Posts Tagged ‘for sale’
Growth
Friday, March 18th, 2011
Growth by Amy Crook
I finished this little piece and then had to let it sit overnight to think of what to call it. The central circle initially put me in mind of a moon, or a planet, or possibly a pirate’s black spot when it was all by itself, a dark blue-black shadow of painted ink that dried to a gorgeous matte finish.
Then I came in days later and decided to add the little clusters of circles around it in black fountain pen, knowing that the ink would blur and spread as I made the little circles, adding texture and shadow. As I built up the outside texture, it reminded me of a decorative border, or a cluster of marine eggs, or possibly a layer of industrial growth around a planet, building up and sending off pieces out into the space around it. Or perhaps floating down from the white to aggregate, giving life to the lifeless rock in the middle.
Growth, 5″x5″ pen & ink and Japanese watercolor on watercolor paper.
Growth, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the tiny little circles that make up the pattern of growth, pushing off and away from the central mass. Below, you can see it in a narrow-edged frame with its brand-new sibling, and my iPhone for scale.
Growth 2 and Growth, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black, brush and ink, for sale, growth, pen and ink, planet, studio gallery, watercolor
2 Comments »
Los Muertos 1
Monday, March 14th, 2011
Los Muertos 1 by Amy Crook
This piece was born out of pure play. I first brushed in a spiral in watery black ink, and then I watered the ink down even further to make lighter and lighter greys to play with. I also added in a tiny bit of color here and there, which is almost completely obscured by the later crosshatching. Then I used a green fountain pen to crosshatch around the main shape, starting while the paper was wet and letting it dry as I worked, so some of the lines are more blurred than others.
Then I wet down the central area all over again and used a black pen to ink there, and when I was done, the whole thing reminded me of one of those elaborately decorated Day of the Dead skulls. I got my dark red fountain pen (which the scanner decided was rather more magenta than the real thing) and drew spiral eyes, and then signed the piece using that red as well.
The end effect is rather creepy, but as I’m fond of creepy, that works out well.
Los Muertos 1, 5″x7″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, pen and ink, skull, watercolor
Seascape
Saturday, March 12th, 2011
Seascape by Amy Crook
This painting has an interesting history. I first painted it many years ago at the urging of an internet friend, and had originally intended to put a mermaid on the rough stones. I wanted to show the waves splashing up against the rocks and give a real impression of spray catching the moonlight, cool and refreshing with just a hint of mystery. Once it dried, I found I liked it just the way it was, and even the friend agreed that it was better like this — though I did do some photoshopping to add in her mermaid for a desktop background.
Cue the passage of many years hanging on my walls in the sun, and we have some distressing fading. I know which color is to blame now, but back in the day I loved the shade so much I didn’t worry enough about lightfastness. Oops!
I finally took the time and effort to use a more lightfast color to repair the sea and sky. You can see below a shot where the upper left has been fixed, and the lower right is waiting for its new infusion of color.
The shot above was taken before it had a chance to dry, so there’s a little glare, but the rich midnight blue sky has been renewed, and it’s ready to be re-hung.
Seascape, 18″x24″, oil on canvas.
Categories: Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: blue, for sale, moon, oil painting, sea
Tentacle Deeps 4
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 4 by Amy Crook
Yet another installment of tentacles, this one exploring a couple of different techniques than the previous three.
I got the paper itself damp this time before doing the greyish wash, and then dripped in a bit of colour here and there to add dimension to the grey. Then I washed again over the whole paper, which muted the bright white borders and caused some but not all of the wash to bleed around the body of the image. Since the paper’s recycled, there’s also a bit of colour bleed-through from the inkjet printing on the back, which is covered by the darkest part of the wash but still adds some depth.
Then, once it was dry, instead of painting in the tentacles, I got out a blue-black pen and used obsessive crosshatching to create them. It’s always interesting and rather haphazard to create shapes like this freehand out of texture, without the comfort of penciling things in first, so the tentacles seem a bit less graceful to me this time around, and there’s no second or third layer of faded background shapes. Instead, I used a dark red to highlight the red blotches in the wash, and then slipped dark green spirals subtly into the tentacle shapes themselves — you can click on the image to see it bigger, which lets you really see all the details.
Tentacle Deeps 4, 5″x7″ ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
I also made another computer wallpaper and iPhone wallpaper for this one — please let me know if you download them.
Tentacle Deeps 4, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, grey, pen and ink, spirals, tentacle deeps, watercolor
Seuss Heart
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Seuss Heart by Amy Crook
Since I posted weebles yesterday, I thought I’d post something else today for variety.
This watercolor piece came together very organically, out of the rich pigments in my Japanese paints and my own random thought processes. I started out painting a very pink heart, and when that didn’t suit me at all, I added the deep red along one side, and then the half-circle of purple nestling up next to it. The wet pigments ran and mixed to create something much more interesting, textures that kept evolving until they’d dried completely.
A touch of the original fuchsia shows up in the left lobe of the heart, and so when I signed it, I chose a fuchsia fountain pen (also from Japan) to echo that.
The piece felt incomplete, however, so when I found this quote about love from Dr. Seuss, I wrote it into the curve of the half-circle with a violet fountain pen, knowing from experience that the ink would blur and run. Though it’s nearly impossible to read, I think the words add layer of visual meaning to the piece.
“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness
is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
– Dr. Seuss
Seuss Heart, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
You can also get this piece printed on a handmade card on Etsy.
Seuss Heart, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: Dr. Seuss, for sale, heart, pen and ink, quote, watercolor
4 Comments »
Box of Envy
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
Box of Envy by Amy Crook
I was torn for what to call this experimental little watercolor piece, so I poked around quote sites until I found a Shakespearian insult from Troilus and Cressida, “Thou damnable box of envy.” I liked the way the metaphor fit with the one I’d created, especially mixed with the shades of green from teal to chartreuse that permeate the image.
Box of Envy, 6″x4.25″ watercolor on handmade watercolor postcard.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, postcard, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 3
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 3 by Amy Crook
It’s officially a series now because there’s 3 of them, so I gave them their own tag. I’ve made up some more blanks for different ones, greens and reds, so expect a few more before I get tired of painting them.
This one was a different sort of paper, recycled watercolor greeting cards, and I painted over the faint image with rich, opaque Japanese sumi-e inks. I let the paper mostly dry, and then made a mixture of black and green. Between the paper and the wetness of the inks, the tentacles tended to pick up on the color beneath more than the previous two pieces, giving them a faded feeling. I also shaded the paint using blue-violet to blue-green from left to right rather than vertically shading from light to dark, and covered the whole page rather than leaving a white border, so the whole piece has a slightly different feel to it than the others.
Tentacle Deeps 3, 5″x7″ ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
I also made another computer wallpaper and iPhone wallpaper for this one — please let me know if you download them.
Tentacle Deeps 3, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: blue, for sale, iphone, tentacle deeps, wallpaper, watercolor
« Or Head Back That Way
More Art This Way »
