Posts Tagged ‘pen and ink’
Mud Puddle
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
Mud Puddle by Amy Crook, $444
This is one of the last of my tea experiments from a few months ago. I had the piece sitting around for weeks and weeks not really being anything, until one day I was in a crosshatching mood and suddenly I saw it as a mud puddle just needing a grassy lawn all around it. The puddle itself was made of strong black tea, and the spots of texture were big crystals of salt, some of which had a bit of watercolor left on them to add a touch of color to the tea.
Mud Puddle, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $444, framed, with free shipping.
I spent a couple of hours putting in the green pen-and-ink grass around the tea puddle, and I took photos with my iPhone as it progressed (though I forgot to take a before shot, oops).
Mud Puddle, work in progress, by Amy Crook
When I’m working on a piece like this, I often spin it this way and that while I’m working to get a better angle for whatever I’m doing. Then, if it’s an abstract piece, I look at it in all four directions before I decide on which way is really up and sign it.
Mud Puddle, detail, by Amy Crook
There’s a bit of subtle sparkle in the area where some of the salt sat, but the chunks remained mostly intact instead of dissolving into the tea, so there’s no crystal formations beyond the tiny ones you can see above.
The frame I’ve got it in is a little lighter than it shows in the photo, though I’m considering one even a shade lighter to go better with the delicate tea-dyed puddle.
Mud Puddle, framed, by Amy Crook, $444
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, pen and ink, salt, tea, watercolor
Salted Squid 2
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Salted Squid 2 by Amy Crook
Tentacle Tuesday is back with a sequel to the whimsical Salted Squid 1. I wanted to do something more controlled, so I scribbled out a complete squid in green pen and then went over it with water and a brush, and sprinkled the resulting pool with salt. You can see the pen lines still there as darker shadows in the larger shape, and so I decided to stay with that pen-and-ink feeling for the background.
I used two different colors of pen on the background to simulate sunlight shining down fro above, and then left blank circles like bubbles rising up. Then, I used plain water again, this time without the salt, to give a soft, watercolor feeling to the shafts of sunlight, and the darker depths at the bottom.
Salted Squid 2, 7″x5″ salt, pen and ink on watercolor paper.
You can see the even layer of sparkling crystals that make up the body of the squid here, along with some detail on the close pen-and-ink lines.
Salted Squid 2, detail, by Amy Crook
The black frame with its glass gives the feeling of looking into an aquarium, or so I like to tell myself. He looks adorable on my bookshelf, anyway.
Salted Squid 2, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, pen and ink, salt, squid, tentacles
Weeble April Winchell
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Weeble April Winchell cartoon by Amy Crook
Sorry about the silence, I wasn’t feeling well at the end of last week. So, we’re starting the week with a Weeble!
April’s Army is an Etsy Street Team of fans of the site Regretsy.com. Every month, they take donations and open up the April’s Army Etsy shop with all manner of wacky crafts. This is my first contribution, the incomparable April Winchell (also known as Helen Killer on the site) done up in her most “whimsicle” finery and cartooned as a weeble.
I’m donating 5 cards and the original, because what says “I’m thinking of you” better than weeble fuckery?
Weeble April Winchell for April's Army charity shop by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: cartoon, charity, copic marker, etsy, pen and ink, regretsy, weeble
Blood from a Stone 2
Thursday, August 25th, 2011
Blood from a Stone 2 by Amy Crook, $323
The vivid, rich fuchsia in this piece, against the backdrop of soft black-brown bloodstone watercolor, couldn’t help but remind me of my cartoon of Kristine and her awesome pink-streaked hair. Despite that, I decided to stick with the horror theme from Tuesday’s art and name it after the bloodstone paint.
Blood from a Stone 2, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $323, framed, with free shipping.
The vivid pink — which is as close to red as I’ve gotten so far, using dense swirls of blood-red ink — makes this piece extra special hell to photograph. I do love how the salt crystals look like candy here, though I wouldn’t advise trying to lick them.
Blood from a Stone 2, detail 1, by Amy Crook
I totally dig the little ziggurat formations that I sometimes get, though I have no idea how to create them on purpose.
Blood from a Stone 2, detail 2, by Amy Crook
It looks great in its black frame, the pink is gorgeously vivid and the soft, matte paint provides a lovely contrast.
Blood from a Stone 2, framed, by Amy Crook, $323
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: bloodstone, for sale, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Autumn Winds
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
Autumn Winds by Amy Crook, $299
I’m saving the Weeble this week for Friday, so instead you get a windy Wednesday. This piece uses tea, salt, watercolor, and pen and ink to create a whirlwind of color and shapes that reminded me of leaves tumbling around and around in a little eddy of breeze. I added in the rust-red Japanese maple leaves to add color and strengthen that impression.
Autumn Winds, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $299, framed, with free shipping.
Here you can see a close-up of the spot where leaf and salt pool collide; I used my brown pen and very little color leeched out into the salt, making the pools a subtle addition of texture and sparkle rather than a focal color point.
Autumn Winds, detail, by Amy Crook
This piece looks great in its brown wooden frame, the colors really go well together. It will arrive at your door framed and in upcycled gift wrap, safely packaged for transit.
Autumn Winds, framed, by Amy Crook, $299
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: brown, for sale, leaves, orange, pen and ink, salt, tea, watercolor
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The Stars Are Right
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
The Stars Are Right by Amy Crook
The dark skies framing the glowing salt stars are painted in my newest art supply acquisition, paint made from actual Bloodstone. The color looks a bit more brownish to my eye, but the scanner definitely gave it a green tinge more like the actual stone looks before it’s ground up and made into paint. I have a number of the oil paints from this line (I love the Amazonite green), but this is my first foray into the watercolors, and I love the granular texture the paint gets as it dries.
The arrangement of green salt formations really reminded me of a constellation, and the color of course made me think of Cthulhu, especially with the Bloodstone watercolor to ground it, so that’s where the piece gets its name. After all, Cthulhu is merely snoozing until the stars align and new reign begins. In a strictly fictional manner, of course.
The Stars Are Right, 7″x5″ salt, pen & ink and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
The Stars Are Right, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see a bit more of what the paint looks like in the sunlight, the warm brown-black setting off the cool green quite nicely. Below, I’ve got the piece in a simple black frame that protects the salt crystals and brings out the color in the bloodstone.
The Stars Are Right, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art
Tags: bloodstone, for sale, lovecraft, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
1 Comment »
Rain Crow
Thursday, August 18th, 2011
Rain Crow, art by Amy Crook
A wonderful person who’d just found my site emailed me to ask if I’d done anything with ravens/crows or dragons, and I realized that, despite both of these being themes I really enjoy, I really hadn’t. After doing my little crow sketch the other day, I decided to actually google up what a real crow looks like (yes, still too lazy to look out the window, hush) and used those references to draw this.
All the color in the crow comes from ink pens, which I scribbled with delightful abandon to create the basic shape and color fill on the crow, and then after the salt on the beak had formed, I went back in with plain water and added the gorgeous watercolor-esque wash over the whole crow.
After I put in the ground, I decided it needed something in the sky around it, and the obvious choice for me was salt-pool raindrops in this soft aqua blue pen.
Rain Crow, 7″x5″ pen & ink, watercolor, and salt on paper, nfs (sold).
The real amazing part of this crow is actually the part you can’t actually see except from a very specific angle, this amazing salt formation right over its eye that’s actually in the shape of a fat little black bird, which I photographed framed by one of the water droplets that would later become a salt pool. This formation is incredibly fragile, so I didn’t even put the piece on the scanner, just took photos and have now put it in a shadow-box frame where it will stay protected.
Rain Crow, detail 1, by Amy Crook
The salt on the crow’s beak and eye formed with a really neat oil-slick sheen, which is totally lost in the closeup above, so I took another one for you below:
Rain Crow, detail 2, by Amy Crook
The frame I found is this soft silver shadow box, though I’m keeping my eye out for another frame that would allow you to pick it up and view the piece from the side, which is the best way to see its amazing secret.
Rain Crow, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: blackbird, crow, nfs, pen and ink, salt, sold, watercolor
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