Posts Tagged ‘horizons’
City Lights
Friday, April 8th, 2016
City Lights, 8″x4″ Japanese watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper
Stormclouds shroud the city in darkness, distance and fog obscuring the buildings farther away. On the close horizon, cheerful yellow blobs of light beckon the viewer to their warm interiors.
Three colors of lovely Japanese Gansai watercolors make up this simple palette, a blue-black, a violet-black, and of course the welcoming yellow which also glows over the skyline in a display of light pollution.
The buildings this time are mostly simple, traditional skyscrapers in different configurations, with a few interesting variations lurking among the lights.
City Lights, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the little glowing blobs of light defining one skyscraper from another. Below, the painting is in a temporary frame, waiting to be packaged up and sent to its forever home.
City Lights, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: city, horizons, japanese watercolor, nfs, sold, watercolor
Windblown
Wednesday, April 6th, 2016
Windblown, 8″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper
Brilliant oranges, pinks, and golds paint the sky as the red sun sinks below the horizon. A lone figure stands next to the tree, both of them tousled by the unseen winds. A raven heads for them both, graceful despite the headwind.
What’s the story here? You could hang this up in your home and contemplate the possible tales as you go about your day, each glimpse sparking a new line of thought.
Windblown, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of our big black bird, flying headlong into the wind. Below, the whole windblown tableau is waiting in a temporary frame to find its permanent home.
Windblown, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: crow, horizons, nfs, orange, sunset, tree, watercolor
There’s a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today
Monday, April 4th, 2016
There’s a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today,
6″x6″ ink and Primatek watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper
As you can see, mineral paints were a theme for this month! Fall in love with granulation all over again, the magical texture you get with certain pigments, watery paint, and rough paper.
A ruined city lurks below the apocalyptic sky, tendrils of smoke rising from the burnt-out buildings. There’s a little black spot on the sun, which glows a sullen red and drips something like light.
(It’s my soul up there.)
I’d apologize for the earworm, but I’m not sorry.
It’s the same old thing as yesterday, really.
There’s a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the dripping circle of the red sun and its odd black spot against the beautiful texture of grey-blue sky. Below, this little post-apocalyptic wasteland is tucked into a frame, a gorgeous reminder of a future that never was.
There’s a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: brush and ink, city, horizons, it's my soul up there, nfs, primatek, ruins, sold, the police, watercolor
Cloud Skimming
Saturday, February 6th, 2016
Cloud Skimming, 6″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper
As predicted on Instagram, the scanner ate away much of the delicate detail in the clouds and sky of this painting. You can see the texture best in the framed photograph, the soft mounds of the clouds.
This painting is an optical illusion, the geese skimming over distant clouds they are clearly far in front of and yet still seeming like they could almost land upon the fluffy white. The trees rise up in front, a shock of beautiful autumn flame, setting the stage for the migrating geese.
Cloud Skimming, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the hints of texture in the clouds and the geese gliding above, bright foliage peeking up from the bottom. Below, you can see how petite these geese are, flying above the fluff.
Cloud Skimming, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, geese, horizons, tree, watercolor
Ghost Trees
Thursday, January 7th, 2016
Ghost Tree, 6″x4″ ink wash on Fluid watercolor paper
Everything about this ink wash is understated, soft, and ghostly. The pale sky just as the sunset fades into the gloaming. The shadowy tree like a ghost against the ink-streaked clouds. The birds flitting past like memories, barely there in the distance.
The first hints of night haunt the top of the page, washing away the color as the evening threatens to fall, dropping its curtain over those last washes of pink and violet and gold still lurking in the soft clouds.
Ghost Tree, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the ghostly little ink wash birds swooping through the pale, fading daylight. Below, the tree sits in a frame, ready to haunt its new home.
Ghost Tree, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: horizons, ink wash, nfs, sold, tree
Halloween Trees 2
Friday, October 2nd, 2015
Halloween Trees 2 by Amy Crook
The original Halloween Trees is only a year old, but it feels very different from this sequel. The sky is softer and has more cloud shapes, and the trees are a less imposing brown rather than the starkly silhouetted black. Even the crows are different, coming in for a landing instead of taking off into the sunset.
The brilliant swath of pink behind the lightning-struck tree lets that whole bank of clouds really glow. The three trees each have their own character, slightly different patterns in their branches that make it clear even without leaves that they’re not the same species. If the crows are roosting in the middle one, one might wonder what lives in the lightning-struck tree on the left?
Halloween Trees 2, pen & ink, brush & ink, and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Halloween Trees 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the tiny birds up close, coming in to land in the lacework of branches. Below, the piece is in a temporary frame, just waiting for its new home.
Halloween Trees 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: brush and ink, crow, halloween trees, horizons, nfs, orange, pen and ink, pink, sold, tree, watercolor
Liminal Autumn
Thursday, September 3rd, 2015
Liminal Autumn by Amy Crook
The leaves have fallen but the cold hasn’t yet set in. Autumn still reigns, with fluffy October clouds rolling across the sky on playful breezes. Winter is just around the corner, but for now there’s still sunshine and a hint of comfort lingering around the edges of the world.
These trees have even more detail than my usual horizons, because the trees are painted in a gorgeous brown ink instead of a stark black. You can really see the texture of bark and the way the light shines through the branches, strong enough at the edge of fall still to make them seem almost translucent against the cloudy blue sky.
Liminal Autumn, 8″x4″ ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Liminal Autumn, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the intricate branches of the intertwining trees. Below, the painting is temporarily in a frame, waiting to be claimed and loved.
Liminal Autumn, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: autumn, for sale, horizons, ink, tree, watercolor, winter
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