Posts Tagged ‘city’

Rainy City

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016

Rainy City, watercolor skyline by Amy Crook

Rainy City, 10″x8″ Japanese watercolor and iridescent watercolor on Arches cover black paper

This painting has been months in the making, from the first fall of rain to the test city bookmark to the painstaking buildings themselves. A dark, nighttime echo of the Jade City, more than one person has described the cloud-shapes above as looming figures.

Intricately detailed buildings of jade seem almost translucent beneath the color-shifting sky. The rainy grey becomes blue and violet at certain angles, adding to the mysterious, otherworldly feel.

Rainy City, detail, by Amy Crook

Rainy City, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the wash of violet in the shining rain, above the gorgeous jade green city. Below, it’s been trapped in a frame like a view out an alien window, just waiting to grace your walls.

Rainy City, framed art by Amy Crook

Rainy City, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Blood Moon 6

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015

Blood Moon 6 by Amy Crook

Blood Moon 6 by Amy Crook

This ink wash is a vivid addition to my City series, which is also the 6th of my Blood Moon paintings.

The blood moon glows with a rich red-gold radiance. The sky is home to a thousand glittering golden stars in halo around it. A dark city awaits below, reflecting the glow of them both.

Built in layers, this piece was first a wash of red and gold inks, and then a globe of light in the middle of gold-dusted night, and finally became a city. Each layer is a different kind of ink, even the gold dust.

Blood Moon 6, 8″x8″ brush & ink and ink wash on Fluid watercolor paper.

Blood Moon 6, detail, by Amy Crook

Blood Moon 6, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the shimmering gold dust in the Stormy Grey ink, and the solid Deleter Manga ink that blacks it out where the buildings rise up, with the beautiful red shining through both where appropriate. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, waiting to grace your walls with its eerie beauty.

Blood Moon 6, framed art by Amy Crook

Blood Moon 6, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Jade City

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015

Jade City, watercolor by Amy Crook

Jade City, watercolor by Amy Crook

Every time I paint a new City, I think, this one is my favorite. It’s the inevitable consequence of hours spent filling in the tiny, monochrome details and fleshing out my imaginary worlds.

This gorgeous jade city is besieged by a magnificent purple rainstorm, the violet clouds hanging above in dark spirals while the rain streaks down the page. The patterns of the rain helped determine the shape of the city it fell upon; gaps in the runnels became the buildings in this layered, mysterious skyline.

Jade City, 8″x8″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.

Jade City, detail, by Amy Crook

Jade City, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the tops of a few of the buildings besieged by the beautifully textured rainfall. Below, the city waits in its frame like a window onto another, stranger world.

Jade City, framed art by Amy Crook

Jade City, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Painted Ladies

Thursday, August 6th, 2015

Painted Ladies by Amy Crook

Painted Ladies by Amy Crook

This is the summer of paintings that take months to complete! I started this last month with the off-kilter row houses all leaning together against a midnight sky. Then it sat around for weeks while I contemplated this sky or that sky, and finally I found clouds that match with the same whimsical, half-surreal feel as the townhouses below.

Perhaps this is where the London Addams clan lives, the houses joined up by tunnels and secret passages until it’s really one big, beautiful wall of weird. Instead of a swamp they have walled-up cellars that suspiciously moan. Instead of an unmarked, abandoned well, there’s a root cellar that doesn’t seem to stop going back and down into the deep earth.

Which of these painted ladies would you like to live in?

Painted Ladies, 10″x8″ Japanese watercolor on Arches cover black paper.

Painted Ladies, detail, by Amy Crook

Painted Ladies, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a the detail of the moon and a few of the lovely, strange roofs it’s shining down upon. Below, the painted ladies are in a frame, like a window to another, odder reality.

Painted Ladies, framed art by Amy Crook

Painted Ladies, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Sky Scraped

Wednesday, July 8th, 2015

Sky Scraped by Amy Crook

Sky Scraped by Amy Crook

The subtle blue-green-grey of the sky in this painting was remarkably hard to capture in any of the photos. I love the stormy roil of it, almost pre-tornado as even the clouds look like they’re pouring down to become part of the skyscraper.

There’s a sense of decay in the central image, whether it’s a building half-built and abandoned, or a burnt-out husk just waiting to fall down.

I love the mysterious figure hanging out on a lone girder, rain pounding down all around it.

Who are they, and why are they up there? What do you think?

Sky Scraped, 4″x8″ pen & ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.

Sky Scraped, detail, by Amy Crook

Sky Scraped, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the figure up close, mysterious cloak trailing below like the raggedy tail of some giant crow. Below, the painting rests in a temporary frame, waiting to find its place in the world.

Sky Scraped, framed art by Amy Crook

Sky Scraped, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Storm/City

Monday, June 8th, 2015

Storm/City by Amy Crook

Storm/City by Amy Crook

A dark storm moves in the shadows of this loosely-painted city, sparkling with contained electricity.

J. Herbin’s lovely anniversary ink, Stormy Grey, gives some really gorgeous depth with its gold highlights and dark, layered greys.

I mostly stuck to more traditional city buildings this time around, brush and ink creating the suggestions of windows and towers against the pale page of the sky. I did include the Gherkin building from London, because it’s just really fun to paint. I put it in a lot of my cities!

Storm/City, 6″x4″ J. Herbin ink on Fluid watercolor paper.

Storm/City, detail, by Amy Crook

Storm/City, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the gold catching the light against the dark grey of stormclouds in the shadows. Below, the piece is tucked into a tiny frame, a tempest in a teapot.

Storm/City, framed art by Amy Crook

Storm/City, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Far-Flung

Monday, May 4th, 2015

Far-Flung by Amy Crook

Far-Flung by Amy Crook

May the Fourth be with you! I have scifi art for a scifi sort of day.

Another addition to my City series, this metropolis is definitely in some sort of other realm, whether it’s Lost Carcosa or a galaxy far, far away. The huge crescent moon hangs above a city full of wondrous buildings, a strange skyline of some alien race or mystical future.

The painted sky gives a sense of the city glow that hangs over all urban areas, while the stars hold a subtle iridescence that makes them glow in their own right. There’s even a little texture and shadow in the sliver of moon, crowned as it is by a circlet of bright stars.

Far-Flung, 8″x8″ Japanese watercolor and interference watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.

Far-Flung, detail, by Amy Crook

Far-Flung, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, the sunlight has washed the buildings bright green, and made the midnight blue sky look even more mysterious. Below, you can see it in a frame, giant moon hanging high above and mysterious celadon buildings below.

Far-Flung, framed art by Amy Crook

Far-Flung, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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