Posts Tagged ‘purple’

7 Spirals

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

7 Spirals by Amy Crook

I’ve noticed that the dye-based inks I use on some of the salt pieces will fade in strong sunlight, so I’ve been experimenting with using watercolors to dye the salt instead, with mixed results. The color I used in this painting came out clear and strong, making sparkling fuchsia salt crystals.

Even though there’s 15 salt pools, I chose to name it after the purple spirals that fill the white space in loose, haphazard shapes. The spirals are actually made by mixing the pink pigment in the inner ring with the teal pigment in the outer rings, giving surprising violets with unusual tones and highlights where the pigments separated.

7 Spirals, 5″x7″ pen & ink, salt, and watercolor on paper.

7 Spirals, detail, by Amy Crook

You can really see the rich colors in this detail shot, above, and the subtle sparkle of the salt in the waning autumn light in my apartment. Below, the paint seems almost to glow in its matte black frame.

7 Spirals, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, pink, purple, salt, teal, watercolor

Iridescence 3

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Iridescence 3, abstract art by Amy Crook, $333

I admit, I wanted to post both of these in the same week because they feel like different sides of the same coin to me. They use similar color schemes and techniques, but where Iridescence 2 is all soft glowing colors and indistinct shapes, Iridescence 3 is all sharp-edged spirals and visible brush strokes.

Even the haloes of complementary color around each salt pool are sharper and more distinct than in the previous piece, with more areas of pure white paper peeking through as a result. I’m not sure which of the two I prefer, though this is the one I’ve got out on display right now.

Iridescence 3, 7″x5″ mixed media on watercolor paper, $333, framed, with free shipping.

This is a closeup of the green salt pool in the lower left, so you can really see how the paint is layered in distinct circles with watercolor’s characteristic dark, sharp edges.

Iridescence 3, detail, by Amy Crook

The bold black frame works really well with the blue-black and violet-black in the darkest, sharpest of the paint swirls, and protects the fragile salt crystals from damage.

Iridescence 3, framed, by Amy Crook, $333

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: blue, for sale, green, hibiscus, iridescence, pen and ink, purple, salt, tea, watercolor

Iridescence 2

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Iridescence 2, abstract art by Amy Crook, $333

Going in the opposite direction of yesterday’s art, this one expands the color palette along the entire cool end of the spectrum. I used green, aqua, blue and violet pens for my salt circles. Then I supplemented it with a layer of hibiscus tea in its low-saturation periwinkle shades. After that I used watercolors in matching hues, the dark indigo-black and violet softened by swirls of complementary colors around each salt pool. Finally, I used a little bit of salt to add texture to a few of the darkest places, giving the whole piece a layered complexity.

I decided to continue naming them as a series after one of my favorite of the salt pieces, Iridescence, because they had the same quality of seeming as though they were reflective without anything shiny, other than the sparkling salt crystals.

Iridescence 2, 7″x5″ mixed media on paper, $333, framed, with free shipping.

You can see one of the wonderfully complex salt structures here, a little lopsided ziggurat of crystal formations saturated with ink and ever overdyed with paint. If you click on the image you can see it even bigger and really get a sense of the detail, though of course the actual circle is barely the size of a dime.

Iridescence 2, detail, by Amy Crook

The piece looks beautiful safely tucked into its frame, the soft lines and cool colors offset by the simple black wood.

Iridescence 2, framed, by Amy Crook, $333

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: blue, for sale, green, hibiscus, iridescence, pen and ink, purple, salt, tea, watercolor
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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.