Posts Tagged ‘a series of uncanny fears’
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Coulrophobia
Thursday, June 26th, 2014
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Coulrophobia
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
It’s been a while since I drew one of my Series of Uncanny Fears, and clowns seemed like a natural choice to bring them back. This happy guy just wants to bring joy and laughter to the world. Joy, laughter, and murder.
Definitely murder.
If you’re not too scared, you’ll have a chance to take him home in July’s Floating Gallery, which opens next Tuesday!
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Coulrophobia, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Coulrophobia, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a detail of his cheerful face with its lopsided, toothy grin and big, happy red nose. I’m sure he’s not thinking about eating you, honest. Below, you can see him safely tucked away in a frame, just waiting to come sit quietly in a corner of your home.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Coulrophobia, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, clowns, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis
Thursday, November 7th, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
If you’ve never experienced sleep paralysis, this particular Uncanny Fear might not quite make sense to you.
You’re lying in bed, just on the edge of sleep, and your body has descended into some nether region of unresponsiveness. A fear grips you along with the strange paralysis, and you look around as much as your frozen eyes will allow. Dark figures loom all around, watching, waiting, though you don’t know what for. You probably don’t want to know.
Although I enjoy the pattern on the rumpled bedding immensely, I think the staticky quality of the shadowy figures if my favorite part of this one.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the spooky, swirly footboard on this narrow bed. Below, the piece is in a frame, with my iPhone for size reference.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark
Friday, October 4th, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
Those shapes you see in the dark, those are just shadows. Just reflections and illusions made up of your imagination and your eyes straining to make sense with very little light.
I’m sure there are no monsters lurking at the foot of your bed, no ghosts floating up near the ceiling, no faces peering in from the dark outside.
That scratching at the glass is getting louder, but it’s not necessarily from the dark. It could be the mirror. It could be inside your head.
You never really know, do you?
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see some of the details hiding in the darkness. I especially like this pair of eyes, because they seem as distressed to be looking in at you as you are to be looking out at them. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, yet another pane of glass between you and the darkness.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: The Dark, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow
Thursday, October 3rd, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
I’m not certain what my favorite thing about this piece is, but it’s risen to the top of A Series of Uncanny Fears for me. I love the Gorey-esque fur coat on the figure just passing out of the frame. I adore the wallpaper pattern you can see showing through the shadowy figure. And I think the overlong, many-jointed fingers of the shadow are delightfully creepy.
I’m sure your shadow doesn’t hunger to steal the life you live, to step into the light, to slip into your skin and live looking out of your eyes. There’s nothing to worry about at all.
You could make sure you always know where it is, just in case, though.
Just in case.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up shot of the wallpaper pattern both bare and hiding under the shadow. Below, you can see the piece happily ensconced in a frame, safe behind the glass. That sound you hear isn’t claws against the inside of the glass, I’m sure of it. After all, there’s so much glass in your home, you can’t really pinpoint where the sound is coming from.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You
Wednesday, September 4th, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
Tentacles have crept their way into A Series of Uncanny Fears! It only took me 3 pieces to do it, predictably. This is the first one with an explicit person in it; there’s a lump in the bedclothes and a handprint on the mirror, but we finally see someone’s actual hair here. I was torn at first about putting someone in it, but I think the little bit of humanity peeking up over the edge of the spiral-patterned chair adds to the neck-ruffling feeling of creepiness.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see an update of the creeping tentacles and the backlit head of unruly hair that is their goal. Below, you can see the piece in a frame with its brethren. I hope to add two more pieces to this series next month, too.
A Series of Uncanny Fears, 3 pieces of framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Under the Bed
Thursday, August 1st, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Under the Bed
by Amy Crook
My Series of Uncanny Fears is actually a series now, yay! I found it extra challenging to draw the pattern on the duvet with the monster glaring at me from under the bed all the while. Not that there is a monster, mind you, I’m sure it’s just shadows, and reflections. Nothing to fear. Nothing at all.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Under the Bed, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Under the Bed, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can get a closer look at that space under the bed and the inexplicable shadows that are totally not reaching toward you now. Not at all. Below, it’s safely behind glass in a frame, just waiting to find the perfect owner.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Under the Bed, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Mirrors
Thursday, June 20th, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Mirrors, by Amy Crook
I’ve had a note to start this series on my whiteboard for ages, but I finally sat down and worked on this first installment. A Series of Uncanny Fears will visually explore those things that we, as adults, know we shouldn’t be afraid of. It’s an echo of being a kid, feeling a shiver despite our grown-up logic.
Mirrors have been thoroughly demystified by science and yet hold a certain creepy fascination, especially in the dark. Fiction explores mirror worlds, mirror traps, things lurking behind mirrors or traveling through them, impressions left on them or even messages written.
In my bathroom I have a blue canary in the outlet by the light switch to watch over me (no, really!), but I still sometimes turn the lights on properly at 3am when it’s dark and creepy, because of reasons. Mirror reasons.
How about you, what’s your uncanny fear?
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Mirrors, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Mirrors, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see that I did go out of my way to make the mirror extra creepy with a skull motif as well as the built-in candleholders. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, with my quill pen and ink bottle for ambiance.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Mirrors, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, gorey, nfs, pen and ink, sold, uncanny fears
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