Posts Tagged ‘salt’
Radial Symmetry 2
Friday, October 21st, 2011
Radial Symmetry 2 by Amy Crook, $242
This time I mixed two different colors, a deep forest green and a lighter, seafoam green. The darker green hides in the black paper somewhat, but the raised texture is more pronounced there, too, since the paint was applied in thick beads. I keep thinking there’s a name for this sort of radial pattern, especially one created with beads, but I couldn’t find it by googling.
Radial Symmetry 2, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $242, framed, with free shipping.
My scanner had a really hard time with the subtle colors in this piece, but you can see a better representation of both the shiny green shapes and the soft, velvety black paper.
Radial Symmetry 2, detail, by Amy Crook
I’ve photographed the piece in its frame with my iPhone for scale. I think this piece would look great as part of a wall grouping, along with other art, prints and photos in similar simple black frames.
Radial Symmetry 2, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, for sale, gouache, pen and ink, radial symmetry, salt
Radial Symmetry 1
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
Radial Symmetry 1 by Amy Crook, $222
I got some lovely new Japanese gouache paints for my birthday, and I decided to see how they’d work on the black paper. I used double spirals inside these salt circles to give the salt more pigment, which also left darker, warmer centers where the water distributed the pigment into the paper. I used a single color of paint on this, and I found that once it dried, the color stays very consistent no matter how thickly the paint was mixed, but that the thicker paint left rounded, bead-like shapes on the paper.
I think of these a bit like beaded decorations, or possibly flowers with their warm orange centers and pale periwinkle petals. I like to imagine the piece adding a little touch of unexpected loveliness to someone’s life, tucked into a bookshelf or sitting on someone’s desk at work.
Radial Symmetry 1, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
Radial Symmetry 1, detail, by Amy Crook
The salt on these isn’t as sparkly, probably because of the matte black behind them, but I love the way the paint makes soft, glossy swells on the paper. It looks great in a simple black frame, which makes the colors really pop. You can see them reflected in my iPhone for scale, below.
Radial Symmetry 1, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, for sale, gouache, pen and ink, radial symmetry, salt
Five 5
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
Five 5 by Amy Crook
This paper completely absorbed the water before any of the salt could even dissolve, making mysterious swirls of ink surrounding each spiral. I went back in and created the crosshatched figure, and once it was most of the way done, I turned it on the side and found that it looked rather like a creepy, Lovecraftian figure. I used water to blur the ink and add significant shape to the shoggoth, the pattern of dots turning the fifth spiral into a part of the figure like an eye on a stalk.
Five 5, 3.5″x2.5″ mixed media on paper, nfs (but available for trading!).
I find it interesting how all the ink on this piece, except for the signature, is blurred and softened, giving the whole piece has a creepy, surreal feeling. Happy Halloween season!
Five 5, detail, by Amy Crook
If you’re an artist who makes ATCs of your own, and are coveting this one, let me know!
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: aceo, atc, five series, lovecraft, pen and ink, salt, shoggoth
Five 4
Monday, October 17th, 2011
Five 4 by Amy Crook
This paper absorbed the water slowly, but still too fast for the salt to do its usual thing. Instead, it formed this mysterious flower-like shape inside the paper — this is actually what started as the back of the paper. The ink left ghostly rainbows of dye in the paper as it separated into its component colors. I went back in and added more ink and water both, which leaves us with a subtle embossed flower surrounded with the gentle green of new leaves.
Five 4, 3.5″x2.5″ mixed media on paper, nfs (but available for trading!).
This detail shot really makes the pink I dotted into each petal glow, and you can just see the five golden stamen I put in the center. I love that this card has so much detail hiding in the extremely subtle play of color and texture.
Five 4, detail, by Amy Crook
If you’re an artist who makes ATCs of your own, and are coveting this one, let me know!
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: aceo, atc, five series, pen and ink, sakura, salt
Five 3
Friday, October 14th, 2011
Five 3 by Amy Crook
I decided to do #3 horizontally when one of the salt pools didn’t take, instead spreading out into the paper for mysterious reasons. I added ink dots to depressions in both the wet and dry paper, and I love the way the blue-black ink spread throughout the damp spot. I like the way the stamped “canvas” texture in this paper really supports and informs the art that came to life on its surface.
Five 3, 3.5″x2.5″ mixed media on paper, nfs (but available for trading!).
The canvas-like texture of this card is really evident here, and the way the water and salt distorted it in the lower left where the salt pool didn’t properly form.
Five 3, detail, by Amy Crook
If you’re an artist who makes ATCs of your own, and are coveting this one, let me know!
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: aceo, atc, five series, pen and ink, salt
Five 2
Thursday, October 13th, 2011
Five 2 by Amy Crook
In this second piece in the series, I used a purple pen to go with the pinkish-purple that lingered in the center of the salt pools, and the ink separated out as it dried, leaving the pink behind in the lightest washes and looking bluer at the edges. I used simple water to create the background wash, picking up ink from shading that’s nearly erased at the top and bottom, plus the tips of some of the longest lines in the center designs.
This is another of those pieces where incessant fiddling gave me interesting results in the form of the layered ink washes, especially down in the lower left.
Five 2, 2.5″x3.5″ mixed media on paper, nfs (but available for trading!).
You can see the paper texture in the detail shot, and the shape and sparkle in the blue salt pools.
Five 2, detail, by Amy Crook
If you’re an artist who makes ATCs of your own, and are coveting this one, let me know!
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: aceo, atc, five series, pen and ink, salt
Jellyfish Deeps
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Jellyfish Deeps by Amy Crook
Most of my salt pieces come together in an almost Zen-like way, with the long wait for the salt crystals to form and then a quick flurry of activity as I work with the results. This piece started out with the watercolor background, which took a long time to dry, giving the mixed paint time to separate out into its component colors in some places, while staying a murky purple-black in others. Pen and ink and salt came next, and then the jellyfish in their white gel pen currents swam in last.
It’s interesting how sometimes you can keep adding things to a piece until you ruin it, but other times you have to keep going until it gets past a certain point and turns itself around into something worthwhile. My friend Jeff (who paints wargaming miniatures) calls it “the ass point,” where the piece looks like total ass until you get it to a certain point, and then suddenly all its potential starts to shine through.
I find this point more intimidating than the blank page, since it represents a lot of lost work if it never gets past that point, but there’s a certain satisfaction to having pulled a piece past the ass point and turned it into something I’d want to admit I created.
Jellyfish Deeps, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, nfs, (sold).
Jellyfish Deeps, detail, by Amy Crook
This one has a lot of detail that just doesn’t show up until you really look at it, from the colors glowing through the white gel pen to the strange salt pools and their range of crystal sizes and densities. You can see it in its frame, below, with my iPhone for size reference.
Jellyfish Deeps, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, gel pen, jellyfish, pen and ink, salt, tentacles, watercolor
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