next came the gold glitter paint in the letters, and I left it overnight to figure out what more it needed.
It needed tentacles, of course!
I finally found the fourth palette from the same set, which is six different shades of almost-black, so I took the rich plum-purple one and made a row of tentacles reaching up to tease at the lettering. Then, to balance it, I added the gold filigree at the top, and it finally felt done.
My mental narrative for it is a bit like, “Glimpse of the golden vines of Olympus? Make good art! Chased by tentacles from the Depths? Make good art!”
So, that’s my message for you this Monday – whatever form it takes, whatever inspires you, today, make good art.
Make Good Art, 8″x4″ Japanese watercolor, pen & ink, and glitter gel pen on Fluid watercolor paper on paper.
Make Good Art, detail 1, by Amy Crook
This is one of those pieces that’s very different depending on the lighting; the gold almost vanishes when it’s in low light, but it stands out beautifully when the sun hits it, and the thicker paint on the tentacles also has a bit of a gloss here and there. Below, you can see the effect just on the word “Art.”
And for those of you that’ve read this far, have a wallpaper of the above image, with my gloved fingers sneakily Photoshopped out.
Make Good Art, detail 2, by Amy Crook
I put it in a temporary frame so you can see the scale. Given the odd size, you may want to have it custom framed, or put it on a piece of mat board in a larger frame the way I’ve got it shown below.
Make Good Art, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange, Words Words Words
Tags: calligraphy, for sale, glitter gel pen, gold, neil gaiman, pen and ink, pink, red, watercolor
2 Comments »
Why Bookmarks?
Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
Bookmarks by Amy Crook
I asked one of my darling patrons what I should post about today, and he asked me a really easy question: Why bookmarks?
I’m sure he was expecting some deep answer about my love of books or the utility of art, but in all honesty, it’s really simple. I often have little strips of paper left when I’m tearing or cutting down larger sheets. Since I’m a total art supply hoarder, I’ve kept some around (and more since I started doing Bookmark Weeks), and one day when I was on the phone for something, I pulled one out and started doodling on it. It’s a fun way to mess around on a small scale with lowered expectations. I sell the results for a relatively low price, so that way people who can’t afford one of my regular paintings or drawings can still have a wee Amy original.
Plus, now I feel all virtuous when I save weird little scraps of paper.
For the curious, I’ve got 4 new ones done, so there’s only 3 more to go before I can slack off real posts and do another Bookmark Week for your enjoyment. If you’re on Twitter, keep an eye out for a preview tweet one of these Sundays — I ended up pre-selling a couple of them before the posts even went up last time. There’s only two left out of the previous lots, some tentacles and the very first one I ever posted.
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: bookmark, info, why, words
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