Posts Tagged ‘for sale’
Tentacle Deeps 18
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 18 by Amy Crook
More tentacles! I started this piece with salt that had already been gently used and had a coating of color on the outside, arranging them in a pattern that made me think of balloons floating up or perhaps fluff blowing off a dandelion. Once I got the idea to attach them to tentacles, however, I couldn’t resist! I used several shades of red and orange ink to create the tentacles, and of course my scanner hates red dyes and so a lot of the subtle gradation you can see in person is lost.
I decided to create the “deeps” part of the painting with simple crosshatching, electing to go with a fairly loose style which often ran into the tentacles, which makes them just a bit more unreal. I do wonder what the salt pools represent in this context, attached at the end of each vivid red tentacle. Egg sacs? Sensory organs? Lunch?
Tentacle Deeps 18, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper.
Tentacle Deeps 18, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: black, crosshatching, for sale, pen and ink, red, salt, tentacle deeps, watercolor
Squidtini
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
Squidtini by Amy Crook
My friend, G, is a big fan of both gin and squid, so one night I drew up this little guy with her in mind. He’s even made friends with the olive, which he’s got clutched in his feeder tentacles, though the gin’s given him a bit of a blush on his fins and cheeks. This little squid is sloshed!
Squidtini, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on paper.
I think it would make a great invitation to a New Year’s dinner party, so I made cards for my Etsy shop.
Squidtini, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: card, copic marker, etsy, for sale, martini, pen and ink, squid
Radial Symmetry 2
Friday, October 21st, 2011
Radial Symmetry 2 by Amy Crook, $242
This time I mixed two different colors, a deep forest green and a lighter, seafoam green. The darker green hides in the black paper somewhat, but the raised texture is more pronounced there, too, since the paint was applied in thick beads. I keep thinking there’s a name for this sort of radial pattern, especially one created with beads, but I couldn’t find it by googling.
Radial Symmetry 2, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $242, framed, with free shipping.
My scanner had a really hard time with the subtle colors in this piece, but you can see a better representation of both the shiny green shapes and the soft, velvety black paper.
Radial Symmetry 2, detail, by Amy Crook
I’ve photographed the piece in its frame with my iPhone for scale. I think this piece would look great as part of a wall grouping, along with other art, prints and photos in similar simple black frames.
Radial Symmetry 2, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, for sale, gouache, pen and ink, radial symmetry, salt
Radial Symmetry 1
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
Radial Symmetry 1 by Amy Crook, $222
I got some lovely new Japanese gouache paints for my birthday, and I decided to see how they’d work on the black paper. I used double spirals inside these salt circles to give the salt more pigment, which also left darker, warmer centers where the water distributed the pigment into the paper. I used a single color of paint on this, and I found that once it dried, the color stays very consistent no matter how thickly the paint was mixed, but that the thicker paint left rounded, bead-like shapes on the paper.
I think of these a bit like beaded decorations, or possibly flowers with their warm orange centers and pale periwinkle petals. I like to imagine the piece adding a little touch of unexpected loveliness to someone’s life, tucked into a bookshelf or sitting on someone’s desk at work.
Radial Symmetry 1, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
Radial Symmetry 1, detail, by Amy Crook
The salt on these isn’t as sparkly, probably because of the matte black behind them, but I love the way the paint makes soft, glossy swells on the paper. It looks great in a simple black frame, which makes the colors really pop. You can see them reflected in my iPhone for scale, below.
Radial Symmetry 1, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, for sale, gouache, pen and ink, radial symmetry, salt
Cthulhu’s Gift
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Cthulhu’s Gift by Amy Crook
I’ve been working on holiday cards again this week, and Cthulhu really wants you to like his gift. I decided to make a rather generic gift for the original, and then I drew a page of holiday dingbats — including a delightfully gruesome spike bow of a sort I’ve actually bought and put on gifts myself (minus the blood).
Cthulhu’s Gift, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on paper.
Cthulhu’s Holiday Gift by Amy Crook
The original is, of course, the first version, since this one exists courtesy of Photoshop, but I find I’m rather fond of his baubles. I want a tentacle glass ornament!
This is what he looks like in a frame, though the original won’t be framed unless the buyer requests it for an additional fee.
Cthulhu’s Gift, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: copic marker, cthulhu, for sale, holiday, lovecraft, pen and ink, tentacles
Squid in a Scarf
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Squid in a Scarf by Amy Crook
It’s this year’s holiday card! I decided to do something extra silly, so not only is our little squid freezing, he comes in colors. You can see his feeder tentacles wrapped around all 8 arms as he shivers in his hat and scarf a bit anxiously. I decided on a chilly ocean blue for his main body color, which works well with all the color schemes I’ve tried so far, from Hogwarts houses to TARDIS blue and white.
Squid in a Scarf, 5″x5″ pen and ink and Copic markers on paper.
Check out my Etsy Shop to get him as a card, print, or even buy the original.
Squid in a Scarf, original art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: card art, copic marker, customize me, etsy, for sale, pen and ink, squid
Jellyfish Deeps
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Jellyfish Deeps by Amy Crook
Most of my salt pieces come together in an almost Zen-like way, with the long wait for the salt crystals to form and then a quick flurry of activity as I work with the results. This piece started out with the watercolor background, which took a long time to dry, giving the mixed paint time to separate out into its component colors in some places, while staying a murky purple-black in others. Pen and ink and salt came next, and then the jellyfish in their white gel pen currents swam in last.
It’s interesting how sometimes you can keep adding things to a piece until you ruin it, but other times you have to keep going until it gets past a certain point and turns itself around into something worthwhile. My friend Jeff (who paints wargaming miniatures) calls it “the ass point,” where the piece looks like total ass until you get it to a certain point, and then suddenly all its potential starts to shine through.
I find this point more intimidating than the blank page, since it represents a lot of lost work if it never gets past that point, but there’s a certain satisfaction to having pulled a piece past the ass point and turned it into something I’d want to admit I created.
Jellyfish Deeps, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, nfs, (sold).
Jellyfish Deeps, detail, by Amy Crook
This one has a lot of detail that just doesn’t show up until you really look at it, from the colors glowing through the white gel pen to the strange salt pools and their range of crystal sizes and densities. You can see it in its frame, below, with my iPhone for size reference.
Jellyfish Deeps, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, gel pen, jellyfish, pen and ink, salt, tentacles, watercolor
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