Archive for the ‘Abstract and Just Plain Weird’ Category
White Hot
Monday, September 26th, 2011
White Hot by Amy Crook
It’s hard to capture the way this piece fairly glows with colour. There’s just two pigments, a pink and a rich orangey-gold that fades to the cream color of the paper in the center. I added seven salt circles, double-drawing the spirals in an orange-red and the apricot gold, so the centers of the salt circles reflect the pink from the corners, and the outer circles of salt crystals reflect the orange from the center.
White Hot, 5″x5″ salt, pen & ink, and watercolor on paper.
White Hot, detail 1, by Amy Crook
The salt crystals add a three-dimensional texture to the image, like planets being drawn into an inverse black hole.
White Hot, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, orange, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
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Zoisite Swirls
Saturday, September 24th, 2011
Zoisite Swirls by Amy Crook, $77
This piece is an echo of Hibiscus Green, but using the color palette from yesterday’s art. The mixture of the gold tones and zoisite texture gives it an illusion of being an iridescent bronze, even though the paint is actually quite matte. The zoisite is especially matte, soft and velvety looking on the paper’s surface.
Zoisite Swirls, 6.375″x4.25″ hibiscus tea on paper, $77 with free shipping.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: celadon, crane and co, for sale, spiral, watercolor, zoisite
Modern Snow
Friday, September 16th, 2011
Modern Snow by Amy Crook, $555
It’s always fascinating to me how the different colors of ink react to the salt — some of them don’t actually spread into the halo of crystal formations, but this one took its rich blue color all the way to the tips, leaving the darker, more violet-toned ink behind in the central circle. This piece combines the blue snowflake-like salt formations from Snowflakes with the fascinating brushwork from Aglow 2 to get an entirely new effect that reminds me of a pattern from the ’50s or ’60s.
Modern Snow, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $555, framed, with free shipping.
Like all the paintings I made using the lunar black, this one’s got the gorgeous contrast between the velvety dark areas and the sparkling salt crystals.
Modern Snow, detail, by Amy Crook
A simple frame will keep your art safe from damage, even those strange sideways crystals that grow at odd angles out of the paper.
Modern Snow, framed, by Amy Crook, $555
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: blue, for sale, pen and ink, salt, snow, snowflake, watercolor
Aglow 2
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Aglow 2 by Amy Crook, $499
I just couldn’t resist revisiting the delicate colors and shapes I got using the orange ink pen with this paper and my salt techniques. I combined a constellation-like cluster of salt rosettes with the rich texture and deep, velvety color of the lunar black watercolor to create a companion piece to the original Aglow. This paper has such a soft texture of its own that the watercolor paint tends to sink in, giving the background a more muted feel and making the textures more subtle.
Aglow 2, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $499, framed, with free shipping.
The surprise this time is the delicate intersection of brush strokes in the lower right, which created an effect I liked so much you’ll see it repeated over again in tomorrow’s piece.
Aglow 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook
I also love the way this delicate little line of three salt pools looks like Orion’s belt, or perhaps just a trio of fireflies dancing in the deepening night.
Aglow 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook
A thin black frame protects the piece and offsets the subtle gradations in the paint.
Aglow 2, framed, by Amy Crook, $499
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: fireflies, for sale, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Triskaidekaphobia
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
Triskaidekaphobia by Amy Crook, $313
Unlike most of my abstract pieces, this one got its name when it was just barely begun. Thirteen green spirals adorned this odd-sized bit of sample paper, and something about the pattern just suggested its name to me. It’s even a bit ironic, since 13’s one of my lucky numbers (what? sometimes a girl’s gotta embrace the cliche).
I used the gorgeously graining Lunar Black that you’ll see in all 3 of this week’s abstract pieces to create the richly textured background, though there’s even a little bit of Bloodstone snuck in that’s nearly invisible except in strong light. The black is very matte, which sets off the subtle shine of the salt crystals beautifully.
Triskaidekaphobia, approx. 6.5″x6.5″ mixed media on paper, $313, framed, with free shipping.
Triskaidekaphobia, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Up close you can see the dense, velvety black creeping in around the clusters of sparkling salt pools.
Triskaidekaphobia, detail 2, by Amy Crook
I tucked it into an 8″x8″ frame using archival photo corners, so it’ll ship safely to you with its crystals intact.
Triskaidekaphobia, framed, by Amy Crook, $313
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: 13, for sale, green, lunar black, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Confetti Rain
Monday, September 5th, 2011
Confetti Rain by Amy Crook
When I started this piece, I was experimenting to see if I could fill a whole paper with the salt-crystal rosettes the way rain on a puddle fills up the whole surface with overlapping shapes. After a while it was hard to get even a tiny rosette to form without the water running and blurring into the already-formed structures. The different shades of blue ink ended up giving it a party-confetti feel, and that with the sparkle from the salt gives the piece its name.
Confetti Rain, 5″x5″ pen and ink and salt on paper
The paper itself is a warm off-white color that’s hard to photograph — for some reason it often shows up quite red when compared to the cool blue ink and sparkling salt.
Confetti Rain, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Still, I love the way the salt catches the light and seems to glow from within, as well as the up-close view of the textures of crystal growth and rough, soft paper.
Confetti Rain, detail 2, by Amy Crook
A simple black frame will keep the salt crystals safe while the piece is in transit, and provide a contrast to the splashes of color on the page.
Confetti Rain, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: blue, for sale, pen and ink, salt
Mud Puddle
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
Mud Puddle by Amy Crook, $444
This is one of the last of my tea experiments from a few months ago. I had the piece sitting around for weeks and weeks not really being anything, until one day I was in a crosshatching mood and suddenly I saw it as a mud puddle just needing a grassy lawn all around it. The puddle itself was made of strong black tea, and the spots of texture were big crystals of salt, some of which had a bit of watercolor left on them to add a touch of color to the tea.
Mud Puddle, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $444, framed, with free shipping.
I spent a couple of hours putting in the green pen-and-ink grass around the tea puddle, and I took photos with my iPhone as it progressed (though I forgot to take a before shot, oops).
Mud Puddle, work in progress, by Amy Crook
When I’m working on a piece like this, I often spin it this way and that while I’m working to get a better angle for whatever I’m doing. Then, if it’s an abstract piece, I look at it in all four directions before I decide on which way is really up and sign it.
Mud Puddle, detail, by Amy Crook
There’s a bit of subtle sparkle in the area where some of the salt sat, but the chunks remained mostly intact instead of dissolving into the tea, so there’s no crystal formations beyond the tiny ones you can see above.
The frame I’ve got it in is a little lighter than it shows in the photo, though I’m considering one even a shade lighter to go better with the delicate tea-dyed puddle.
Mud Puddle, framed, by Amy Crook, $444
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, pen and ink, salt, tea, watercolor
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