Isn’t it eerie how similar Mr. Crockwell’s paintings look to Mr. Norman Rockwell’s? It’s even the same subject matter. I mean, the style is nearly identical. Check out another Crockwell. From beer to Coke, two of my favorite things!
Honestly, it sounds like an SNL skit, like changing Mr. Rogers to Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood. Stranger than fiction. Crockwell also did this fun outdoor scene.
In any event, I can appreciate both artists. I wish our summer looked more like this one!
KU Delt pledges dubbed Lena the Hyena as Queen of their Paddle Party in 1946, the same year cartoonist Al Capp Capp introduced Lena as the “ugliest woman in the world.” So hideous that Capp could not bear to render her, he enlisted his readers (in 381 newspapers where his L’il Abner comic strip was seen) to send in their drawing of what they thought Lena looked like. Over 500,000 readers responded. Al Capp persuaded Boris Karloff, Salvador Dali and Frank Sinatra to judge the drawing and the winner was the cartoonist Basil Wolverton. His rendering is what you see above. (https://www.tattooarchive.com)
Personally, I think his grotesque work looks like he was on an endless bad acid trip, but it takes all kinds of artists, and to each his own. Below are tame examples of his other renderings and styles.
I discovered this festive Christmas painting in an art magazine by artist Dan Williams. The idea of snow and colder weather is incredibly appealing as we continue to swelter.
Williams also does a swell summer scene, evoking a chill mood.
