Archive for the ‘Abstract and Just Plain Weird’ Category
Goth Vines
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
Goth Vines by Amy Crook, $222
Inspired by the same sort of Tim-Burton-esque design as Saturday’s Deplorable Figurine, this piece combines the fractal salt images with pen-and-ink drawing that was later softened with a wet brush.
Despite the fact that I no longer dress up much, my Goth tastes still permeate a lot of my life, from the Living Dead Doll in her coffin atop my bookshelf to the plethora of Nightmare Before Christmas collectibles around the house. I’ve always enjoyed things that make me say, “That’s so weird!” That sensibility shows up in my work sometimes, like today’s piece, not to mention all the zombies, vampires and other such cartoons.
Goth Vines, 5″x5″ ink and salt on watercolor paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
The now-blue spirals started out as black fountain pen ink, but the water drew out the brown-gold portion of the ink, making golden haloes around the blue-grey centers. The effect gives them an odd glow where they attach to the end of the vines, though actually the vines were drawn in later.
Goth Vines, progress, by Amy Crook
I really think this detail shot I got is gorgeous, especially at extreme closeup – click on it (or nearly any image in my posts) to see it bigger!
Goth Vines, detail, by Amy Crook
I like the way the vines seem to grow out of the narrow black frame I found for them.
Goth Vines, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black, for sale, goth, pen and ink, salt
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Snowflakes
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Snowflakes by Amy Crook, $222
After seeing the lovely crystal formations in Aglow, I decided to test out what I could get with blue ink and the same paper. The effect was extremely simple but quite lovely, so I decided to keep it as is rather than muddle it up with anything else.
Snowflakes, 5″x5″ pen and ink and salt on watercolor paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
Here’s a shot of one of the snowflakes up close.
Snowflakes, detail, by Amy Crook
It’s enhanced well by a very simple black frame.
Snowflakes, framed art by Amy Crook
I’ve put a detailed set of shot of the progress behind the cut, so you can see how the snowflakes grew.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: blue, for sale, pen and ink, salt
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Oil Slick
Monday, July 4th, 2011
Oil Slick by Amy Crook, $199
I’m constantly frustrated by how hard these pieces are to photograph. The few people who have seen them in person agree with me that there’s really no way to capture the texture, the play of light and color, and the overall feel of the sparkling salt. In this case, the salt sucked up the paint and the dark green ink spirals to acquire a dark iridescence like an oil slick or a bird’s wing.
Oil Slick, 5.5″x4.25″ mixed media on embossed card, $199 with free shipping. I’m still on the lookout for frames for these pieces, but they could be mounted in a larger frame quite easily with a simple matte.
You can see below how the salt crystals formed with layers of color, making intriguing tiny patterns within the patterns.
Oil Slick, detail 1, by Amy Crook
And here’s a hint of the way the colors shift and change when you move the piece in the light:
Oil Slick, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Harvest Moon 2
Tuesday, 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
Treasures
Friday, 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
Thursday, 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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Mist
Tuesday, 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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