Posts Tagged ‘for sale’

Meet Me on Saturn

Tuesday, March 4th, 2014

Meet Me on Saturn, watercolor by Amy Crook

Meet Me on Saturn, watercolor by Amy Crook

If you don’t know what movie I’m referencing here, get thee to Netflix* and watch Beetlejuice!

I decided I wanted to paint some stripey tentacles, so I got out my watercolors and popped in the DVD for inspiration. I decided on the off-color sky with its almost greenish blues and brighter golds after seeing the ghosts ending up on Saturn, and since that’s where the stripey sandworms come from, it seemed appropriate for a title.

I am especially pleased with the way the two outer tentacles are meeting up over the curl of the third. Are they parents and child, all part of the same creature, or is it just a third wheel?

The ways of tentacles are mysterious.

Meet Me on Saturn, 8″x8″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.

Meet Me on Saturn, detail, by Amy Crook

Meet Me on Saturn, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the curl of tentacle, and the details of the delicate shading on and around it. Below, I’ve got the tentacles in a frame. They’re currently in my living room, where I can see them every day.

Meet Me on Saturn, framed art by Amy Crook

Meet Me on Saturn, framed art by Amy Crook

*Not that I have any idea if Netflix has it.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Birthday Timey-Wimey

Sunday, March 2nd, 2014

Birthday Timey-Wimey, a Doctor Who parody comic by Amy Crook

Birthday Timey-Wimey, a Doctor Who parody comic by Amy Crook

The tenth Doctor is happy to see that you’ve survived another year of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff. He’s got his usual hands-in-pockets deshabille going, with his mad hair to top it all off, and he’s got the TARDIS all warmed up for some birthday shenanigans.

You can get him on a card at my Etsy shop.

Birthday Timey-Wimey, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.

Doctor Who birthday card by Amy Crook on Etsy

Doctor Who birthday card by Amy Crook on Etsy

Categories: Card Design, Floating Gallery, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Shaken Not Stirred

Tuesday, February 18th, 2014

drunk Cthulhu in a cocktail shaker

“Maybe I should’ve gone with stirred…”
Shaken Not Stirred, a Cthulhu parody comic by Amy Crook

When I was working on illustrations for my Cthulhu Holiday Fun Book, I wanted something for New Years that was like a pinup, only with Cthulhu. I actually googled up some cocktail pinups, and while I found a few delightful girls in martini and Champagne glasses, it was the one perky pinup in a shaker that caught my eye.

Alas, Cthulhu didn’t realize that he’d be the one shaken, and I think he got a little more than he bargained for.

I made him into a greeting card for my Etsy shop, because sometimes drunk Cthulhu is the right thing for the occasion. Especially if that occasion involves someone partying too hard and needing your, ahem, “sympathy.”

Shaken Not Stirred, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.

Drunk Cthulhu card on Etsy by Amy Crook

Drunk Cthulhu card on Etsy by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Card Design, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Island

Thursday, February 6th, 2014

Island, abstract watercolor by Amy Crook

Island, abstract watercolor by Amy Crook

I think paintings are hardest to talk about when I really adore them. This one is such an exquisite combination of tiny details and subtle colors created both by deliberate artistic choice and by random chance that I’m ridiculously in love with it.

The paper is soft, both in texture and its creamy color, and the paints are all matte shades of real minerals, except for the places where there’s unexpected bursts of red or even sun-catching bits of green iridescence. The shape suggests an island without being any specific one, with its noodling coastlines and the surf creeping up all around it. The green is rich and deep and mysterious, inviting the viewer to look for hidden detail.

Island, 10″x8″ watercolor and duochrome watercolor on Arches cover white paper.

Island, detail, by Amy Crook

Island, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a very close look at some of the detail, in an area with a subtle wash of red hiding under the green, and a tiny patch of shimmering brightness that only shows itself in sunlight, like a lake hidden in deep jungles. Below, the painting’s in a frame, looking even more like some forgotten map.

Island, framed art by Amy Crook

Island, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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Backbone

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

Backbone, abstract watercolor by Amy Crook

Backbone, abstract watercolor by Amy Crook

Back in November, the same painting session that gave me the beginnings of both Exit Strategy and The Colour Out of Space produced the background for this. I did some more with the background before letting it sit for two months, and finally a few weeks ago I figured out what I wanted to do with it.

I actually used thinned-out titanium white paint in a fountain pen to draw these little shapes rather than painting them, a technique I practiced first on a couple of this month’s bookmarks.

The sinuous lines of vertebrae don’t quite follow the soft shapes they wind through, but they are informed by them. It’s hard to tell if this is one very long creature or several; if they’re suspended in water or mist or even fossilized; if they’re from something natural, unnatural, or even supernatural.

Backbone, 6″x4″ watercolor and Japanese watercolor on Arches cover white paper.

Backbone, detail, by Amy Crook

Backbone, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see an extremely close look at a dozen of the many vertebrae twining through the painting. Below, the painting is tucked in a frame, its mysteries safely contained.

Backbone, framed art by Amy Crook

Backbone, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Deadly Nightshade

Tuesday, February 4th, 2014

Deadly Nightshade, watercolor by Amy Crook

Deadly Nightshade, watercolor by Amy Crook

With a cat named Belladonna, it was inevitable that I’d eventually decide to paint her namesake plant.

The leaves are bright green and vibrant, while the berries have their own subtle inner glow of poisonous red-black. White gel pen gives three names for the plant, floating ghostly on the matte watercolor background. The blue-black night holds subtle textures, overlapping the plant in some spots and leaving white gaps in others, and you can see the soft pencil sketch beneath the art in places, giving the piece a loose, painterly feel.

Deadly Nightshade, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper.

Deadly Nightshade, detail, by Amy Crook

Deadly Nightshade, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a detail of one unripe berry and two blooming flowers, along with the word “Belladonna” crawling along the leaves. Below, you can see the piece in a frame with the sunlight bringing out the blue in the background.

Deadly Nightshade, framed art by Amy Crook

Deadly Nightshade, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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Butterfly

Monday, February 3rd, 2014

Butterfly, watercolor by Amy Crook

Butterfly, watercolor by Amy Crook

Pink! Bright colors! Happy little hearts! What is the world coming to?

I was working on something on the other side of this that was just not going well, and when I flipped the paper over there was this Rorschach-like butterfly just waiting for me in the white space. I decided to let go of perfectionism and use a peacock feather and bold, painterly lines to flesh out the whimsical butterfly.

Bright, bold, and flying free. Isn’t that a lovely thing to aspire to?

Butterfly, 7″x5″ watercolor on watercolor paper.

Butterfly, detail, by Amy Crook

Butterfly, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see some of the whimsical details, from the textured background to the bold spirals and delightful little heart. Below, you can see the butterfly flying in a frame, as though you’re looking through a window out onto a field of brilliant flowers.

Butterfly, framed art by Amy Crook

Butterfly, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Whimsical and Strange
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