Posts Tagged ‘rose’

Romantic Gesture

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Romantic Gesture by Amy Crook

Romantic Gesture by Amy Crook

The most romantic gesture of all: the gift of a unique flower that lasts all year long. This beautiful monoprint features an abstract rose that spills over the sides of the page. This print is totally unique: there will never be another quite like it. Perfect for the art-loving valentine in your life.

This one-of-a-kind piece of art was created with a unique process called monoprinting. Thick water-based inks are painted onto a blank acrylic printing plate, and then run through a printing press to transfer them to thick archival paper. It’s very similar to the way an etching is hand-pulled, but in this case there is only one copy created, since the original painting vanishes when the inks transfer to the paper. The process is a mix of deliberate art and random elements, since a measure of the texture is lost when the wet paper contacts the water-based inks, absorbing them in a slightly different manner every time.

The printing plate in this case was 2″x6″, printed onto a larger 8″x11″ sheet of paper. The second photo shows the way the plate was framed, to draw the viewer’s eye and imagination toward the place where the rose exits the image, allowing them to fill in the rest of the rosebud, to conjure their own image what exists beyond the tiny slice of sky and leaf and stem.

Romantic Gesture, monoprint on watercolor paper, 8″x11″, $399 with free shipping.

Romantic Gesture, detail, by Amy Crook

Romantic Gesture, detail, by Amy Crook

This print is on watercolor paper but will require framing or matting to be suitable for display. I’m happy to frame it for you for a small additional fee.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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Bronze Roses

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

3 Bronze Roses, detail 1, by Amy Crook

3 Bronze Roses, detail 1, by Amy Crook

I made these roses using the lost wax casting method; each one started life as a dried long-stemmed rose, which I dipped in wax and made ready for casting. The process only worked about 25% of the time, because of the long thin stem the metal had to travel to get to the solid flower, and the leaves almost never cast.

I left the bits of flash and other imperfections on them as part of their character, the human element intervening in nature long enough to create these haunting pieces. The element of randomness is one I enjoy exploring in my art, and you can really see how it gave these roses a new life.

They get their color from a chemical patina, another process involving water and fire that has slowly evolved over time thanks to exposure to the air and handling.

I’ve sold all of the half dozen or so that I originally made, but maybe someday I’ll be in a position to create more.

3 Bronze Roses by Amy Crook

3 Bronze Roses by Amy Crook

Categories: Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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