Posts Tagged ‘green’
Water Lilies 1
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
Water Lilies 1, watercolor by Amy Crook
This whole piece was an experiment, but I’m really happy with the results. The electric blue ink of the pen I used originally dissolved completely in the drops of water that beaded up on the paper, and the rocks of salt I put in the center of each little spiral did as well. Then the water took a full day to dry, the salt crystallizing back out onto the paper to form the three-dimensional baby blue “flowers.” I went in afterward and painted in the lily pads around each flower, letting the paint smudge and dissolve a bit of the salt, giving the whole thing an impressionist, watery feeling.
I liked it so much I’ve framed it to put on my bookshelf, and started another, similar piece with more color.
Water Lilies 1, 7″x5″ pen & ink, watercolor, and salt on watercolor paper.
Water Lilies 1, progress 1, by Amy Crook
Above you can see the water beaded up, the blue ink swirling up into the drops, and the salt crystal hiding in the middle of each. Below, the result a day later, when the water had completely evaporated, leaving salt and ink in a new configuration.
Water Lilies 1, progress 2, by Amy Crook
Water Lilies 1, progress 3, by Amy Crook
Above you can see how the paper is gently warped, and the salt crystals rise up above it in robin’s egg blue and rich, watery green. Below, a shot of the piece in its frame, all ready to be hung on the wall, put on a bookshelf, or to decorate your desk.
Water Lilies 1, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: blue, for sale, green, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
2 Comments »
Lemon Heart
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Lemon Heart by Amy Crook
This piece went through several incarnations before I got it to something I was happy with. The final product has a cheerfulness to it that goes well with the lemony yellow, enhanced by multiple layers of salt, watercolor, and pen and ink in two shades of green. The salt pool at the upper left formed a heart all by itself, so I couldn’t resist giving it an outline in the same grass-green ink as the spirals below, which tended to run and pool wherever there was enough salt left on the paper.
The bright new-leaf green of the spiral-textured section is done with a Pilot fountain pen from Japan, and the ink surprised me by being nearly obliterated when I dropped water onto it, unlike the black pen from that same line, which tended to blur but stay strong in Salt Cell 2.
Lemon Heart, 6″x4″ watercolor, salt and pen and ink on handmade watercolor postcard, $99 with free shipping.
You can see below how the salt made sparkly craters in some places on the surface of the piece, though this photo was taken before I was completely finished, and some of the texture has since been obliterated or changed.
Lemon Heart, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, green, salt, watercolor, yellow
Tentacle Deeps 8
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 8 by Amy Crook
It’s Tuesday, and that means tentacles! Well, at least here it does.
I used four different colors of pen to ink in these tentacles, giving a depth of field that’s harder to do with the crosshatching texture alone. The fourth, palest green only shows up in the signature and as a tiny tip of tentacle peeking out along the left side. I put them down in reverse order, first the black tentacles, then the dark green, and then the lighter, more blurry green, and finally the tiny bit of bright, pale chartreuse.
I’ve been experimenting with other textural shading in other pieces, but for some reason I just really prefer this simple crosshatching when making tentacles. I’ve got at least two more backgrounds waiting to be be-tentacled, however, so perhaps I’ll try something else next time.
Tentacle Deeps 8, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
I was feeling self-indulgent, so I made a computer wallpaper and iPhone wallpaper of this one. I’ve got it up on my monitor right now!
Tentacle Deeps 8, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, gorey, green, pen and ink, tentacle deeps, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 7
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 7 by Amy Crook
This piece most closely reflects the very first Tentacle Deeps watercolor I did, I think –the same paper, no fancy salt or pen-and-ink effects, just the layers of watercolored tentacles reaching up from the bottom of the page. The wash was a bit more layered and random, and whenever a tentacle “breaks through” the upper right corner, there’s a little bit of a skip as though it’s breaching the surface of a pool, or slipping between realities.
Tentacle Deeps 7, 5″x7″ watercolor on watercolor paper.
Tentacle Deeps 7, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, green, tentacle deeps, watercolor
Twining Snakes Moleskine Volant
Saturday, March 26th, 2011
Twining Snakes Volant, detail, by Amy Crook
This bright green Moleskine Volant notebook has been hand-decorated with a pair of twining snakes using Sharpie markers. A black snake is biting his own tail in a double-looped ouroboros while his green friend slithers suggestively through his loops.
Moleskine’s colorful notebooks are ideal for customization, turning the high-quality book into a work of art in which to wrap your ideas. The acid-free ruled paper is a creamy ivory color, and a delight to write on. The large size Volants have 96 pages between their soft vinyl covers. The design is in permanent Sharpie, and should last as long as the notebook it’s drawn on.
Twining Snakes, 5″x8.25″ customized Moleskine Volant notebook, nfs (sold).
Twining Snakes Moleskine Volant by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: green, moleskine, nfs, sharpie marker, snakes, sold
4 Comments »
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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