Posts Tagged ‘black paper’
A Trio of Dancing Squid
Tuesday, June 18th, 2013
A Trio of Dancing Squid by Amy Crook
I had originally thought of doing fatter, cuter, cartoony squid on this lusciously bright green background, but then when googling around for inspiration I found some pictures of swimming squid that were sleek and small with big golden eyes. And so we have this little trio, swimming past some big, mossy rock or perhaps a wall in some ruins somewhere. They’re painted in a shimmery turquoise with green-yellow eyes, and a scribble-painted dark teal for shadows and outlines. I imagine them cheerfully unaware of their audience, just twirling and dancing around as they swim on by.
A Trio of Dancing Squid, 7″x5″ watercolor, Japanese watercolor, and duochrome watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
A Trio of Dancing Squid, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sun shining off the iridescent paint. Below, you can see them in their frame, hanging out with some aquatic friends.
A Trio of Dancing Squid, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black paper, duochrome, green, iridescent, japanese watercolor, nfs, sold, squid
Angler Fish 1
Friday, May 24th, 2013
Angler Fish 1 by Amy Crook, $250
After I painted this bloody red background, deliberately deep and dark, I thought that a glowing blue Angler fish would be the perfect thing to go on top of it. I love the contrast between the abstract, color-field-like painting in the background, all matte and dark Japanese watercolors that sank into the textured black paper, and the drawing-like simplicity of the fish on top. She’s got deceptive amounts of detail, from the subtle shading on her creepy blank eye to the deliberate comic “shine” marks around her phosphorescent lure. The paint itself is a little bit shiny, with some duochrome Aquamarine mixed in with the white and turquoise to create a shiny paint that sits on top of the background rather than blending in.
Also, she’s magnificently creepy. Win!
Angler Fish 1, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper, $250 with free shipping.
Angler Fish 1, work in progress, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the murky background painting along with the little pre-sketch I did to fix the design in my head. I didn’t want to pencil directly onto the paint, so I just doodled it on a bit of scratch paper instead. Below, you can see a close-up of the angler’s lure and her shiny paint looking very bright against the matte depths behind her.
Angler Fish 1, detail, by Amy Crook
And finally, you can see the fish in her frame! I keep saying her because, of course, male angler fish are wee, pathetic little things doomed to die in the service of their species. I feel comfortable putting these links off my site here, because none of you ever read this far down, anyway.
Angler Fish 1, framed art by Amy Crook
- Title: Angler Fish 1
- 7 in. x 5 in. watercolor, Japanese watercolor, and duochrome watercolor on Arches cover black paper
- $250 for the original (tax will be added if you live in CA)
- Frame is not included, but can be added for $50 (shipping included)
- Shipping is free anywhere in the world
- Payment plans are available, just email me
- The button below will take you to Paypal – if you’d like to pay another way, just let me know and we’ll work it out
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: angler fish, black paper, fish, for sale, iridescent, japanese watercolor, watercolor
2 Comments »
Eihort
Friday, May 3rd, 2013
Eihort watercolor by Amy Crook
Before painting this, I was mostly familiar with Eihort as a Great Old One from the board game Arkham Horror. Afterwards, I looked this horrific monster up and found that yep, it’s pretty awful. Eihort is from one of the later Mythos writers, Ramsey Campbell, and is basically a giant gelatinous mass with eyes that implants people with its brood, which will later hatch and kill them during the end times. Cheerful! But appropriate to the piece of art, I think, especially the part about eyes forming and unforming constantly in its shapeless body.
Eihort, 5″x5″ duochrome watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Eihort, detail 1, by Amy Crook
The two different paints used are both snazzy special effects paints that change color depending on the angle to the light, and together make the whole painting even more eerily otherwordly.
Eihort, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the green and orange mixing together in strange ways in Eihort’s gelatinous form. Below, it’s lurking in a frame, just waiting to offer you its hellish bargain of freedom for larvae.
Eihort, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: black paper, for sale, ia ia cthulhu fthagn, iridescent, lovecraft, watercolor
Wordless Wednesday: Arches Cover Black
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013
Technically, Arches Cover black is a printmaking paper, soft and thick to take deep impressions of printing plates, and absorbent enough to grab and hold the ink. I’ve been using both the black and white versions of this paper for watercolors, though, because I’m an art supply rebel. Also, they’re cool.
If you’re reading this in an email, think about clicking the red title above to take you to the website, because email breaks all my pretty formatting.
Categories: Daily Art
Tags: black paper, wordless weds
Gibbous Moon
Monday, April 22nd, 2013
Gibbous Moon, watercolor by Amy Crook
It’s Earth Day, so of course I contrarily have a moon for you. Curling silvery mist wreaths upward, trying to reach the moon that’s a lot farther away than it looks, while blue stars shimmer in the far distance. The moon itself is just a little warm and golden, with the color bleeding strangely into the dark, making you wonder just what’s going on up there. Eerily beautiful.
Gibbous Moon, 7″x5″ watercolor and iridescent watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Gibbous Moon, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the moon itself, warm and slightly sinister where it floats in the middle distance. Below, a few curls of iridescent mist swim into your view.
Gibbous Moon, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And finally, you can see it slipped into a frame and hanging out on my writing desk with my iPhone, so you can see how it looks in the wild.
Gibbous Moon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, fairytale sky, for sale, iridescent, moon, spirals, watercolor
1 Comment »
Red 3
Tuesday, March 12th, 2013
Red 3, 7″x5″ abstract watercolor by Amy Crook
This piece is all about courting chaos. I made some artistic choices at the start, and then once it got to a certain point, I stood back and let the process take over, making it a weird collaboration between artist and entropy. There’s an amazing wealth of detail and nuance in the way the paint, paper, and water interacted as they dried. I considered doing something more with it, like tentacles or tiny fandom, but I didn’t want to cover up all that lovely nuance.
Red 3, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the upper lefthand corner in detail, the way the different colors flowed and pooled and settled as the paint dried in one of the wettest parts of the painting. Below, the painting is hanging out with my iPhone, making it look cool.
Red 3, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, for sale, japanese watercolor, red
Ghost Moon
Monday, March 4th, 2013
Ghost Moon by Amy Crook
I can’t honestly remember now which came first, the Ghost Spirals Bookmark or the trees in this piece. I definitely painted them on the same day, but then I came back to this later and added in the moon, and then in a third pass I added iridescent blue stars with the purple meteor, a shine of subtle iridescent green to the treetops, and silver on the moon.
I’m sometimes torn about using so much iridescent and metallic paint. On the one hand, it feels a bit gimmicky (and can’t be made into prints effectively), but on the other hand I think the pieces are more beautiful with the shimmer and shine. And since the real point of my art is to put more beautiful things into the world, I’ve decided to go with what feels right.
Ghost Moon, 7″x5″ Japanese watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Ghost Moon, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a bit of the green shimmer on the trees, the silver shine of the moon, and the blue and purple stars, shooting and otherwise. Below, I’ve got the piece in a frame, so you can see how it sizes up to my iPhone.
Ghost Moon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black paper, for sale, iridescent, japanese watercolor, moon, shooting star, spirals, tree, watercolor
1 Comment »
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