Archive for the ‘Abstract and Just Plain Weird’ Category
Salt Cell 2
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Salt Cell 2 by Amy Crook
After exploring the combination of salt and watercolor last week, I picked up some larger crystals of sea salt. Wanting to do something else that echoed Salt Cell but incorporated some pen-and-ink work as well, I decided on a rather tedious methodology. The process affected the outcome because the paint began to dry before I was done putting the salt back on the little circles.
I think I might try it again, but with fewer salt crystals.
Salt Cell 2, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $229 with free shipping.
You can see more about how this piece came together below the cut.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, pen and ink, purple, salt, watercolor
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Texture in Brown
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Texture in Brown by Amy Crook
Everything about this piece is a combination of deliberation and randomness, letting my choice of materials dictate the final product.
I didn’t like this when I started it out, at first just the red-brown leaf shape at the center of the page. then I added the redder wash down at the bottom, and an even softer red wash in the upper area, and used salt to give a rough texture to the lower area. I let that dry and sit a few days before coming back to it with a quill and some ink that used to be black, but has aged in its bottle to a soft, walnut brown. The quill caught and stuttered on the rough paper, giving the lines a rough look as the ink bled.
I think the end result looks like some sort of landscape, each piece working together to create a rich field of texture and earthy color.
Texture in Brown, 7″x5″ watercolor and pen and ink on watercolor paper, $129 with free shipping.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: brown, for sale, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Impact
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
Impact by Amy Crook
Paper and paint both matter a lot to how the salt affects the work, and this one actually went through several iterations of paint and salt. The more opaque of the Japanese sumi-e inks don’t seem to react as dramatically, but you can get some subtle texturing out of it. The more transparent inks run and pool, but this paper has a different absorbency than the one I used for Salt Cell, so the paint tends to dry much faster, giving it lest time to change the landscape of the colors.
Impact, 7″x5″ watercolor on watercolor paper, sold.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird
Tags: blue, circle, green, nfs, salt, sold, watercolor
2 Comments »
Salt Cell
Monday, March 21st, 2011
Salt Cell by Amy Crook
I’ve been doing more experiments with my paints lately, and today’s piece is a very simple one done using a single color of paint and a small handful of coarse Kosher salt. The paint, originally in a fairly even wash, pooled and patterned in a way that makes me think of cellular structure under a microscope. And to think, I once had a biology lab instructor tell me I ought to go into scientific illustration.
Salt Cell, 5″x5″ watercolor on watercolor paper, sold.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: green, nfs, salt, sold, watercolor
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Growth
Friday, March 18th, 2011
Growth by Amy Crook
I finished this little piece and then had to let it sit overnight to think of what to call it. The central circle initially put me in mind of a moon, or a planet, or possibly a pirate’s black spot when it was all by itself, a dark blue-black shadow of painted ink that dried to a gorgeous matte finish.
Then I came in days later and decided to add the little clusters of circles around it in black fountain pen, knowing that the ink would blur and spread as I made the little circles, adding texture and shadow. As I built up the outside texture, it reminded me of a decorative border, or a cluster of marine eggs, or possibly a layer of industrial growth around a planet, building up and sending off pieces out into the space around it. Or perhaps floating down from the white to aggregate, giving life to the lifeless rock in the middle.
Growth, 5″x5″ pen & ink and Japanese watercolor on watercolor paper.
Growth, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the tiny little circles that make up the pattern of growth, pushing off and away from the central mass. Below, you can see it in a narrow-edged frame with its brand-new sibling, and my iPhone for scale.
Growth 2 and Growth, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black, brush and ink, for sale, growth, pen and ink, planet, studio gallery, watercolor
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Los Muertos 1
Monday, March 14th, 2011
Los Muertos 1 by Amy Crook
This piece was born out of pure play. I first brushed in a spiral in watery black ink, and then I watered the ink down even further to make lighter and lighter greys to play with. I also added in a tiny bit of color here and there, which is almost completely obscured by the later crosshatching. Then I used a green fountain pen to crosshatch around the main shape, starting while the paper was wet and letting it dry as I worked, so some of the lines are more blurred than others.
Then I wet down the central area all over again and used a black pen to ink there, and when I was done, the whole thing reminded me of one of those elaborately decorated Day of the Dead skulls. I got my dark red fountain pen (which the scanner decided was rather more magenta than the real thing) and drew spiral eyes, and then signed the piece using that red as well.
The end effect is rather creepy, but as I’m fond of creepy, that works out well.
Los Muertos 1, 5″x7″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, pen and ink, skull, watercolor
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