Posts Tagged ‘for sale’

Tentacle Deeps 31

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 31, watercolor by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 31, watercolor by Amy Crook

I’m still enamored of these paints that are ghostly pale from some angles, and richly colored from others. This one looks like fine gilding from the right angle, but turns almost white and translucent from the wrong one. I couldn’t resist the idea of golden tentacles, though!

Tentacle Deeps 31, 4″x6″ watercolor on paper.

My camera picked up the golden color quite well, though I ended up leaving the background a little more purple than it is in reality because, well, it looks cool.

Tentacle Deeps 31, detail, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 31, detail, by Amy Crook

The piece looks nice framed, below, with my usual iPhone for scale. I considered using a dollar, but then, I have no idea of my international readers (hi!) know how big a dollar is, and yet it’s safe to assume most of you have seen someone holding their iPhone. Weird.

Tentacle Deeps 31, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 31, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Interfering Blues

Friday, March 23rd, 2012

Interfering Blues, abstract art by Amy Crook

Interfering Blues, abstract art by Amy Crook, $234

This is another of those pieces that’s challenging to photograph, and I totally did it to myself. I had the lovely ultramarine spirals already as a simple, elegant piece, but they sat around for weeks feeling unfinished before I got my new shiny Japanese watercolors. I used the blue from the pearlescent set to paint a second set of ghostly spirals atop the first, which are barely visible from some angles, and from others take on a lovely iridescent blue hue.

I’m definitely doing well with my new year’s resolution to paint more spirals on things, and I have to admit there’s something I find really charming about this particular set. The colors and shapes are very simple and bold, but they work for me.

Interfering Blues, 6″x6″ watercolor on paper, $234 with free shipping.

Interfering Blues, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Interfering Blues, detail 1, by Amy Crook

These pieces are deeply frustrating to photograph. For instance here, the paper is really a nice bright white, but since the shine is even brighter but also blue, I can’t really color balance the way I’d like to. But, at least you can see the pale blue shine on some of the spirals at this angle!

Interfering Blues, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Interfering Blues, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Above is more of a close-up of just one spiral, which captures the full range of color on the paint from a pearly warm white on the right to the shining blue on the left. This is such a nifty image I made a computer wallpaper of it, if you’d like a little more interference blue in your day.

The piece ships unframed for $234, but if you’d like me to frame it for you (or want to talk about anything, really!), feel free to email me about it.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers
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In the Spiraling Blue

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

In the Spiraling Blue, abstract art by Amy Crook

In the Spiraling Blue, abstract art by Amy Crook

This art is deceptively simple, just one color of paint on the soft, cream paper. French Ultramarine is a rich, bright blue and it mixes pretty well with the salt to give a pale blue tint to the crystals without dulling their luster. This is the last of 3 pieces I did experimenting with various shades of blue paint, and it sat around the longest, trying to figure out what else it needed.

It turns out, it just needed for me to decide it was finished.

Sometimes art is like that, there’s always the temptation to take it one step further and possibly ruin it. This sat in my shelf for a few weeks while I glanced over and considered what else I might do with it, and eventually I realized that the strong, swooping spirals were enough by themselves, especially mixed with the tiny ones at the center of each salt pool.

In the Spiraling Blue, 7″x5″ salt and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.

In the Spiraling Blue, detail 1, by Amy Crook

In the Spiraling Blue, detail 1, by Amy Crook

The camera really shows both the soft sky blue color of the salt and the way it sparkles in the sunlight. It also tends to wash the paper with slightly more yellow than it has, giving the whole thing a blue-and-gold feeling that’s more subtle in the real thing. This iPhone wallpaper shows off the real colors a little better.

In the Spiraling Blue, detail 2, by Amy Crook

In the Spiraling Blue, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers
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Tentacle Deeps 30

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 30 by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 30 by Amy Crook

I actually took the time to trim this cool green cardstock down to size, so it fits just fine in a 4″x6″ frame. I realize I have a ton of frames that size, from when I was trying to get the handmade postcards to fit. I finally gave up and started matting them into a bigger frame, so I’ve got a bunch of extra frames that obviously need tentacles.

The background is pure zoisite green, granulated and squamous just the way I like it. The foreground tentacles are a blue-black that gets bluer as the tentacles “recede” into the translucent background layers. I like the extra dimension the piece gets from colored paper and colored tentacles as well as the usual colored background, the whole thing is sort of eerie and otherworldly.

Also, green.

Tentacle Deeps 30, 6″x4″ watercolor on paper.

Tentacle Deeps 30, detail, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 30, detail, by Amy Crook

The color in the above close-up shot is a bit off, my camera keeps trying to add red to correct the green, but it’s still cool. Below you can see it with my iPhone for scale. I always think it’s neat seeing the art reflected in the surface of the phone, even if I don’t love the reflections of the room in the glass on the artwork.

Tentacle Deeps 30, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 30, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Mother Hydra

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

Mother Hydra cartoon by Amy Crook

Mother Hydra cartoon by Amy Crook

I’ve taken some liberties here and used a more classic interpretation of a hydra, rather than the Lovecraftian description of Father Dagon’s bride. There’s just no way to make a vast pool of screaming faces cute, really.

As it is, I can totally imagine at least one of her heads yelling, “No more wire hangers!” She’s even got pearls and lovely pink-painted claws nails.

Just don’t mention the screaming faces and monstrous claws pressing against her heavy, pregnant belly. Or think about what sort of monsters she’s the mother of, if you want to sleep tonight.

Mother Hydra, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on paper.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Outlier

Friday, March 16th, 2012

Outlier, abstract art by Amy Crook

Outlier, abstract art by Amy Crook, $399

Sometimes I can’t really explain why I like a piece of art, I just really do, and this is one of those. The scan really doesn’t do it justice, the green whorls and rays, and the purple lines joining the various salt pools. This one started with the salt pools in varying color intensities, then I put in the gel pen lines, and finally the spirals of watercolor. The watercolor picked up the glitter from the pen lines, and so there’s a subtle shimmer all through each one.

Outlier, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, $399 framed, with free shipping.

Outlier, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Outlier, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Above is the smallest, darkest and furthest-flung of the salt pools. There’s a little scribbled spiral of purple around just this one outlying pool, and you can see how the glitter got distributed all through the spiral of watercolor. Below, a photo of three of the other pools in a row (and that wash of red in the upper left my camera seems determined to give this paper, sigh). I made an iPhone wallpaper of a similar shot, and I’m using it for my lock screen right now. Or at least until I change my mind again.

Outlier, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Outlier, detail 2, by Amy Crook

I like the way it looks in a frame, too, as though everything’s pulling against the purple lines and trying to find a way to sneak out of the frame entirely, tied together by forces you can’t quite name.

Outlier, framed art by Amy Crook

Outlier, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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Implied Goldfish

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Implied Goldfish, watercolor by Amy Crook

Implied Goldfish, watercolor by Amy Crook, $399

This is the sort of art that just makes me feel a little bit more delighted with the world when I look at it. Happy little goldfish swim around partially camouflaged by the white paper, while rings of sparkly blue gel pin circle the three-dimensional salt formations. Are they stones? The first fat drops of rain? Strange portals to another world? The implications are endless.

Implied Goldfish, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $399 framed, with free shipping.

Now here’s where I admit something very silly: today’s art is inspired by one of my mismatched cereal bowls. Really they’re rice bowls, but I mostly use them for Cheerios.

Omnomnom Fishies!

Omnomnom Fishies!

I buy a lot of my dishes in Japantown and this is no exception. Maybe one of these days I’ll do a giant picspam on a Weds of a bunch of them. There’s kitties!

Below, you can see the sparkly salt and glittery pen next to the totally unconcerned fishies. The color’s a bit off, because this is the paper my camera likes to think is secretly red (hint: it’s not).

Implied Goldfish, detail, by Amy Crook

Implied Goldfish, detail, by Amy Crook

And finally we have the usual framed art, a peaceful little pond to sit on your desk or tuck into a tiny bit of wall space.

Implied Goldfish, framed art by Amy Crook

Implied Goldfish, framed art by Amy Crook, $399

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
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