Posts Tagged ‘brush and ink’
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Pattern Recognition
Friday, March 30th, 2012
Pattern Recognition, abstract art by Amy Crook
This piece started out as tiny bead-like droplets of salt-infused ink on the paper. The salt crystals that grew were small and black, evenly spaced across the ink circles, and the ink was actually coating the salt so they hardly sparkled at all. I took a wet brush and idly doodled the uppermost right-hand pattern by re-wetting the ink and drawing it out in three long, swooping lines. Using water to separate this ink shows off its complex color structure of blue and orangey-brown, and so I used the same method to make patterns around the rest of the ink dots as well.
Since I gently dissolved some of the ink off of the salt crystals, they regained a tiny bit of sparkle, so this image that could have been boring black and white had I made it with pen and ink, has a three-dimensional, full-color palette of tiny details. Sometimes it’s worth it to do things the ridiculously complicated way.
Pattern Recognition, 5″x5.25″ ink and salt on paper, $234 framed, with free shipping.
The detail shot below shows off both the color variation in the “black” ink, and the dull shine of the tiny salt crystals. To give you a sense of scale, the entire design in this photo is about the size of a quarter.
Pattern Recognition, detail, by Amy Crook
I haven’t yet framed this piece, it’s just a tiny bit too big for a 5″x5″ frame, so it’ll get mounted into a larger 8″x8″ frame before going to its new home.
Tags: brush and ink, for sale, ink, salt
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Shop - Abstract and Just Plain Weird | No Comments »
ATC: Flourish
Monday, January 16th, 2012
Flourish, artist trading card by Amy Crook
I still have a bunch in my pack of Artist Trading Cards, so I decided to pull one out and just doodle a bit. Once I’d drawn in the little vine pattern in the corner, the word “flourish” sprung to mind so I went ahead and wrote it in messy calligraphy. Then I got out a brush and, using water and the ink already on the card, I smoothed out the shapes, and even ‘painted’ some new ones.
The whole thing has a feel of decorative whimsy, which goes quite well with the idea of adding flourishes, and also of flourishing in a more personal sense, at least for me. A life without whimsy or decoration would be awfully boring, after all.
Flourish, 3.5″x2.5″ ink on paper, nfs (but available for trading).
We actually had some sunshine this morning, so I took a photo and got a slightly better view of the very pale details in the middle of the card.
Flourish, detail, by Amy Crook
If you’re an artist who makes ATCs of your own, and are coveting this one, let me know!
Tags: aceo, atc, brush and ink, calligraphy, decorative, pen and ink
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art | No Comments »
Drifting Down
Monday, January 9th, 2012
Drifting Down by Amy Crook, $277
Another salt experiment, this time using pen and ink in a different way. The spirals inside the salt pools are actually watercolor, which the water didn’t really pick up at all this time, and then the grass and vines are both pen-and-ink that’s been brushed with water to give it a different texture.
I really like the peaceful, floating quality of this piece. The little salt pools seem weightless as they rest like the barest fluff on the upright grass. Actually it reminds me a bit of Horton Hears a Who — I wonder if there’s any Whos hiding there?
Drifting Down, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, $277 framed, with free shipping.
Drifting Down, detail, by Amy Crook
The meagre winter sunlight this time of year doesn’t catch the sparkle on the salt very well, but you can really see the texture of the paper and the watercolor-like quality of the curling ink vines. Below you can see it in a frame (with my iPhone for scale – not included, heh). It would fit nicely on a desk at work, for anytime you needed a moment of peace and weightlessness, growth from above and below and the effortless connection between them.
Drifting Down, framed art by Amy Crook, $277
If you think you’d like to bring this piece into your life, or are just too shy to comment, feel free to email me! I’m always happy to help find the right home for my art, or just chat.
Tags: brush and ink, for sale, pen and ink, salt, vines, watercolor
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Shop - Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Shop - Flowers, Trees and Landscapes | No Comments »
A Murder of Crows
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
A Murder of Crows by Amy Crook, $399
This piece uses several different techniques together but really just one pen, although I did go back in and add just a hint of color to the shadowy, sunlit crows in their flight. I’m very pleased with the overall effect, which makes me think of a cover or title page to some mystery novel or horror story. There’s even 13 crows in my murder to make it extra spooky.
A Murder of Crows, 6″x6″ pen & ink and salt on watercolor paper, $399, framed, with free shipping.
I like the way the salt is nearly invisible until the sunlight hits it, adding sparkle and color to an otherwise monochrome image.
A Murder of Crows, detail 1, by Amy Crook
The curving edges on each bird were partially created by the puddles of inky salt water, an imprecise process at best, which helps to give them a sense of being backed and blurred by strong sunlight.
A Murder of Crows, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Tags: brush and ink, calligraphy, crow, for sale, pen and ink, salt
Posted in Daily Art, Shop - Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Shop - Whimsical and Strange, Whimsical and Strange | 1 Comment »
Tentacle Deeps 15
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 15 by Amy Crook, $666
Days of work went into today’s piece, but I think they’re my favorite tentacles yet. I used the same technique of softening pen-and-ink with water as in Tentacle Deeps 14, but then I went through and grew salt crystals along the body of each tentacle. The cross-hatching used three different pens to create the sense of light and depth, and my friend Eric L suggested that it looks like the tentacles are starting to dissolve where the light is hitting them.
Tentacle Deeps 15, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, $666, framed, with free shipping.
Here you can see a closer view of the texture and the way I created the effect of light fading to darkness.
Tentacle Deeps 15, detail 1, by Amy Crook
I love how this shows off the variation in the tentacle colors, and the way the salt crystals sparkle even with the dark ink suffusing them.
Tentacle Deeps 15, detail 2, by Amy Crook
I finally had the brilliant idea of putting something in the framed shots so you’d get a sense of scale, so enjoy this shot of the tentacles in their frame, hanging out with my iPhone.
Tentacle Deeps 15, framed, by Amy Crook, $666
Tags: brush and ink, crosshatching, for sale, orange, pen and ink, red, salt, tentacle deeps
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Shop - Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Tentacles | 2 Comments »
Tentacle Deeps 14
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 14 by Amy Crook, $222
Just when you thought the tentacles were slumbering, my Tentacle Deeps series is back! I’ve had a few more ideas for them niggling in the back of my head, and this is the first of at least two new additions to the series. This one, despite the look, is entirely done with ink pens and water, no paint involved. I used brushes dipped in plain water to create the visual effects and the second layer of tentacles. There’s a hint of the original pen lines in each tentacle, fore- and background, and subtle colors are hiding in the black, added with scribbles of blue and purple before the water was applied.
Tentacle Deeps 14, 5″x7″ pen, brush and ink on paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
Tentacle Deeps 14, detail, by Amy Crook
You can see some of the texture here in the above detail shot, and the soft variations of blue, green, and purple hiding in the black. Below, you can see how the simple black frame looks with the tentacles inside.
Tentacle Deeps 14, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
Tags: brush and ink, for sale, green, pen and ink, tentacle deeps
Posted in Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Shop - Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Tentacles | 1 Comment »
Badlands
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
Badlands by Amy Crook, $399
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, $399 framed with free shipping.
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
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, 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
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, by Amy Crook
Badlands, 5″x7″ ink and salt on watercolor paper, $399 framed with free shipping.
Tags: brush and ink, for sale, pen and ink, pink, salt
Posted in Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Shop - Abstract and Just Plain Weird | 4 Comments »
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