Posts Tagged ‘salt’
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.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Here you can see the “front” really clearly, the swirls with their salt-crystal texture and just the edge of my signature.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Another good shot of the salt texture, with a few surface crystals catching the light. You can also see the backs of some of the other shapes in the tiny window above the torn paper.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Here the two sides are juxtaposed.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
The big, sparkly inside shape with its variegated shades of lavender, plus the little escapist swirl on its own little island of paper.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Another good shot of the back and the way the ink bled through in different colors than what stayed on the surface, and a few of the blue-tinted salt crystals are visible down at the bottom.
Untitled Jar 1, detail, by Amy Crook
Here’s the animated version, which loses some detail but is kind of fun to watch:
Untitled Jar 1, animated, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: jar, nfs, pen and ink, purple, salt
Bubbling
Friday, June 17th, 2011
Bubbling by Amy Crook, $199
This piece reminds me of bubbles rising up through a lemon-lime soda, or perhaps a glass cauldron full of mysterious iridescent goo. The salt has no ink under each pool this time, so it picked up a little of the paint but remained largely clear. The crystals really catch the light like bubbles, as you can see below. The ink spirals were drawn in while the watercolor was still wet, so they blurred into the background, blending the piece into a more harmonic whole.
A lot of my pieces use numbers that are interesting to me – there’s 7 green swirls in this one, for instance, but the salt pools go to eleven.
This is another size I haven’t yet sourced frames for, but I’m on the lookout, since I’ve done a couple of pieces on this larger stock lately. The paper is thin and tends to warp, but it’s a nice smooth, bright white that takes the colors really well.
However you choose to view this piece, it’s definitely got a cheery, bubbly sort of feel to it.
Bubbling, 5.5″x8.5″ salt, pen and ink and watercolor on embossed cardstock, $199 with free shipping.
Bubbling, detail, by Amy Crook, $199
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, green, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints by Amy Crook, $199
This sparkly, shiny bit of art is dedicated to the wonderful Havi Brooks and Tara Swiger, both of whom use the term ‘sparklepoints’ in many brilliant and encouraging ways.
All the drawing was done with glitter gel pens, and of course the salt pools are their usual glittery selves, so the title made itself obvious to me early on. It’s definitely the sparkliest thing I’ve done to date, though Curiosity comes a close second — I wonder what it is about the really girly-pretty ones that makes me want to write on them. This one has the title at the top in copper glitter gel pen to match the starburst shapes scattered amongst the lines and spirals of the background.
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints, 7″x5″ mixed media on watercolor paper, $199, framed, with free shipping.
You can really see the light shining off the pen lines and salt below.
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints, detail, by Amy Crook
This piece will be shipped in a simple black plastic frame, all set to go up on your wall or lean in a bookshelf.
Ten Thousand Sparklepoints, framed, by Amy Crook, $199
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: blue, for sale, glitter gel pen, pen and ink, salt, sparkly, watercolor
Iridescence
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Iridescence by Amy Crook, $499
Despite the fact that very little about this piece is shiny aside from the salt crystals, it reminds me of the gentle iridescence of bird wings, and that’s where it gets its title. Much like Badlands from last week, this piece has some unusually tall and interesting salt formations, this time created on purpose by using big salt in little puddles.
The other day I mixed up some teal-black paint, and found ways to use it on several pieces but not, ironically, the piece it was originally intended for, which turned out to need more drying time before it was ready for the next step. Here it’s been watered down and then had extra drips and swirls of green and blue added in, which then flowed and dried in the beautiful color patterns you see here.
Iridescence, 7″x5″ watercolor, ink and salt on watercolor paper, $499, framed, with free shipping.
This piece is framed in a shadowbox to protect the salt crystals, and sitting on my bookshelf taking up space I’ll likely need to use for art pretty soon.
Iridescence, framed, by Amy Crook
I love the way some of the salt formations are secretly hollow inside, growing walls around an empty inner space where the original salt crystal sat. This one has another formation gamely trying to start off the top corner, as well, the color dense where the ink was concentrated.
Iridescence, detail 1, by Amy Crook
And this little ziggurat is a textbook formation of simple square crystals.
Iridescence, detail 2, by Amy Crook
As an added bonus to those of you who read this far down, have an iPhone wallpaper and computer wallpaper. I’m using the computer one myself right now!
After using the iPhone wallpaper for a while, I realized that, while it did have my signature on it, it didn’t have my favorite part of the image, the part Molly called a “dragon’s head.” So, for those of you seeing this many days after posting (yay you!), here’s a different iPhone wallpaper.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers
Tags: blue, for sale, green, iridescence, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
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In Suspension
Monday, June 13th, 2011
In Suspension by Amy Crook, $199
This is another of my salt-and-watercolor paintings, this time done in shades of violet. The image reminded me of particles in suspension in a liquid, for really no apparent reason other than the nerdiness of my brain. I really like the way the pigment in these watercolors move and flow as they dry, which to me adds to the image of particles slowly settling out of a suspension; the darker violet at the bottom where the paint pooled is like silt at the bottom of a solution.
For this painting, I first painted the purple wash and let it dry fully. Then I added spirals of ink with a purple pen, placed a chunk of plain rock salt on each one, and covered both with water using an eyedropper. The purple ink dissolved partially in the water, as did some of the paint, and the salt dissolved completely. When the piece was allowed to sit for a day, salt crystals formed on the paper as the water evaporated, the ink and paint adding color to the salt. I keep worrying one of these days my cats will climb high enough in my bookshelves to lick the salt water right off the paper before it can dry, but so far, so good.
This paper is somewhat absorbent, so the drops of water tend to spread a little, and sink in, and the crystals are fairly flat to the surface of the paper. I haven’t yet found a good frame for this size, but the embossing makes them look like they’re already matted, adding a bit of formality to the otherwise abstract piece.
In Suspension, 5.5″x4.25″, watercolor, pen and ink, and salt on watercolor paper, $199 with free shipping.
I admit I’ve rather given up on my scanner properly showing off the embossing on these little cards, so I took another photo that’s got more accurate color and sparkle.
In Suspension, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, salt, violet, watercolor
Microscopic
Friday, June 10th, 2011
Microscopic by Amy Crook, $199
My nerdity is showing with this piece — it looks just like I remember the view through the microscope in biology class years ago, mostly monochrome with the organic shapes against the liquid.
This time I was experimenting with putting the salt and ink on top of a dried wash of watercolor. First I painted the shape with the opaque periwinkle blue gouache, adding in a sprinkling of coarse Kosher salt for texture once it was partially dry. Once the wash had dried overnight, I brushed the salt off the painting, and then used a blue pen to put in the swirls (and sign it, once we were all done). I put a big chunk of salt on top of each swirl, and then used an eyedropper to add water over each spot.
The water didn’t stay as well as it usually does, flowing into the organic shapes you can see above. The salt and ink dissolved into the water, and then after 16 hours or so, the water evaporates, leaving behind the pool of ink and salt crystals which have grown right onto the paper, and are now a permanent part of the artwork. Also, it’s subtly sparkly, which I enjoy.
Microscopic, 5.5″x4.25″ watercolor, salt and ink on archival cardstock, $199, with free shipping.
I’m still working on finding frames for this size of piece, but the salt crystals that form on this paper tend to be smaller and less fragile, so there’s less concern about shipping it unframed.
Microscopic, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, gouache, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Effervescent
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Effervescent by Amy Crook, $222
The pattern of the salt pools in this one reminded me of bubbles rising up through soda, so I went a sort of wacky Wonka route and made it grape soda purple fading up to blue. The bubbles are cola ink brown, bubbly limeade green and of course the blue goes well with the grape itself. Even the background wash is bubbly with salt texture.
Each brown bubble was made by dropping water over a salt crystal that had been coated in ink for another project, and so each one has a core of dark brown ink that somehow became sediment rather than going back to liquid. The other colors, too, were from paint-infused salt, I keep a little bowl of salt crystals that I’ve used in previous projects and I pulled out a selection for this painting, though have now dissolved completely and recrystallized straight onto the paper.
Effervescent, 5″x7″ salt, ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $222 framed with free shipping.
You can see the playful combination of colors below, as well as the texture both visual and physical, and a little bit of the whimsical sparkle.
Effervescent, detail, by Amy Crook
And here it is in its frame, the salt crystals safely tucked behind glass.
Effervescent, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, ink, salt, watercolor
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