PAINTINGS & PRINTS

Ken-crook-paintings

As early as I can remember, I wanted to be an artist. I was always drawing with pencils and crayons. In grade school my teacher, Miss Bruce, knowing my family wasn’t well off, bought me my first set of oil paints. Since this was during World War 2, my first painting was
a portrait of General MacArthur!

Since then I have explored the different art media, from oils to etchings, and enjoyed working in all of them. In later years, however, I found certain media were limiting my ability to express my ideas. During my years as Newsday’s editorial cartoonist, I had to learn to work very fast. With a cartoon due daily, I learned to think up, draw, shade and finish each cartoon by the day’s close.

When computers began to offer digital art programs, I began experimenting with them. As they became more and more sophisticated,
I found they gave me a new freedom to express myself. I still use all my training and experience in my newest pictures without losing
the integrity of my vision.