Archive for the ‘Series and Books’ Category
Salted Squid 1
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Salted Squid 1, art by Amy Crook
More of my experiments with making salt into Actual Things, we have a happy little squid! He’s got his feeder tentacles tucked away, but you can count all 8 arms waving cheerily at you from out of the blue. He’s surrounded by colorful coral, or maybe iridescent bubbles, made using salt that had acquired a coat of paint from other pieces and then been saved. The squid is faintly green, but there was a lot of him to spread out a little bit of watercolor pigment, so you’ll have to forgive his pale complexion.
Salted Squid 1, 5.5″x4.25″ pen & ink, watercolor, and salt on paper.
You can see below how the paper gained some fascinating texture in the places where the salt pools formed — that’s because sometimes the salt crystals form inside the paper instead of on top.
Salted Squid 1, detail, by Amy Crook
This cutie insisted to me that he doesn’t need a frame to be awesome, and I’m inclined to agree — the paper’s got a bit of a curve, and it tucks quite nicely onto a shelf. He enjoyed hanging out with my duckies so much, I’ve left him there for the moment. These days I make so much art that I keep swapping out what’s on display.
Salted Squid 1, in situ, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: for sale, pen and ink, salt, squid, tentacles, watercolor
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Hibiscus Blue 2
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Hibiscus Blue 2, art by Amy Crook, $444
This second installment in my Hibiscus Blue series is much simpler. I constrained myself to 13 ink spirals, which turned into 13 salt formations. The blue-black pen dyes the salt a very compatible color to the shade the hibiscus tea turns when painted onto this paper, so the whole painting has a very harmonious feel to it. The tea starts out a bright ruby-red, and then changes in color from anywhere to a soft lavender to a deep, rich blue, depending on the amount of tea on the page, among other things.
The whole painting gives the feeling of rain softly pattering onto a pool of blue water, as the concentric rings of color fade and interact between each set of circles.
Hibiscus Blue 2, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $444, framed, with free shipping.
Hibiscus Blue 2, framed art by Amy Crook, $444
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, hibiscus, hibiscus blue, pen and ink, salt
Hibscus Blue 1
Monday, July 11th, 2011
Hibiscus Blue 1 by Amy Crook, $323
I can’t remember who it was that suggested I try out hibiscus tea after I started using regular old black tea on some of these works, but thank you!
It’s fascinating the way the rich, ruby red liquid turns blue when added to certain papers, which is apparently the natural anthocyanins reacting to the pH. I love how multiple layers gave me different shades of blue, and I combined this with the salt circles to create a harmonious whole.
I actually made 21 circles of salt on this page, 7 in each of 3 different shades of blue pen, but the 2 lighter blues turned nearly identical when mixed with the salt and water. I ended up dissolving one of the circles completely to create some visual space in the piece, which I then filled with layer upon layer of the hibiscus tea.
Each layer had to dry before I could work with it more, since it doesn’t stop developing color until it’s fully dry, so this piece took days to get from blank page to finished art.
Hibiscus Blue 1, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, $323, framed, with free shipping.
Here you can see the sparkle that’s lost in the scanner, and the purple-blue color that the hibiscus tea stained the salt crystals.
Hibiscus Blue 1, detail, by Amy Crook
The piece is safely tucked into its frame and ready to come hang on a wall, find a spot in a bookshelf or perhaps stand up on your desk at work.
Hibiscus Blue 1, framed, by Amy Crook, $323
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: blue, for sale, hibiscus, hibiscus blue, pen and ink, 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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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
3 Comments »
Thanks for the Sketches!
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
My little sketch sale was a success – I had a lot of fun doing a bunch of quickie art pieces, and I still have two left to go. I even sold most of the sample pieces I did, so I’m quite pleased overall. If you missed it, there’ll likely be a repeat again around the holidays. I’ve been told they make lovely gifts.
Snape sketch by Amy Crook (sold)
Sphinx sketch by Amy Crook (sold)
King's Speech sketch by Amy Crook (sold)
Thanks again to everyone who participated, whether by looking, buying, Tweeting or replying!
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: commissions, kings speech, nfs, sketch sale, snape
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