kencrocker

A Farm in Wisconsin

This book is the story of Richard Quinney's family from the time they settled on a farm near Delavan, Wisconsin, several generations ago. Richard decided to do the whole book in full color in order to reproduce the various beautiful tones of the photos of his ancestors. To that we added a color intro page… Continue reading A Farm in Wisconsin

Self Portrait

Small 5 x 7 inch two-hour watercolor. First hour I drew from an Ipad photo in pencil. For some reason, it was very difficult to get the looking-up part of the expression. Second hour, I erased most of the pencil and put down a thin all-over wash mostly concerned with color temperature. Then more layers… Continue reading Self Portrait

Ox Herding in Wisconsin

This is the latest book from Borderland Books, written by Richard Quinney. The design is a collaboration between Richard’s ideas and my implementation of those ideas in a book layout. The entire book, including the cover, was printed digitally at Worzalla Printing in Stevens Point. The book was published as a paperback because at the… Continue reading Ox Herding in Wisconsin

A Great Book on Color

Joe Paquette in his workshops talks about how it's important to do an inventory of the various skills it takes to be a good artist. To make a list, for example, of things like drawing, value, color, composition, etc., and decide which skills are the best-developed and which ones need more work. I've been… Continue reading A Great Book on Color

Last Picture Last Year

Still unable to travel, I've been casting about for things to post. This was a half-hour sketch I did to try out my new Visual Journal notebook. Painted from a Web photo, probably on http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/, a great site for drawing practice. For those who are like me and troll the Web to figure how to… Continue reading Last Picture Last Year

Studies

Unable to travel to Chicago this week, I've been doing copies like the ones on the sketchbook page above. They're from Jan Kunz's “Painting Watercolor Portraits that Glow.” The Strathmore 5.5 x 8 Visual Journal with 90# watercolor paper is cheap and, while not the best paper, adequate for fooling around. Plus I thought I'd… Continue reading Studies

Head Study

This is a small head study (8 x 8 inches) that I did at the end of a long open studio. Mary, who books the models and sets up the pose, does a fantastic job of finding a variety of models in great costumes. This model was dressed in a “peasant” costume, complete with… Continue reading Head Study

A Flower In Her Hair

Once in a while sketching in an open studio something works out. This was a week ago on a very cold MLK Day evening, 7 1/2 x 15, half-hour, 140# cold-press Fabriano paper. A beautiful pose and the very colorful wrap at her feet provided inspiration. Posted with Blogsy

Figure with marker

I got to the P&C late due to heavy traffic from snow overnight. No time for my usual 14×18 Utrecht spiral pad and compressed charcoal, so I got out some markers I packed at the last minute after an inspiring talk with Don Colley about the virtues of sketching. I got out my 5×9… Continue reading Figure with marker

Alla Prima Watercolor

Well, it's been way too long since I posted… To begin 2013, I started painting Mondays in the six-hour open studio at the P & C. I really like it, although I'm still finding my way and want to quit at least once each session. Anyway here's a 14 x 18 inch watercolor on Fabriano… Continue reading Alla Prima Watercolor