Posts Tagged ‘crow’
Three for a Girl
Friday, February 5th, 2016
Three for a Girl, 6″x6″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper
A third installment to one of my favorite series of last year, Three for a Girl continues the Counting Crows theme with another eerie tree and ghostly figure.
The titular girl is almost lost in the mists, fog drifting through and obscuring everything but the tree and its trio of visitors.
Three for a Girl, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see how the off-black paint granulates into beautifully textured mist, pigment pooling in the hollows of the watercolor paper. Below, the painting is waiting in a frame, a season and a mood in one small, eerie package.
Three for a Girl, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: bloodstone, counting crows, crow, nfs, sold, tree, watercolor
Midnight Raven
Wednesday, November 4th, 2015
Midnight Raven by Amy Crook
A mysterious raven sits atop a black branch, its feathers containing colors within their inky darkness. A moon silhouettes the scene, full and round and bright behind the bird. The sky is a deep midnight, dotted with silver stars.
Inktober started as a fun way to get myself playing with some new media, but it turned into a month of beautiful new art.
A group of ravens is an unkindness, but what do you call just one?
Midnight Raven, 6″x6″ pen & ink, ink wash, and metallic watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Midnight Raven, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the shine of gold in the ink of the raven’s feathers, and the gleam of silver in the stars. Below, the raven has taken a temporary perch in a frame.
Midnight Raven, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
Tags: crow, ink wash, j herbin ink, metallic watercolor, moon, nfs, pen and ink, raven, sold
Halloween Trees 2
Friday, October 2nd, 2015
Halloween Trees 2 by Amy Crook
The original Halloween Trees is only a year old, but it feels very different from this sequel. The sky is softer and has more cloud shapes, and the trees are a less imposing brown rather than the starkly silhouetted black. Even the crows are different, coming in for a landing instead of taking off into the sunset.
The brilliant swath of pink behind the lightning-struck tree lets that whole bank of clouds really glow. The three trees each have their own character, slightly different patterns in their branches that make it clear even without leaves that they’re not the same species. If the crows are roosting in the middle one, one might wonder what lives in the lightning-struck tree on the left?
Halloween Trees 2, pen & ink, brush & ink, and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Halloween Trees 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the tiny birds up close, coming in to land in the lacework of branches. Below, the piece is in a temporary frame, just waiting for its new home.
Halloween Trees 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: brush and ink, crow, halloween trees, horizons, nfs, orange, pen and ink, pink, sold, tree, watercolor
Two for Joy
Friday, June 5th, 2015
Two for Joy by Amy Crook
If this painting feels familiar, that’s because it’s a relative of last month’s One for Sorrow 2. The figure this time is more androgynous, and their clothing seems to be blowing against the prevailing winds that bend the trees to their will.
Just like its predecessor, this piece has a lot of soft, pale fog that gets lost when it’s reproduced, but adds a lot of rich texture to the original. You can see it in the trees in the detail photo, a delicate sweep of wind moving across the paper grain.
Two crows sit low on a branch in the lee of the wind, harbingers of some unnamed joy. Whose joy and about what is left up to the imagination of the viewer, or perhaps it belongs to the apparition staring blankly back out of the page.
Two for Joy, 6″x6″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Two for Joy, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the staticky figure staring back at you, his clothing seemingly blown by an opposing wind. Below, I’ve displayed the painting in a temporary frame, where it awaits its new home.
Two for Joy, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: bloodstone, counting crows, crow, nfs, sold, tree, watercolor
One for Sorrow 2
Friday, May 8th, 2015
One for Sorrow 2 by Amy Crook
I’m not entirely happy with the title One for Sorrow 2, but this painting definitely needed that name, prior use notwithstanding. The single baleful crow sits high in the branches of the windswept tree, its image smeared out into the fog like an apparition, as though the bird is more of a ghost than the figure below.
There is a lot of very pale detail in the trees and sky which is hard to photograph, but shows up beautifully in person and adds another layer to the sense of windswept, foggy unreality. The detail photo shows a little of the sky, but it’s hard to spot on the sun-drenched page.
The lovely, textured greys are also not entirely black, but have a mix of reddish brown bloodstone in them to give the whole piece a more organic, grounded atmosphere.
One for Sorrow 2, 6″x6″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
One for Sorrow 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can just barely see the texture in the fog, a hint of wind and motion and shapes looming large and distant. Below, you can see the piece in a temporary frame, just waiting to haunt your house.
One for Sorrow 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: bloodstone, counting crows, crow, nfs, sold, tree, watercolor
Threes
Monday, January 5th, 2015
Threes by Amy Crook
Three trees. Three flying birds. Three elements – trees, birds, sky. Three threes give this painting its title, a little bit of simple magic. I think perhaps I heard that Schoolhouse Rock song a few too many times as a kid.
I really love this sunset with its pinks, golds, oranges, and reds all glowing with the light of a sun just below the horizon.
Threes, 6″x4″ pen & ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Threes, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the third tree and my sneaky little two that made it into a painting mostly of threes. Below, you can see it in its small frame, just the size for a desk or tiny bit of wall that needs some color and beauty.
Threes, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: crow, horizons, nfs, pen and ink, sold, sunset, tree, watercolor
Sunset Silhouette
Thursday, December 4th, 2014
Sunset Silhouette by Amy Crook
The branches on this tree are fine as lace, a complicated fractal of interlocking shapes with three birds silhouetted inside. A red-gold sunset paints the sky behind, giving drama to this small work of art.
The sky is very loose and painterly, while the tree and birds are stark black in contrast.
This painting is shot of brightness as we approach the darkest time of the year, wintry with the bare branches and yet full of the colors of spring.
Sunset Silhouette, 6″x4″ pen & ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Sunset Silhouette, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can really see the lace-fine details in the branches, and the three birds chilling out in the few open spots. Below, the piece is tucked into a frame so you can admire its compactness.
Sunset Silhouette, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: crow, horizons, nfs, orange, pen and ink, sold, tree, watercolor
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