Harvest Moon 2
Posted on June 28th, 2011
Harvest Moon 2 by Amy Crook
Even as I’m really developing the salt work into a proper technique, I still learn something new with each piece. This painting began with a lot of painstaking drawing that became nearly obliterated by the process, and ended up with a deceptively simple image with a lot of texture and detail just waiting to be found by the careful viewer.
Harvest Moon 2, 7″x5″ salt, pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
The central shape actually started as a dense circle of pen-and-ink spirals, but you can only see a tiny shadow of the original ink if you look very closely.
Harvest Moon 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook
When I added the salt and water to it, the golden-orange ink turned into a vividly orange puddle, which then dried to the softer peach color you see in the final product.
Harvest Moon 2, in progress, by Amy Crook
There’s a dense layer of sparkling salt crystals overlaying the entire surface of the ‘moon,’ adding a physical texture on top of the visual texture.
Harvest Moon 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook
The salt layer, like the ink beneath it, formed unevenly based on where the paper warped and the water pooled. Here you can really see the line of dense crystals that runs vertically through the image.
Harvest Moon 2, detail 3, by Amy Crook
And here it is tucked into a frame, ready to find its new home.
Harvest Moon 2, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: harvest moon, moon, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Mod Tree
Posted on June 27th, 2011
Mod Tree, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
This piece was an experiment in making something less abstract out of the salt pools. I really like the way the arrangement of dots suggest a tree without ever actually forming the shape of leaves. The circles remind me of abstract Mod art from the ’60s, hence the name.
When I make these pieces, I can only line three or four up on the bookshelf at a time, and they have to dry anywhere from half a day to a full 24 hours. I can’t always take good progress photos if I start something at night, but when the sun’s shining in the window I do try to make sure I get some shots.
Mod Tree, 5″x7″ salt, pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
In the first detail shot, the lighter colors got washed out a bit but you can see the biggest salt crystals rising up off the paper.
Mod Tree, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Here you can see how the minimalist tree trunk gently supports the sparkling arrangement of leaves above.
Mod Tree, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Here you can really see the salt inside each water droplet, before it dissolved. I love how the light just glows through the water at the start, an ephemeral moment of beauty in the process of making art.
Mod Tree, in progress, by Amy Crook
The scanned version doesn’t have the same sparkle and dimension as the photos, but you can see the shape and color really clearly. It’ll ship in its frame so it stays nice and safe on its journey to your home.
Mod Tree by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: for sale, green, pen and ink, salt, tree, watercolor
Sketch Sale Wrapup
Posted on June 25th, 2011
The last two sketches from my May sketch sale are of people rather than characters.
Happy Father's Day sketch by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
Jennifer Hoesing wanted a sketch of her husband and their new baby to commemorate their first Father’s Day.
Nathan Briggs sketch by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
And Nathan Briggs wanted to see a cartoon of himself.
I think I ought to do a cartoon of me in this style, or the refined version thereof anyway, so I can add it to the Be a Cartoon page options.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the sale!
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, nathan briggs, nfs, pen and ink
Treasures
Posted on June 24th, 2011
Treasures by Amy Crook, $199
I only added a few minimal details to the original tea wash on this piece. I took brown pen and gave the face I saw dark eyes, so it looks like a mysterious veiled creature curled possessively around the lighter space in the center. Then I gave it something to be possessive of — I used the same brown ink to make spirals for the salt crystals to rest on, and then went through the process to make salt pools.
I took some photos of the process so you can see it below.
Treasures, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $199, framed, with free shipping.
First we have the dried tea wash, ink, and carefully chosen crystals of salt. There’s a lot of size variation in the bottle of coarse sea salt I bought, so I make sure to choose appropriately for the effect I want. In this case, I went for small to medium crystals so the pools would stay discrete and relatively flat.
Treasures, work in progress part 1, by Amy Crook
Second, I drop on the water with an eyedropper. The water washes the dust and scratches off the salt right away, leaving clear crystals that are hard to see, and the ink immediately starts to curl up into the water as well.
Treasures, work in progress part 2, by Amy Crook
Here the salt and ink have dissolved as much as they’re going to, making a fluid made of brown ink, salt, whatever tea dissolves back in, and of course tap water.
Treasures, work in progress part 3, by Amy Crook
And finally the water evaporates overnight, taking sometimes as much as a full day and leaving behind salt crystals imbued with the ink and tea. These crystals grow onto the paper, and so they’re quite well-attached. The tea gave the salt a very subtle bluish tint for some reason, though the brown ink really covers that up.
Treasures, work in progress part 4, by Amy Crook
I found a lovely wood frame that matches wonderfully with the warm browns of the tea wash. Below you can see the final piece in its frame, with the mysterious figure looming protectively over the 7 sparkling piles of salt.
Treasures, framed, by Amy Crook, $199
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: for sale, salt, tea
Aglow
Posted on June 23rd, 2011
Aglow by Amy Crook, $699
Something about this piece just makes me happy every time I look at it, the 13 glowing circles reminding me of stars, or fireflies, or even lamps through a dark mist. The dark blue-black background perfectly offsets the magical snowflake-like rosettes that formed when I tried my salt trick on this softer, more porous paper.
Aglow, in progress, by Amy Crook
The other interesting difference with this paper was that the water droplets formed little wells that actually sunk into the paper, making dimples on the back.
Aglow, back, by Amy Crook
When I painted in the background afterward, the paint was drawn straight into the circle by the salt crystals whenever the brush touched the edge of one of the little branches.
Aglow, detail 1, by Amy Crook
This is a really good close-up of a pair of the crystalline structure, so you can see all the detail that gets softened into a simple warm glow when you back up and see it from a distance.
Aglow, detail 2, by Amy Crook
I put it into a wide black frame, which sets off the warmth of the paper and the not-quite-black of the paint really nicely.
Aglow, framed, by Amy Crook
Aglow, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $699, framed, with free shipping.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: fireflies, for sale, salt, sky, stars, watercolor
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Delight Gremlin
Posted on June 22nd, 2011
Delight Gremlin by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
The charming Chris Anthony is has recently re-branded his business as The Delightworks! As part of his new thing, he’s planning to sneak in some easter eggs throughout the site, so he asked me to do a cartoon for him. Instead of drawing him, which I’ve already done, he asked me to draw what I imagined his little gremlin might look like from the front. If you’re not sure where the original is, it’s hiding out on his home page, just keep looking.
He’s not quite a weeble, but I figured he was cute enough for a Wednesday, anyway.
Want a cartoon of your own? Get one here.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Daily Art
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink
Mist
Posted on June 21st, 2011
Mist by Amy Crook, $169
This simple piece puts me in mind of a magical fog rolling in, wrapping the world in a muffling mist, turning everything into texture and dim shape. The detailed texture in the watercolor fascinates me, the subtle gradations in color and density that make it so much more than a simple blob of color.
I’m still on the lookout for good frames in this size, but I do love the way the embossing on the archival cardstock forms a mat that interacts with the image inside when the paint bumps up and sometimes over the edges of its artificial border.
I’ve made a computer wallpaper and iPhone wallpaper of this piece to help showcase the subtle textures that get lost in the tiny version above.
Mist, 8.5″x5.5″ watercolor on embossed paper, $169 with free shipping.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers
Tags: for sale, watercolor
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