Badlands

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Badlands, ink and salt painting by Amy Crook

Badlands by Amy Crook

This painting reminds me of going through the badlands of South Dakota as a kid on vacation with my family, being surrounded by the pinks and browns and bizarre rock formations that made it seem like being in a whole different world.

Badlands, 5″x7″ ink and salt on watercolor paper.

For whatever reason, a few of the salt formations on this one were particularly tall and strange, especially the one right in the center.

Badlands, work in progress by Amy Crook

Badlands, work in progress by Amy Crook

You can see here before I added in the brown ink paintings how the shape rises up about a quarter of an inch above the paper, topped with a little plateau-like crystal of darker pink salt.

As a result, I ended up buying a shadow box to frame it in, so the delicate crystals will be safe from jostling and accidental destruction.

Badlands, framed painting by Amy Crook

Badlands, framed, by Amy Crook

And a couple of extra detail shots, just so you can get a sense of the strange sparkle and depth of the piece.

Badlands, detail, by Amy Crook

Badlands, detail, by Amy Crook

Above is another angle on the central salt pillar, now with its accompanying ink washes, and below you can see the heart-shaped crystal formation in the lower left, where three pools merged to form one big shape. You can even faintly see the lines of pink from the original spirals that lend their color to the salt, some of which stayed stubbornly in the paper this time.

Badlands, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Badlands, detail, by Amy Crook

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Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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4 Responses to “Badlands”

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  1. Dryden says:

    The close-up pictures remind me of driving through the southwest too. Absolutely gorgeous.

  2. Amy says:

    Thank you! I really like the way the salt keeps doing things I can’t predict.