Posts Tagged ‘blue’

Spiral Sunrise

Friday, January 18th, 2013

Spiral Sunrise by Amy Crook

Spiral Sunrise by Amy Crook

This is one of those hard-to-capture pieces, made of cool sky blues and warm sunny golds that mix and mingle in a way that, weirdly, doesn’t actually make much green. Despite the fact that I’m never awake to see them, I wanted to capture a little bit of that feeling of sunrise, when the golden-warm light seeps upward and honey-dips the cool, night-blue clouds. There’s swirls of orangey-gold Duochrome Adobe, shimmery-cold Iridescent Moonstone, and three different metallic blues, all sharing the space with a warm yellow and sky blue background.

Spiral Sunrise, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper.

Spiral Sunrise, detail, by Amy Crook

Spiral Sunrise, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the coppery Adobe, shimmery blue and night-tinted Moonstone catching the sunlight. Below, the pieces is tucked into a frame, hanging out with my iPhone.

Spiral Sunrise, framed art by Amy Crook

Spiral Sunrise, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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S is for Spirals

Thursday, December 13th, 2012

S is for Spirals, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

S is for Spirals, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

I originally planned on doing Sharpie for S, but in the end the spirals won my heart. I used clean, simple shades of blue and silver for the S, perfect for a Steve or Susan that needs a bit of sparkle in their life.

S is for Spirals, 5″x5″ pen & ink, Japanese watercolor and glitter gel pen on paper.

S is for Spirals, detail, by Amy Crook

S is for Spirals, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the light shining off the silver glitter spirals. Below, you can see STAR all spelled out with my alphabet.

S, T, A & R, calligraphic illuminations by Amy Crook

S, T, A & R, calligraphic illuminations by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Wordless Weds: Blue

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Hanukkah always looks very blue and shiny to me, so here’s some blue things and some shiny things and some blue shiny things to celebrate the Festival of Lights.

ten thousand sparklepoints of blue for you

blue blue sky

zen blue

old blue eyes

blue moon, too

celebrating blue

negatively blue

fractally blue

spirally blue

sparkly blues

tentacley blue

alphabetically blue

crystal blue

cloudy blue

Categories: Daily Art
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P is for Pattern and Primary

Thursday, November 15th, 2012

P is for Pattern & Primary, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

P is for Pattern & Primary, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

And now for something completely different! Comic to resume tomorrow, never fear. And remember, you can always see the whole series so far (in order from A) at the alphabet tag.

This came out a bit patriotic as well, though mostly I wanted the red-and-white harlequin background to contrast well with the bright, primary blue of the letter. Gold glitter gel pen adds the yellow for all three primary colors, and since the red is glitter pen as well, the whole thing has a lovely sparkle. Perfect for a Patricia or Peter.

P is for Pattern & Primary, 5″x5″ Japanese watercolor, pen & pink and glitter gel pen on paper.

P is for Pattern & Primary, detail, by Amy Crook

P is for Pattern & Primary, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the sun shining off the red diamond and gold vine patterns. Below, the P is hanging out all by itself in its frame.

P is for Pattern & Primary, framed art by Amy Crook

P is for Pattern & Primary, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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M is for Majuscule and Miniscule

Thursday, October 18th, 2012

M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

I like to think of the little m as snuggling up to the big M, miniscule trustingly at the feet of the majuscule. The background on this one seems simple, but the crosshatching like that is always quite time-consuming, especially with a glitter gel pen.

M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, nfs (sold). If you’d like an M of your own, you can find out how to commission one here.

M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, detail, by Amy Crook

M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the green pen shining against the soft periwinkle blue background, with the rich purple and green of the two Ms surrounded by glitter. Below, a shot of the background in progress, to see the way the texture really changed the whole look of the piece.

M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, work in progress by Amy Crook

M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, work in progress by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Silver Lining

Monday, October 15th, 2012

Silver Lining by Amy Crook

Silver Lining by Amy Crook

This piece combines elements from several of my series: whimsical clouds from the Fairytale Sky paintings, a blue filigree moon, and salt-pool stars. The shining blue of the clouds is matched by the swirls of blue in the filigree on the moon, where the silver of the filigree is echoed in the clouds.

Silver Lining, 10″x8″ iridescent and Japanese watercolor, salt, and glitter gel pen on Arches cover black paper.

Silver Lining, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Silver Lining, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the various elements all catching the sunlight, shining against the black paper background. Below is the moon itself, a soft periwinkle blue with shimmering silver and blue filigree giving it an otherworldly feel.

Silver Lining, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Silver Lining, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Finally, the piece is hanging out on my desk with my iPhone, though I think it would look gorgeous on a wall as well.

Silver Lining, framed art by Amy Crook

Silver Lining, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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K is for Greek Key

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

K is for Greek Key, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

K is for Greek Key, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

It’s a bit cheating to use the Greek Key pattern for K, but it was the option that appealed to me the most. It’s hard to do kerning with only one letter, after all!

I ended up designing my own Greek Key in Illustrator, printing it, and using my lightbox to copy it in blue glitter gel pen onto the K. All the tools of the modern age are getting put to use as I explore the historic art of calligraphic illumination.

K is for Greek Key, 5″x5″ pen & ink, Japanese watercolor, and glitter gel pen on paper.

K is for Greek Key, detail, by Amy Crook

K is for Greek Key, detail, by Amy Crook

Between the color and the glitter, I had a really hard time photographing this piece. The Key pattern blends into the soft blue background to the camera, but of course your eye immediately catches the light. Below, you can see it in a frame, spelling out the word I said when I realized I didn’t have a framed photo for it.

K is for Greek Key, framed art by Amy Crook

K is for Greek Key, framed art by Amy Crook
(with A is for Arabesque and C is for Counter)

Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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