Posts Tagged ‘pen and ink’
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
Mod Tree
Monday, June 27th, 2011
Mod Tree, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
This piece was an experiment in making something less abstract out of the salt pools. I really like the way the arrangement of dots suggest a tree without ever actually forming the shape of leaves. The circles remind me of abstract Mod art from the ’60s, hence the name.
When I make these pieces, I can only line three or four up on the bookshelf at a time, and they have to dry anywhere from half a day to a full 24 hours. I can’t always take good progress photos if I start something at night, but when the sun’s shining in the window I do try to make sure I get some shots.
Mod Tree, 5″x7″ salt, pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
In the first detail shot, the lighter colors got washed out a bit but you can see the biggest salt crystals rising up off the paper.
Mod Tree, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Here you can see how the minimalist tree trunk gently supports the sparkling arrangement of leaves above.
Mod Tree, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Here you can really see the salt inside each water droplet, before it dissolved. I love how the light just glows through the water at the start, an ephemeral moment of beauty in the process of making art.
Mod Tree, in progress, by Amy Crook
The scanned version doesn’t have the same sparkle and dimension as the photos, but you can see the shape and color really clearly. It’ll ship in its frame so it stays nice and safe on its journey to your home.
Mod Tree by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: for sale, green, pen and ink, salt, tree, watercolor
Sketch Sale Wrapup
Saturday, June 25th, 2011
The last two sketches from my May sketch sale are of people rather than characters.
Happy Father's Day sketch by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
Jennifer Hoesing wanted a sketch of her husband and their new baby to commemorate their first Father’s Day.
Nathan Briggs sketch by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
And Nathan Briggs wanted to see a cartoon of himself.
I think I ought to do a cartoon of me in this style, or the refined version thereof anyway, so I can add it to the Be a Cartoon page options.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the sale!
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, nathan briggs, nfs, pen and ink
Delight Gremlin
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
Delight Gremlin by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
The charming Chris Anthony is has recently re-branded his business as The Delightworks! As part of his new thing, he’s planning to sneak in some easter eggs throughout the site, so he asked me to do a cartoon for him. Instead of drawing him, which I’ve already done, he asked me to draw what I imagined his little gremlin might look like from the front. If you’re not sure where the original is, it’s hiding out on his home page, just keep looking.
He’s not quite a weeble, but I figured he was cute enough for a Wednesday, anyway.
Want a cartoon of your own? Get one here.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Daily Art
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink
Untitled Jar 1
Monday, June 20th, 2011
Untitled Jar 1, interior, by Amy Crook
I’ve finally given in to my six-month admiration of Kirsty M Hall’s 365 Jars project and made a jar of my own!
It started out as yet another salt experiment, but for whatever reason the water soaked through the paper, making a fascinating layered piece of art. There’s even salt crystals formed inside the paper itself, pushing their shape up under the matte inked spirals. The back of the paper is subtly sparkly, though, which forms the inner curve of the piece. This purple ink tends to separate out into the water, making the salt circles a pinkish lavender and the spirals themselves a darker blue-violet.
I wanted a way to display the piece that invited the viewer to look at both sides, and the idea of curling it up into a jar seemed obvious after nearly half a year of seeing Kirsty’s daily posts. I first tried it out in a smaller corked bottle I have, but the paper was curled too tight to see inside, defeating the whole point.
In order to make it fit properly in the jar, I tore the paper into an organic shape, including liberating one of the swirls onto its own little piece of paper that sits against the glass in the gap between edges. Then I filled the bottom with the same rock salt I use to make these art pieces, including a few chunks that had been stained with pink and blue ink hiding amongst all the white.
Below you can see all six faces of the jar, and at the bottom I’ve made a silly gif of the jar rotating endlessly.
Untitled Jar 1, mixed media in a jar, not for sale.
The obvious first panel, with my signature on it in the original purple color.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Here you can see the “front” really clearly, the swirls with their salt-crystal texture and just the edge of my signature.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Another good shot of the salt texture, with a few surface crystals catching the light. You can also see the backs of some of the other shapes in the tiny window above the torn paper.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Here the two sides are juxtaposed.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
The big, sparkly inside shape with its variegated shades of lavender, plus the little escapist swirl on its own little island of paper.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Another good shot of the back and the way the ink bled through in different colors than what stayed on the surface, and a few of the blue-tinted salt crystals are visible down at the bottom.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Here’s the animated version, which loses some detail but is kind of fun to watch:
Untitled Jar 1, animated, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: jar, nfs, pen and ink, purple, salt
Bubbling
Friday, June 17th, 2011
Bubbling by Amy Crook, $199
This piece reminds me of bubbles rising up through a lemon-lime soda, or perhaps a glass cauldron full of mysterious iridescent goo. The salt has no ink under each pool this time, so it picked up a little of the paint but remained largely clear. The crystals really catch the light like bubbles, as you can see below. The ink spirals were drawn in while the watercolor was still wet, so they blurred into the background, blending the piece into a more harmonic whole.
A lot of my pieces use numbers that are interesting to me – there’s 7 green swirls in this one, for instance, but the salt pools go to eleven.
This is another size I haven’t yet sourced frames for, but I’m on the lookout, since I’ve done a couple of pieces on this larger stock lately. The paper is thin and tends to warp, but it’s a nice smooth, bright white that takes the colors really well.
However you choose to view this piece, it’s definitely got a cheery, bubbly sort of feel to it.
Bubbling, 5.5″x8.5″ salt, pen and ink and watercolor on embossed cardstock, $199 with free shipping.
Bubbling, detail, by Amy Crook, $199
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, green, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints by Amy Crook, $199
This sparkly, shiny bit of art is dedicated to the wonderful Havi Brooks and Tara Swiger, both of whom use the term ‘sparklepoints’ in many brilliant and encouraging ways.
All the drawing was done with glitter gel pens, and of course the salt pools are their usual glittery selves, so the title made itself obvious to me early on. It’s definitely the sparkliest thing I’ve done to date, though Curiosity comes a close second — I wonder what it is about the really girly-pretty ones that makes me want to write on them. This one has the title at the top in copper glitter gel pen to match the starburst shapes scattered amongst the lines and spirals of the background.
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints, 7″x5″ mixed media on watercolor paper, $199, framed, with free shipping.
You can really see the light shining off the pen lines and salt below.
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints, detail, by Amy Crook
This piece will be shipped in a simple black plastic frame, all set to go up on your wall or lean in a bookshelf.
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints, framed, by Amy Crook, $199
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: blue, for sale, glitter gel pen, pen and ink, salt, sparkly, watercolor
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