Posts Tagged ‘moon’
Fairytale Sky
Monday, August 20th, 2012
Fairytale Sky watercolor by Amy Crook
This piece exists in the intersection of realism and whimsy. It started with a white crescent moon that fades mysteriously to its dark side with a pitted, rocky texture. Then the cheerful periwinkle clouds spiral through the field of silver stars that shine out in the dark black of the paper. It’s an image that brings to mind the magic of bedtime stories and fairy tales, even the ones with happy endings.
Fairytale Sky, 10″x8″ Japanese watercolor on Arches cover black paper, nfs (sold).
Fairytale Sky, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the silver stars catching the light against the paper – Arches makes this soft black paper for printmaking, but I like it because the black is chemical rather than dyed, so it never fades from its original velvety charcoal color. Below, you can see how this painting might look on your desk, well, if you’ve got the kind of desk I do, anyway. It’s bigger than a lot of my skies, so it would also work well on a bedroom wall or above someone’s bed to help assure sweet dreams.
Fairytale Sky, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black paper, fairytale sky, iridescent, japanese watercolor, moon, nfs, periwinkle, silver
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Green Cheese Moon
Monday, August 6th, 2012
Green Cheese Moon watercolor by Amy Crook
I imagine the three groups of colored stars are constellations of some sort, clustered near the mysterious moon. The color and texture reminds me of the veining in good cheese, and so obviously this moon is made of green cheese.
I’d intended to add in some extra decorative elements, but it was so lovely the way it is I decided to stop there. Knowing when you’re done can be the hard part, some days.
Green Cheese Moon, 10″x8″ salt and watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Green Cheese Moon, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see one of the constellations curving in a periwinkle line around the edge of the green planet. Below, you can see the whole thing tucked into a glassless frame.
Green Cheese Moon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, for sale, green, japanese watercolor, moon, salt
C is for Counter
Thursday, July 26th, 2012
C is for Counter, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook
Counter space is the space inside of a letter, whether open or closed. No, I didn’t know that before I started this project, either, don’t worry, but once I heard the term I became fascinated with the idea of fitting an old-school moon in the curve of the C for this alphabet.
C is for Counter, 5″x5″ Japanese watercolor, pen & ink and glitter gel pen on paper.
C is for Counter, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the shining silver stars in the blue sky, and also a better sense of the shading, which my scanner blew out completely in the yellows. Below, the C is hanging out with the Endless (whose names all start with D, ironically) and the G as well. It’s all ready for a Catherine or Carl to take it home, or perhaps a Mr. Cunningham. I think the framed photo actually has the most accurate color, too.
C is for Counter & G is for Gothic, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: alphabet, blue, calligraphy, for sale, glitter gel pen, illumination, moon, pen and ink, silver, stars, watercolor, yellow
Filigree Moon 2
Monday, July 9th, 2012
Filigree Moon 2 by Amy Crook
This painting is the shining golden harvest moon version of the cool Filigree Moon from two weeks ago. The moon is rising up in one corner, covered in gold spirals, adding its light to a sky full of stars. There’s faint white salt pools, deep golden yellow ones, and some glittery gold spirals as well decorating the black paper the same way the stars dot the sky.
I’d been using my cooler glitter pens for my planets, the blue and purple, and I wanted to use the gold for a bit. So, I got out some black paper and first made the golden moon background, then scattered in some stars with salt, water and paint, then a few more of just salt water. Finally once it was all dry, I came in and added spirals, first to the moon and then to give the sky even more sparkle.
Filigree Moon 2, 7″x5″ Japanese watercolor and glitter gel pen on Arches cover black paper.
Filigree Moon 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above you can see a very close photo of two of the tiny salt pools, including the one big crystal that formed. Below is a shot of the moon itself, in all its glittery glory, with the same two pools in the distance on the upper left.
Filigree Moon 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And finally, you can see it in a frame (with the glass left out), hanging out with my iPhone so they can talk about whether size matters.
Filigree Moon 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, filigree, for sale, glitter gel pen, gold, moon, salt, spirals, watercolor
Filigree Moon
Monday, June 25th, 2012
Filigree Moon by Amy Crook
I’m utterly delighted by this piece, from the salt pools with their soft, chalky centers to the fine filigree of glittering spirals over the subtly colored moon. I almost didn’t put a price on it at all, and I’ll definitely find a spot for it among my shelves where it can bring me delight for as long as it lives here.
The glitter gel pen has no actual pigment in it, and the glitter in it is remarkably large, so that you get an effect of translucency that reminds me of glitter nail polish. From some angles the filigree is bright and obvious, but from others, like the one in the scanner, it’s barely there at all. The tiny salt-pool stars add their own bit of sparkle to the piece, and the velvety black paper makes the perfect space backdrop.
Filigree Moon, 7″x5″ salt, Japanese watercolor and glitter gel pen on Arches cover black paper.
Filigree Moon, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the filigree lit up by the sunlight, spirals and curlicues that shimmer and vanish when you turn the painting away from the sun. Below, you can see that I’ve finally had the brilliant idea to photograph the black paper pieces without the glass in the frame, and magically there’s no glare. Fancy that.
Filigree Moon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: black paper, filigree, for sale, glitter gel pen, moon, periwinkle, salt, spirals, watercolor
1 Comment »
Milk White Moon
Monday, June 4th, 2012
Milk White Moon by Amy Crook
I’ve done moons in blue and orange and yellow, silver and gold and iridescent lavender, and I thought I’d try one in simple white. The salt, too, is undiluted with paint, so there’s nothing but the black paper, white ink and white salt, and any color is just refracted light through the crystals.
There’s two sets of salt pools, the deeper ones with spirals at the center that grew from fat droplets of water carefully applied, and the shallow ones dripped down from a height to splash onto the paper. There’s even little tiny crystals here and there where smaller droplets splashed away from the bigger, which brings a lovely depth to the piece like a real sky.
Milk White Moon, 5″x5″ gel pen and salt on Arches cover black paper.
Milk White Moon, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the delicate splash of one single careless drop of water, surrounded by deeper pools of salt. Below is a close-up of one of those pools, the largest one in the lower center with the large white spiral hiding in its depths.
Milk White Moon, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And finally the piece in the warm summer sunshine, and a frame of course, basking on the blotter of my writing desk with my iPhone for scale.
Milk White Moon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: black and white, black paper, for sale, gel pen, moon, salt
2 Comments »
Silver Moon
Monday, May 14th, 2012
Silver Moon, watercolor by Amy Crook
It’s been a while since I gave you a new moon for Monday, so I thought it was about time. I did the salt pools for this one in a variety of sizes, using the clear salt water I made so even the smallest droplet left some salt behind when it dried. I used some powdered silver watercolor I have on hand to create a lovely colorless sky this time, with halos around the biggest star and an outward-fading spiral for the moon.
The reason I talk about the process so much is that’s what I’m mostly thinking about as I work, trying to get the effect I want out of the materials I’m using. I thinned out the silver paint to a specific thickness for the outer two circles on the moon, wanting there to be a delineation between the moon itself and the light that shines from it the way there is with the stars. I went for one big spiral this time because it seemed to fit with the rest, even though the star field is more complicated than in some similar pieces.
I try not to overthink these decisions as I’m making them, because the pieces work best when they’re not too fussy, with swooping paint strokes and not-quite-random scatterings of salt.
Silver Moon, 6″x4″ salt and watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Silver Moon, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the light reflecting off the silver paint where it’s most opaque, as well as highlighting the smaller, un-haloed stars in the black. Below, the piece is framed and sitting next to my trusty iPhone for scale.
Silver Moon, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: black paper, for sale, moon, salt, silver, watercolor
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