kencrocker

Back to Chicago

Bored with using charcoal when I got to the last half hour of the evening open studio at the Palette and Chisel, I decided to do this small (10 x 8) gouache sketch in a new Moleskin sketchbook. It's messy, but it was fun to do. I had trouble with the sketchbook paper because it's… Continue reading Back to Chicago

Color Theory—Two Colors As One

Here are my solutions for the exercise that calls for making two colors look like one. Each pair of small squares below a pair of big squares matches the small squares inside the bigger ones. This exercise turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. I think doing all the previous exercises… Continue reading Color Theory—Two Colors As One

Work In Progress – Ipad Drawing

I took photos for this picture 4 years ago. I also made an oil sketch at the same time. The scene is along the river outside Union Station in Chicago on a nice summer day. The large reddish object in the background is part of the Adams St. bridge abutment. The river is “off-stage” to… Continue reading Work In Progress – Ipad Drawing

Color Studies

After doing color studies to make one color look like two based on value, then on hue, then saturation, and finally all three, I came to the final exercise in this section of David Hornung's book, “Color: A Workshop for Artists and Designers” (see previous posts). In this exercise, he asks you to make two… Continue reading Color Studies

Ipad at Mother Fool’s

An Ipad drawing I started at Mother Fool's coffee shop, then took a picture with my phone to use to finish the drawing. Here's the photo: I'm working on shapes, color, and, on the Ipad, mark-making.

Poster for Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale

Just as I was fooling around with a new app for my iPad called Inkpad, Alliance for Animals asked me to do a poster for their participation in this year's Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale event. So I got to trot out my rusty old vector drawing skills learned over many years of frustration with Adobe… Continue reading Poster for Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale

Early Morning at Olbrich Park

I kept meaning to “finish” this iPad drawing I did last summer looking east from the top of the sledding hill at Olbrich Park. I never got around to working on it again, so I'm now declaring it done. After all, we need something to remember the sun with this gray spring weather. I believe… Continue reading Early Morning at Olbrich Park

Book Cover for Olive Jensen Nordby

The Norwegian-American Center here in Madison asked me to help them make a new version of a book of woodcuts by a local artist, Olive Jensen Nordby. For most of the book I just recreated the existing layout as digital files that could be sent to an offset printer. But for the dust jacket they… Continue reading Book Cover for Olive Jensen Nordby

Color studies: Making One Hue Look Like Two

Here are my attempts at making one color, the small inner square in the pictures above, look like two different colors, based on a difference in hue alone. I don't think I was very successful. In the top one, the left square looks redder than the right one. In the second example, the right small… Continue reading Color studies: Making One Hue Look Like Two

Flowers for Easter

Some tulips for spring and Easter weekend that I originally bought for Lesley's birthday. I drew the sketch with my new Pilot “Young Rex” (dumb name) fountain pen with mixed Waterman black and brown ink, and then watercolor over that. I didn't realize how architectural the vase is until I just looked at the picture… Continue reading Flowers for Easter