Posts Tagged ‘tentacles’
Tentacle Deeps 27
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 27 by Amy Crook
We have ghostly tentacles writhing against a textured wash of sunset red, orange and gold for our Tentacle Tuesday. I really love all the texture and detail on this one, so I made a wallpaper to share. I make these sort of huge and not particularly specific on the size so that you can just tell your computer to fill the screen and it won’t matter if some of one edge or another gets cropped. I also make the tentacles go left to right because that’s what works for me on my screen, I almost always have certain windows open so I mostly see a few little stripes of background at the left and right edges.
I really like the way the textured paper here created amazing edges on the wash, and then on top of that I used salt in the more traditional manner to create the almost flamelike blossoms of paint in the background. I was so in love with it, I decided to paint the tentacles in washed-out, transparent black to let the background really show through. The smaller, fainter tentacles give it a sense of looking out over a field of them, almost like seaweed rising up from the ocean bottom.
Tentacle Deeps 27, 5.25″x7″ watercolor on paper.
This isn’t quite small enough for a standard frame, and I haven’t yet matted it properly into a larger one for photography, but I suspect you’ve seen enough framed tentacles by now to know the drill. Instead, enjoy the spooky bottom-up detail shot.
Tentacle Deeps 27, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: orange, red, salt, sunset, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 26
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 26 by Amy Crook
I went for a warm, soft brown on this installment of the tentacles, with layers of tentacles fading into the murky waters. the tentacles are painted with my favorite granulating lunar black to give that lovely texture, and the background itself has some bloodstone in it to add to the texture. I find these very meditative to do, just thinking about how to arrange the curls and swirls in an attractive pattern without too much repeat or too little visual interest.
The visual texture on this one is very rich and soft, though the paper is quite stiff. Beware the velvety tentacles, their embrace is insidious.
Tentacle Deeps 26, 5.25″x7″ watercolor on paper.
I haven’t actually framed this one yet, it’ll have to go in an 8″x10″ frame with a mat because of the slightly too-wide paper that a certain artist was slackery about tearing to size. You can still enjoy the traditional close-up shot below, though.
Tentacle Deeps 26, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: brown, for sale, rust, sharpie marker, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Jellyfish Bookmark 1
Friday, February 17th, 2012
Jellyfish Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook
The second-to-last day of Bookmark Week is upon us! I’ve already got a few ideas for next time, too, so I hope you’re enjoying the shift from small to super-small art this week.
This one I actually just doodled idly while I was on the phone, thinking of my larger piece Jellyfish Deeps as I worked. I thought about going back in to try to add a little color, but I liked the slight reddish cast the mat board gave to the white gel pen. I’m sure I’ll do another of these sometime, though, the jellyfish are just too entertaining.
Jellyfish Bookmark 1, 0.875″x5.875″ white gel pen on black mat board, nfs, sold.
Jellyfish Bookmark 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see how the black mat board bled red into white of the ink, though it’s made much more pink by my camera here. The mat board is quite thick, but it would still slip easily into a book as long as you don’t shove it all the way to the spine. Below, I have the jellyfish hanging out with a hardcover, for size comparison.
Jellyfish Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: bookmark, crosshatching, gel pen, jellyfish, nfs, pen and ink, sold, tentacles
Tentacle Bookmark 1
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Tentacle Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook
I couldn’t neglect Tentacle Tuesday for Valentine’s Day, now could I? After all, it is a nice lovely red.
After I finished this one, I texted a photo to a friend who immediately replied, “Are you giving me the tentacle?”
I drew this in pen and ink on a thick, textured watercolor paper that’s a nice warm white base for the tentacle and its background.
Tentacle Bookmark 1, 1″x7.625″ pen and ink on paper, nfs (sold).
Tentacle Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook
Above you can see this bookmark’s quite a bit longer than yesterday’s, but will still nestle nicely in a hardcover book. May I suggest a volume of Lovecraft?
Tentacle Bookmark, detail, by Amy Crook
The usual obligatory tentacle shot, which is tamer than it sounds. Don’t forget to visit all the bookmarks from this week.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: bookmark, nfs, orange, pen and ink, red, sold, tentacles
Tentacle Deeps 25
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 25, watercolor painting by Amy Crook
Tentacle Tuesday is upon us once again! I decided to go old school with this next set and paint the wash in the middle of the paper, which gives a very interesting edge to work with. This wash started golden yellow at the bottom and faded up to lemony yellow, but I wanted to give it a bit more oomph, so I went in with a deep goldenrod fine-point Sharpie marker and drew tiny crosshatching in all the background areas. The marker nearly fades into the watercolor down near the base of the tentacles, but you can see the texture clearly in the upper areas.
There’s something soothing about doing these really tedious patterns sometimes, especially since I can do a tiny area for just a minute or two and then do something else (mmmminternets), and then go back to it, which cuts up the process into manageable bites. Otherwise, my wrists might never forgive me!
Tentacle Deeps 25, 5.25″x5″ watercolor and Sharpie marker on paper.
Since this one’s slightly larger than a standard frame I didn’t get a photo of it in its new home yet, but you can see the texture of paper, paint and marker in the cool depth-of-field photo that I can’t resist taking every single time.
Tentacle Deeps 25, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: for sale, hufflepuff, sharpie marker, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor, yellow
Tentacle Spiral 2
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Tentacle Spiral 2 by Amy Crook
As predicted, I’ve got a second installment for my Tentacle Spiral series. This started out as something else, but once I looked at the smudgy, swirly green background I just knew it needed tentacles. I mixed up a very dark green that’s a little translucent, so you can see some of the other colors where the tentacles grow thin, as though they’re not quite fully in this world.
Tentacle Spiral 2, 8″x8″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Tentacle Spiral 2, detail, by Amy Crook
These tentacle spiral pieces also look very cool when photographed at an angle like this, so much so I even made a wallpaper of this one. It’s been ages since I shared one, so I figured it was about time.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, spirals, tentacle spiral, tentacles, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 24
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 24 by Amy Crook
It’s Tuesday the 24th, which is the perfect day for Tentacle Deeps 24, don’t you think? It’s a good thing I’ve got it all ready to go.
I have really been enjoying my block of 4″x8″ watercolor paper, especially for the tentacles, although it means I’ll need to figure out a framing and matting situation for them sooner or later. I like the sense of depth it gives them with the extra vertical space above, in this case where the yellows shine in and then filter down through the textured space into bluer greens at the bottom. The tentacles are scribbled in with fountain pen on the black and brush pen on the grey.
Tentacle Deeps 24, 4″x8″ pen and ink and watercolor on paper.
I have to admit, I think every single one of the Tentacle Deeps paintings looks cool photographed this way, so I will probably never stop adding in the gratuitous creepy detail shots.
Tentacle Deeps 24, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, green, pen and ink, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
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