Posts Tagged ‘for sale’
Outlier
Friday, March 16th, 2012
Outlier, abstract art by Amy Crook, $399
Sometimes I can’t really explain why I like a piece of art, I just really do, and this is one of those. The scan really doesn’t do it justice, the green whorls and rays, and the purple lines joining the various salt pools. This one started with the salt pools in varying color intensities, then I put in the gel pen lines, and finally the spirals of watercolor. The watercolor picked up the glitter from the pen lines, and so there’s a subtle shimmer all through each one.
Outlier, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, $399 framed, with free shipping.
Outlier, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above is the smallest, darkest and furthest-flung of the salt pools. There’s a little scribbled spiral of purple around just this one outlying pool, and you can see how the glitter got distributed all through the spiral of watercolor. Below, a photo of three of the other pools in a row (and that wash of red in the upper left my camera seems determined to give this paper, sigh). I made an iPhone wallpaper of a similar shot, and I’m using it for my lock screen right now. Or at least until I change my mind again.
Outlier, detail 2, by Amy Crook
I like the way it looks in a frame, too, as though everything’s pulling against the purple lines and trying to find a way to sneak out of the frame entirely, tied together by forces you can’t quite name.
Outlier, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, glitter gel pen, green, iridescent, purple, salt, watercolor
Implied Goldfish
Thursday, March 15th, 2012
Implied Goldfish, watercolor by Amy Crook, $399
This is the sort of art that just makes me feel a little bit more delighted with the world when I look at it. Happy little goldfish swim around partially camouflaged by the white paper, while rings of sparkly blue gel pin circle the three-dimensional salt formations. Are they stones? The first fat drops of rain? Strange portals to another world? The implications are endless.
Implied Goldfish, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $399 framed, with free shipping.
Now here’s where I admit something very silly: today’s art is inspired by one of my mismatched cereal bowls. Really they’re rice bowls, but I mostly use them for Cheerios.
Omnomnom Fishies!
I buy a lot of my dishes in Japantown and this is no exception. Maybe one of these days I’ll do a giant picspam on a Weds of a bunch of them. There’s kitties!
Below, you can see the sparkly salt and glittery pen next to the totally unconcerned fishies. The color’s a bit off, because this is the paper my camera likes to think is secretly red (hint: it’s not).
Implied Goldfish, detail, by Amy Crook
And finally we have the usual framed art, a peaceful little pond to sit on your desk or tuck into a tiny bit of wall space.
Implied Goldfish, framed art by Amy Crook, $399
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
Tags: blue, fish, for sale, glitter gel pen, orange, salt, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 29
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 29, watercolor by Amy Crook
Unlike last week’s tentacles, these, you can have if you want to. Yes, Tuesday is upon us once again and this time I used the opaque Japanese watercolors on black paper to create a wonderful bright green background with an intriguing squamous texture. I used black paint to put in the tentacles, letting it re-wet the green and mix in, giving the whole thing a monochromatic, layered feeling. I’ve been trying to get back to doing the fading layers of tentacles, dark at first with lighter and more transparent ones fading off into the distance, though I do love some of the ones I’ve done with a single layer, as well. Basically, I just like tentacles. I know, you’re shocked.
I’ve been flipping through some of the last year or so’s worth of art, and it’s interesting to see how the tentacles started out in one specific style and then evolved into something else. Revisiting those older pieces, I’ve been revisiting some of the original ideas, like having the wash only take up a portion of the page instead of running edge to edge.
Tentacle Deeps 29, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper.
Tentacle Deeps 29, detail, by Amy Crook
Above is your usual close-up of the reaching tentacles. Maybe one of these days I’ll take a photo of them reaching toward the camera, instead, just for variety. Below is the usual picture in the usual frame. Who ever thought there’d be “the usual tentacles” in your life?
Tentacle Deeps 29, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: black paper, for sale, green, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Positive Space
Friday, March 9th, 2012
Positive Space, abstract art by Amy Crook, $333
The inverse (and slightly smaller) companion to yesterday’s piece, Positive Space uses coppery paint and copper-colored glitter gel pen on black paper to create a halo of light around the spiral “stars.” I had actually created the salt pools on this one at the same time I did Monday’s Moonglow. I have two little pots of iridescent paint I got as samples, and I tend to use them on pieces at the same time, though rarely the same piece.
I liked the effect of Negative Space so much, however, that I took this work in progress and used the same technique to make a not-quite-mirror image. I like that they’re not exactly the same — the halos on this one tend to be bigger and scatter wider, and of course they’re different sizes. A bit like last week’s Spirals Trio, thematically linked but not matchy-matchy.
Positive Space, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $333 framed, with free shipping.
Randomly, if you ever get frustrated with the term “mixed media,” just check out the tags at the bottom of the post. I try to list all the media I’ve mixed down there.
Positive Space, detail, by Amy Crook
The sunlight reflects beautifully off the copper-toned salt, ink and paint in the detail photo, above. Below, you can see the painting with my iPhone for scale. To see it beside its friend, check out yesterday’s post.
Positive Space, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, copper, for sale, glitter gel pen, iridescent, salt, that space pair, watercolor
Negative Space
Thursday, March 8th, 2012
Negative Space, abstract art by Amy Crook, $333
I was messing about with some blue paints, trying to get them to impregnate the salt crystals better (heh), and I ended up with these 9 scattered blue pools in manganese blue hue (aka not-actually-manganese blue because real manganese blue pigment will kill you). I have a glitter gel pen in a complementary color, and I just started doodling with it around one of the pools. I’d just done a piece where the lines radiated outward (that you’ll see next week, I never said I posted them in the order I made them), and so I did a different sort of radiation.
I used to use this pattern to create a halo of sunlight against a darker blue sky, so the title came from the feeling that these were dark stars floating in a white sky somehow, radiating their negative light. I liked the idea so much I made a piece with copper on black paper, which you’ll get to see tomorrow.
Negative Space, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, $333 with free shipping.
Negative Space, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see a close-up of the glittery gel ink and the sparkling salt pools taken in the sunlight. Below, you can see it in its frame with tomorrow’s art. I’m thinking of switching it out for a white frame to complete the contrast, we’ll see.
Negative Space and Positive Space, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: blue, for sale, glitter gel pen, salt, that space pair, watercolor
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Moonglow
Monday, March 5th, 2012
Moonglow by Amy Crook
Sparkly green and purples sit suspended in deep, rich black. For some reason it reminded me of one of my favorite oil paint colors, even though it’s not at all the same shade of purple, but I still named the piece Moonglow after the paint.
The watercolor paint I used in the salt pools separated, with the green pigment all going into the salt and leaving the sparkly violet swirls attached to the paper for a very nifty effect. I carried it through with purple and green glitter gel pen, adding smaller spiral stars and drawing in the eerie, barely-there moon.
I’ve totally embraced my sparkly side, too, and bought more glittery pens in Japantown as well as some pearlescent paints. Expect to see more shiny!
Moonglow, 7″x5″ iridescent watercolor, salt and glitter gel pen on Arches cover black paper.
Moonglow, detail 1, by Amy Crook
The first detail photo, above, totally exaggerates the separation of the paint, the sunlight making the salt practically glow while the purple spirals catch the light. The second one, below, shows the play of green and purple gel pen in the moon. Spirals!
Moonglow, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, for sale, glitter gel pen, green, iridescent, moon, salt, violet, watercolor
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Peacock Blue
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
Peacock Blue, abstract art by Amy Crook, $269
When I was a kid, I had occasion to visit a peacock farm for reasons I really don’t remember now, but I was allowed to gather whole bouquet of discarded feathers. I had them in the corner of my room for years, slowly mouldering in a vase, and I’ve had an odd love for them ever since. My favorite colors are in the cool end of the spectrum, and while I don’t wear a lot of bling I do love shiny, iridescent decorations still.
This piece started with pure ultramarine blue spirals, and then I added salt and droplets of water while the paint was still wet. Once I had the results, I decided to carry through the bright blue through a softer blue and out to cool green. As ever, it’s impossible to really reproduce certain shades of teal with a monitor, but then, I always think these pieces look 100% better in real life.
Peacock Blue, 7″x5″ salt and watercolor on paper, $269 framed, with free shipping.
Peacock Blue, detail, by Amy Crook
I am totally in love with the way watercolor pigments ebb and flow in watery washes, leaving them darker at the edges and softening unexpectedly in layers of texture as the water dries. In fact, I’m using Mist as my computer wallpaper right now, which is all about those textures created when paper, water and pigment interact. Speaking of wallpaper, I used a completely different detail photo to make myself you an iPhone wallpaper.
This piece comes in a frame to protect the salt during shipping and generally make everyone’s life easier, and you can see it framed and ready to go below. And if it looks like the same frame I always use, that’s because it is, but there is no shortage of plain black frames in the world, so never fear.
Peacock Blue, framed art by Amy Crook, $269
If you want to talk to me about payments, pigments or even pomegranates (I’m allergic), feel free to comment here or email me.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers
Tags: blue, for sale, green, peacock feathers, salt, watercolor
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