Posts Tagged ‘for sale’

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow

Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, pen and ink art by Amy Crook

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow
pen and ink art by Amy Crook

I’m not certain what my favorite thing about this piece is, but it’s risen to the top of A Series of Uncanny Fears for me. I love the Gorey-esque fur coat on the figure just passing out of the frame. I adore the wallpaper pattern you can see showing through the shadowy figure. And I think the overlong, many-jointed fingers of the shadow are delightfully creepy.

I’m sure your shadow doesn’t hunger to steal the life you live, to step into the light, to slip into your skin and live looking out of your eyes. There’s nothing to worry about at all.

You could make sure you always know where it is, just in case, though.

Just in case.

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, detail, by Amy Crook

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a close-up shot of the wallpaper pattern both bare and hiding under the shadow. Below, you can see the piece happily ensconced in a frame, safe behind the glass. That sound you hear isn’t claws against the inside of the glass, I’m sure of it. After all, there’s so much glass in your home, you can’t really pinpoint where the sound is coming from.

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, framed art by Amy Crook

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Your Shadow, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Map to an Undiscovered Country

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013

Map to an Undiscovered Country by Amy Crook

Map to an Undiscovered Country by Amy Crook

I’m going to post a bit more about some of the pieces in October’s Floating Gallery for the next couple of weeks, starting with this one! If there’s a piece you’re curious about, feel free to ask.

This painting was directly inspired by a patron’s reaction to one of last month’s pieces. You know who you are, and thank you! It’s been a month of being fascinated with maps, for me, so this was a good way to explore that.

There’s two kinds of pen and ink on here, my teeny tiny Micron pen outlining the fjords and inlets around this strange country, and the thicker Japanese Pilot fountain pens in deep green and dark brown forming the inner details.

The line across the middle feels like a river and lake to me, but what if it’s a border, a fault, a plateau or crater? I love the mystery created by the map, making you wonder if the yellow is beaches or deserts or something else. Are those deep green spaces forests or mountains? If the brown aren’t roads, what are they? Are there even people in this undiscovered land, or are you the first to gaze upon it?

Map to an Undiscovered Country, 5″x7″ pen & ink and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.

Map to an Undiscovered Country, detail, by Amy Crook

Map to an Undiscovered Country, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a close-up of the paper texture interacting with the media to create detail, the tiny hand-drawn borders making strange borders, the thicker lines intersecting and the edge of the shape in the center. Below, you can see it in the frame I got especially for this piece, though of course once it finds a new home I’ll be able to re-purpose this, should the frame not go with it.

Map to an Undiscovered Country, framed art by Amy Crook

Map to an Undiscovered Country, framed art by Amy Crook

I’ll end on a note about works in pen and ink. Most colored inks are made with dyes and are less lightfast than the pigments in paint. If you put your art somewhere that gets direct sunlight, it will fade like an old map despite the high quality art paper. So don’t do that.

Actually, don’t do that to any art, because even the most lightfast pigments degrade over time. Also, it’s just not nice.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Whimsical and Strange
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Beetlejuice

Friday, September 27th, 2013

Beetlejuice, parody comic by Amy Crook

Beetlejuice, parody comic by Amy Crook

Say it once, say it twice, third time’s the charm… Iiiiiit’s showtime!

It’s the season for cheerful Halloween movies (okay, every season is the season, but hush), and I decided to render the Ghost with the Most in my signature “fancy stick figure” style.

I haven’t decided yet if he’d be fun on a card, but he’ll be showing up on Tuesday in October’s awesome Halloween Floating Gallery.

 

Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice! BEETLEJUICE!!!

Dammit, that trick never works.

Categories: People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Red Sky Firefly

Friday, September 6th, 2013

Red Sky Firefly by Amy Crook

Red Sky Firefly by Amy Crook

Strings of glowing fireflies flit in the distance through red-tinted dusk in this abstract piece. The night is slowly banishing the last hints of color, but for now the fireflies still eclipse the stars. There’s a dreamy, gorgeous feeling to this painting, with its metallic-bright firefly spots and softly textured ruddy end-of-sunset background.

Red Sky Firefly, 7″x5″ Japanese watercolor and metallic watercolor on Arches cover black paper.

Red Sky Firefly, detail, by Amy Crook

Red Sky Firefly, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the texture of paper and paint, and the soft glow of golden light that seems to float above the surface. Below, I’ve put the piece in a frame so you can imagine it like staring out a window into some fairy world where it’s always dusk, and sailors always delight in the red sky at night.

Red Sky Firefly, framed art by Amy Crook

Red Sky Firefly, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You

Wednesday, September 4th, 2013

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You, pen and ink art by Amy Crook

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You
pen and ink art by Amy Crook

Tentacles have crept their way into A Series of Uncanny Fears! It only took me 3 pieces to do it, predictably. This is the first one with an explicit person in it; there’s a lump in the bedclothes and a handprint on the mirror, but we finally see someone’s actual hair here. I was torn at first about putting someone in it, but I think the little bit of humanity peeking up over the edge of the spiral-patterned chair adds to the neck-ruffling feeling of creepiness.

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You, detail, by Amy Crook

A Series of Uncanny Fears: Behind You, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see an update of the creeping tentacles and the backlit head of unruly hair that is their goal. Below, you can see the piece in a frame with its brethren. I hope to add two more pieces to this series next month, too.

A Series of Uncanny Fears, 3 pieces of framed art by Amy Crook

A Series of Uncanny Fears, 3 pieces of framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Edges

Monday, September 2nd, 2013

Edges, abstract art by Amy Crook

Edges, abstract art by Amy Crook

Something bright and cheerful for your Monday, whether you’re working or have a day off like many Americans. I’m putting a selection of the new pieces on the blog this week, but there’s even more art at the Floating Gallery and it’s only available until next Sunday!

I had a piece of 10″x8″ watercolor paper that I made a background on in bright yellow, green and darker green, using a spray bottle to make the fascinating layered shapes with their fractal borders like fjords. I used pen & ink on this piece a bit haphazardly at first, and what I ended up with was a work of art that just wasn’t working with itself. So, I girded my loins and got out my tear bar and tore it in half, then took a bit off each piece to end up with two 5″x7″ works of art, and a couple of bookmarks. All of the pieces then got some more work, and Edges is one of the results, the right half of the original.

Edges, 5″x7″ pen & ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.

Edges, detail, by Amy Crook

Edges, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the little critter I doodled in one corner where the edges seemed to suggest him. He’s smaller than a dime, and says pbth on your size issues. Below, speaking of size issues, you can see the piece in a frame with my iPhone, so you can appreciate the size it ended up.

Edges, framed art by Amy Crook

Edges, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Whimsical and Strange
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Old Friends Who’ve Just Met

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

Old Friends Who've Just Met, Muppets fan art by Amy Crook

Old Friends Who’ve Just Met, Muppets fan art by Amy Crook

I was watching The Muppet Movie the other day, and if there was every a Muppet to get himself in a friendly situation with a tentacle monster, it’s Gonzo. The title comes from Gonzo’s big song, where he sings, “There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met.” Given his penchant for putting starfish in his pants in Muppet Treasure Island, I think Gonzo and the tentacle monster are going to get along just fine.

Old Friends Who’ve Just Met, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.

Old Friends Who've Just Met, detail, by Amy Crook

Old Friends Who’ve Just Met, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see Gonzo up close, along with the spot where my inks smeared, ironically while I was specifically trying not to smear them with my hand and so I put a pencil board over them. I’m just having a bad week with inks, man. Below, you can see it in a frame, just waiting to go back there someday. I feel I should point out that I had my choice of tentacle monsters and Muppet action figures, Pez dispensers and plushies to choose from for this photo. Gonzo in his cannon won because he was closest.

Old Friends Who've Just Met, framed art by Amy Crook

Old Friends Who’ve Just Met, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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