Archive for the ‘Abstract and Just Plain Weird’ Category
Iridescence
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Iridescence by Amy Crook, $499
Despite the fact that very little about this piece is shiny aside from the salt crystals, it reminds me of the gentle iridescence of bird wings, and that’s where it gets its title. Much like Badlands from last week, this piece has some unusually tall and interesting salt formations, this time created on purpose by using big salt in little puddles.
The other day I mixed up some teal-black paint, and found ways to use it on several pieces but not, ironically, the piece it was originally intended for, which turned out to need more drying time before it was ready for the next step. Here it’s been watered down and then had extra drips and swirls of green and blue added in, which then flowed and dried in the beautiful color patterns you see here.
Iridescence, 7″x5″ watercolor, ink and salt on watercolor paper, $499, framed, with free shipping.
This piece is framed in a shadowbox to protect the salt crystals, and sitting on my bookshelf taking up space I’ll likely need to use for art pretty soon.
Iridescence, framed, by Amy Crook
I love the way some of the salt formations are secretly hollow inside, growing walls around an empty inner space where the original salt crystal sat. This one has another formation gamely trying to start off the top corner, as well, the color dense where the ink was concentrated.
Iridescence, detail 1, by Amy Crook
And this little ziggurat is a textbook formation of simple square crystals.
Iridescence, detail 2, by Amy Crook
As an added bonus to those of you who read this far down, have an iPhone wallpaper and computer wallpaper. I’m using the computer one myself right now!
After using the iPhone wallpaper for a while, I realized that, while it did have my signature on it, it didn’t have my favorite part of the image, the part Molly called a “dragon’s head.” So, for those of you seeing this many days after posting (yay you!), here’s a different iPhone wallpaper.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers
Tags: blue, for sale, green, iridescence, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
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In Suspension
Monday, June 13th, 2011
In Suspension by Amy Crook, $199
This is another of my salt-and-watercolor paintings, this time done in shades of violet. The image reminded me of particles in suspension in a liquid, for really no apparent reason other than the nerdiness of my brain. I really like the way the pigment in these watercolors move and flow as they dry, which to me adds to the image of particles slowly settling out of a suspension; the darker violet at the bottom where the paint pooled is like silt at the bottom of a solution.
For this painting, I first painted the purple wash and let it dry fully. Then I added spirals of ink with a purple pen, placed a chunk of plain rock salt on each one, and covered both with water using an eyedropper. The purple ink dissolved partially in the water, as did some of the paint, and the salt dissolved completely. When the piece was allowed to sit for a day, salt crystals formed on the paper as the water evaporated, the ink and paint adding color to the salt. I keep worrying one of these days my cats will climb high enough in my bookshelves to lick the salt water right off the paper before it can dry, but so far, so good.
This paper is somewhat absorbent, so the drops of water tend to spread a little, and sink in, and the crystals are fairly flat to the surface of the paper. I haven’t yet found a good frame for this size, but the embossing makes them look like they’re already matted, adding a bit of formality to the otherwise abstract piece.
In Suspension, 5.5″x4.25″, watercolor, pen and ink, and salt on watercolor paper, $199 with free shipping.
I admit I’ve rather given up on my scanner properly showing off the embossing on these little cards, so I took another photo that’s got more accurate color and sparkle.
In Suspension, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, salt, violet, watercolor
Microscopic
Friday, June 10th, 2011
Microscopic by Amy Crook, $199
My nerdity is showing with this piece — it looks just like I remember the view through the microscope in biology class years ago, mostly monochrome with the organic shapes against the liquid.
This time I was experimenting with putting the salt and ink on top of a dried wash of watercolor. First I painted the shape with the opaque periwinkle blue gouache, adding in a sprinkling of coarse Kosher salt for texture once it was partially dry. Once the wash had dried overnight, I brushed the salt off the painting, and then used a blue pen to put in the swirls (and sign it, once we were all done). I put a big chunk of salt on top of each swirl, and then used an eyedropper to add water over each spot.
The water didn’t stay as well as it usually does, flowing into the organic shapes you can see above. The salt and ink dissolved into the water, and then after 16 hours or so, the water evaporates, leaving behind the pool of ink and salt crystals which have grown right onto the paper, and are now a permanent part of the artwork. Also, it’s subtly sparkly, which I enjoy.
Microscopic, 5.5″x4.25″ watercolor, salt and ink on archival cardstock, $199, with free shipping.
I’m still working on finding frames for this size of piece, but the salt crystals that form on this paper tend to be smaller and less fragile, so there’s less concern about shipping it unframed.
Microscopic, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, gouache, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Effervescent
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Effervescent by Amy Crook, $222
The pattern of the salt pools in this one reminded me of bubbles rising up through soda, so I went a sort of wacky Wonka route and made it grape soda purple fading up to blue. The bubbles are cola ink brown, bubbly limeade green and of course the blue goes well with the grape itself. Even the background wash is bubbly with salt texture.
Each brown bubble was made by dropping water over a salt crystal that had been coated in ink for another project, and so each one has a core of dark brown ink that somehow became sediment rather than going back to liquid. The other colors, too, were from paint-infused salt, I keep a little bowl of salt crystals that I’ve used in previous projects and I pulled out a selection for this painting, though have now dissolved completely and recrystallized straight onto the paper.
Effervescent, 5″x7″ salt, ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $222 framed with free shipping.
You can see the playful combination of colors below, as well as the texture both visual and physical, and a little bit of the whimsical sparkle.
Effervescent, detail, by Amy Crook
And here it is in its frame, the salt crystals safely tucked behind glass.
Effervescent, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, ink, salt, watercolor
Badlands
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
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
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
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: brush and ink, for sale, pen and ink, pink, salt
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Green Salt Pools
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
Green Salt Pools by Amy Crook
This time I used small chips of salt inside tiny, tight spirals of bright green pen, and put a scant drop of water atop each one. I got small, dense pools of dried salt, almost all of which had a central crystal as well as the border of salt that always forms. This pen came out a pale, yellow-green when it was diluted into the salt, and just like the blue and gold earlier this week, the ink dissolved into the solution completely.
The green in the background is dark and bluish, but the rings around each little salt formation are a brighter green, from the dark shadowy forest to the rich green of leaves overhead to the bright new-leaf green of the salt growth.
Green Salt Pools, 7″x5″ salt, pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $299 framed, with free shipping.
This picture gives you a better feel for the color and texture of the piece:
Green Salt Pools, detail, by Amy Crook
And here you can see it tucked safe in its frame:
Green Salt Pools, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, green, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
4 Comments »
Blue Salt Pools
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
Blue Salt Pools by Amy Crook
I’ve been experimenting more with these salt pieces,using different inks to make the original drawings, more or less salt or water to make the pools, and different patterns and colors of watercolor along with them (and even one with no watercolor at all). This one uses a watered-down midnight blue to go with the lighter blue salt pools, and you can see one where the ink really permeated the salt and gave it almost an electric blue feel. Overall I really like the way this one came out, with the color gathering the darkest where the paint brushed along the outer edges of the salt crystals.
Blue Salt Pools, 7″x5″ salt and watercolor on watercolor paper, $299 framed, with free shipping.
I always feel like the scans, while technically accurate, don’t really capture the sparkly, dynamic, three-dimensional feel of these pieces. The salt grows onto the paper, crystallizing with the color from the ink to create these textured alien landscapes, and no photo or scan can ever quite convey that.
Blue Salt Pools, detail, by Amy Crook
It will ship tucked safely in its frame, so you don’t have to worry about anything untoward happening to it in transit.
Blue Salt Pools, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: blue, for sale, salt, watercolor
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