Posts Tagged ‘salt’
Battle Scarred
Wednesday, June 18th, 2014
Battle Scarred, abstract art by Amy Crook
There are two distinct layers to this painting, both filled with shining metallics. The copper in the back is marked and scarred like armor that survived a great battle, with blue glittery enamel filigree over the top, decoration that either came after the battle, or survived unmarked by whatever damaged the surface below. Or perhaps it’s a tracery of some magic used to preserve this artifact of past battles, won or lost.
Battle Scarred, 5″x7″ watercolor, salt, metallic watercolor, and glitter gel pen on paper.
Battle Scarred, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the copper paint catching the light, the sparkle of the glitter pen and the salt interacting. The blue pen has picked up a slight green tinge in places from the color beneath it, and the metal ranges from a blushing copper to more golden to the green of tarnish in places. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, sunlight giving it a brilliant sheen.
Battle Scarred, framed art by Amy Crook
This one-of-a-kind piece will be available in the Floating Gallery for July; you can join my list to get an early chance to buy.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery
Tags: blue, copper, for sale, glitter gel pen, metallic, more cowbell, salt, spiral, watercolor
Verdigris
Wednesday, June 4th, 2014
Verdigris, abstract art by Amy Crook
This is a month of paintings that don’t quite show online the same as they do in person. In this case, the deep teal of the swirls is out of gamut for my monitor, so it gets blued out strangely. I think the swirling spirals remind me of a wrought-iron fence with some sort of strange verdigris growing on it, turning it first a strange dark green and then lighter with age as the change deepened. There’s bright oranges and golds behind the screen of greens, which one person told me looked like sunshine chasing away the stormclouds. Either way, it’s a bright, colorful painting full of strange little details to spark the imagination.
Verdigris, 8″x4″ salt, watercolor, and Japanese watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Verdigris, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can almost see the real color of the spirals imposed on a bit of false color in the background, which has grown far too green on the right in an attempt to get the spirals to behave. Tehre’s even a little hint of some of the sneaky salt circles hiding in the painting. Below, you can see the painting in a temporary frame, with the closest to true color of all three images, I think.
Verdigris, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery
Tags: japanese watercolor, more cowbell, nfs, salt, sold, watercolor
Descent
Sunday, February 2nd, 2014
Descent, abstract art by Amy Crook
A violet night sky is peppered with the texture of stars. Shimmering halos surround these rocky meteors as they descend through that peaceful sky, trailing glittering fire behind them. There’s red and green and lavender and some hints of blue and brown and gold. The sunlight changes everything, and a closer look shows shining crystals jutting up off the page, intruding into the third dimension.
This painting took a lot of fits and starts and several different forms before I was happy with this final work. All of the pieces work in harmony to tell a visual story, instead of fighting to find meaning between them.
Descent, 7″x5″ salt, watercolor, and duochrome watercolor on paper.
Descent, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of some of the meteors, see the rich red and shimmery green, and the lavender halos lighting up against the violet sky. Below, you can see the painting all tucked into a frame, protected from the elements and ready to grace your wall, desk, or shelf.
Descent, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery
Tags: duochrome, for sale, more cowbell, purple, salt, violet, watercolor
Cthonian Skies
Monday, December 2nd, 2013
Cthonian Skies by Amy Crook
The Floating Gallery has touched down for December, and I thought I’d start your Monday off strangely.
The swampy greens in this strange sky are laced with shimmering iridescence. The moon shimmers darkly beneath spirals of gold, and strange salt-formation stars radiate yet more gold into the gloomy mists of night. Perhaps this is what Cthulhu saw in his native skies, or what he sees now in the slice of reality he occupies as he slumbers deep beneath the waves — beautiful, maddening dreams of a night that never was.
Cthonian Skies, 5.5″x8.5″ pen & ink, salt, watercolor, and iridescent watercolor on acid-free embossed paper.
Cthonian Skies, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the sunlight making long shadows from the salt crystal stars, and the textures of paper and paint interacting. Below, it’s loosely attached to a frame for size. The final product will be properly matted and framed for shipping, to protect the nifty salty bits.
Cthonian Skies, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: for sale, gold, green, iridescent watercolor, lovecraft, moon, more cowbell, pen and ink, salt, spirals, watercolor
Pollen
Monday, November 4th, 2013
Pollen by Amy Crook
Continuing with my new tradition of reworking old art, this piece has very little resemblance to its forebear. The soft black paper is entirely covered in a dark, velvety red like old blood, and each little salt pool has a halo of iridescent garnet. The salt pools, originally a dull pink from the Himalaya sea salt, have been dyed a bright shimmering blue to match the tentacles. They reminded me of glowing motes of pollen drifting on the breeze, which is how I got the name.
I’ve got to admit, I really hope I don’t ever have to inhale these alien grains of pollen. I’d hate to see what kind of allergy attack they’d produce — or find blue tentacles growing in my brain.
Pollen, 5″x5″ salt and watercolor on Arches cover black paper.
Pollen, detail, by Amy Crook
The big central crystal in this formation refused to be dyed blue, so it’s the only bit of the original pink left in the piece. Above, you can see the shimmering iridescent paint fading into the deeper background color — a natural-mineral paint called, appropriately, bloodstone. Below, the piece has been tucked into a frame with some extra tentacles to make it feel at home.
Pollen, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Tentacles
Tags: black paper, for sale, iridescent, more cowbell, salt, tentacles, watercolor
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey
Tuesday, October 8th, 2013
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey
Doctor Who art by Amy Crook
Everyone needs a tiny TARDIS in their lives, don’t they? This one is rocketing through the wibbly wobbly timey wimey spaces between possibilities. It looks pretty turbulent, with streaks of blue and green and strange stars of sparkling salt all around.
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, 4″x6″ pen & ink, salt and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, detail, by Amy Crook
One problem with painting in gorgeous bright, clear blues is that they get a bit muddled by my scanner, but you can see the contrast in the piece much more clearly above. The TARDIS floats alongside sparkling salt and strange shapes, with the Doctor and perhaps even a Companion or two tucked safely inside.
Below, the painting hangs out in a frame, safe from the forces of time and space. For now.
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: blue, doctor who, green, pen and ink, salt, tardis, watercolor
Convergence
Thursday, July 25th, 2013
Convergence, watercolor by Amy Crook
There is a distinct feeling of motion to this piece in person, the sparkling salt stars coming in from above and below, the inky black sweeping on on the sides, all converging in the center of the page. I kind of wanted to add a TARDIS to the picture, but I couldn’t figure out the right place to put it that wouldn’t ruin the sense of forces converging in the vastness of space. You can just imagine it’s floating there in the center with its shields up, the invisible force drawing everything inward.
The salt-crystal “stars” are a bit lost to my scanner, but you can see them much better below, along with a slightly better sense of the colors, though the rich, deep royal purple is just not coming through on my monitor, alas. This is definitely a piece that’s better in real life.
Convergence, 10″x8″ Japanese watercolor and salt on Arches cover white paper.
Convergence, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the texture of salt crystals studded over the paper, and the swirling nebulae of color they swim in. Below, the piece is in a frame, hanging out with my iPhone and looking awesome.
Convergence, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: for sale, japanese watercolor, salt, stars, watercolor
« Or Head Back That Way
More Art This Way »
