A Subtle Silhouette Of a California Love Letter
Author:Sarah Virginia WhiteThree years ago, Los Angeles artist Tracy Hiner left her job designing accessories to launch a wallpaper company, Black Crow Studios, out of her tiny spare bedroom. In a city that’s forever seeking the next new thing, her abstract watercolor papers have taken off. “People are willing to take a risk in LA,” says the Texas native, who moved to California at 18.
As a love letter to the state that encouraged her vision, Hiner imagined its silhouette subtly rising from the whorls of her trademark painting style, which is created by rolling slurries of acrylic paint onto paper. After scanning the completed piece, she enlarged the most interesting spot, employing a fine-art digital printing technique known as giclée to create the final wallpaper. “What resonates are the details that would have been almost invisible in the actual watercolor,” says Hiner of the appeal of her abstract designs. In a case of life imitating art, it clearly pays to seek out the good parts and magnify them.
This was originally published in California Home + Design’s Summer 2013 issue. Click here to subscribe.
