Clockwork Colossus, 11x14 inches, watercolor on Rives BFK, by Kenney Mencher
FREE SHIPPING Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago.
I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
I wanted to play with contrast—not just light and dark, but softness and machinery, muscle and ornament. Clockwork Colossus is part figure study, part surreal design experiment. I painted this with watercolor over crayon on a sheet of Rives BFK. The gears and radial patterns behind the figure create this visual friction that makes the flesh feel more alive and present.
The thing I really pushed in this piece was the interplay of hard and soft edges. I worked with layered washes and bold, almost architectural planes of warm ochres, siennas, and blush pinks, to emphasize form. There's no blending here—just sharp blocks of color that build volume like carved stone. I was thinking a bit about the way artists like Paul Cadmus or Tamara de Lempicka built up muscular forms with flat zones of color. There’s a hint of that Deco monumentality, but also a nod to watercolor illustrators like McClelland Barclay.
The figure’s face and upper torso are emphasized, both in terms of contrast and detail. I used cooler shadows on the face to pull it forward and kept the palette warmer across the chest and limbs to build a strong diagonal. His beard and wrinkles are treated with dry brush textures and negative space—my favorite way to keep things a little loose and alive.
This painting might feel powerful, maybe a little mysterious—like a statue stepping off a fresco wall, or a frame from a classic sci-fi film where everything is hand-painted. It could make someone think of bodybuilders, Greek sculpture, or a modern twist on a mythological titan. It ties into my broader interest in narrative, body language, and that space where memory and archetype overlap.
Details:
Materials: watercolor, graphite, and white gouache on Rives BFK
Size: 11 x 14 inches
Year: 2025
Unframed; ships flat in a protective sleeve
Signed on front
Ships in a rigid mailer
FREE SHIPPING Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago.
I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
I wanted to play with contrast—not just light and dark, but softness and machinery, muscle and ornament. Clockwork Colossus is part figure study, part surreal design experiment. I painted this with watercolor over crayon on a sheet of Rives BFK. The gears and radial patterns behind the figure create this visual friction that makes the flesh feel more alive and present.
The thing I really pushed in this piece was the interplay of hard and soft edges. I worked with layered washes and bold, almost architectural planes of warm ochres, siennas, and blush pinks, to emphasize form. There's no blending here—just sharp blocks of color that build volume like carved stone. I was thinking a bit about the way artists like Paul Cadmus or Tamara de Lempicka built up muscular forms with flat zones of color. There’s a hint of that Deco monumentality, but also a nod to watercolor illustrators like McClelland Barclay.
The figure’s face and upper torso are emphasized, both in terms of contrast and detail. I used cooler shadows on the face to pull it forward and kept the palette warmer across the chest and limbs to build a strong diagonal. His beard and wrinkles are treated with dry brush textures and negative space—my favorite way to keep things a little loose and alive.
This painting might feel powerful, maybe a little mysterious—like a statue stepping off a fresco wall, or a frame from a classic sci-fi film where everything is hand-painted. It could make someone think of bodybuilders, Greek sculpture, or a modern twist on a mythological titan. It ties into my broader interest in narrative, body language, and that space where memory and archetype overlap.
Details:
Materials: watercolor, graphite, and white gouache on Rives BFK
Size: 11 x 14 inches
Year: 2025
Unframed; ships flat in a protective sleeve
Signed on front
Ships in a rigid mailer
FREE SHIPPING Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago.
I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
I wanted to play with contrast—not just light and dark, but softness and machinery, muscle and ornament. Clockwork Colossus is part figure study, part surreal design experiment. I painted this with watercolor over crayon on a sheet of Rives BFK. The gears and radial patterns behind the figure create this visual friction that makes the flesh feel more alive and present.
The thing I really pushed in this piece was the interplay of hard and soft edges. I worked with layered washes and bold, almost architectural planes of warm ochres, siennas, and blush pinks, to emphasize form. There's no blending here—just sharp blocks of color that build volume like carved stone. I was thinking a bit about the way artists like Paul Cadmus or Tamara de Lempicka built up muscular forms with flat zones of color. There’s a hint of that Deco monumentality, but also a nod to watercolor illustrators like McClelland Barclay.
The figure’s face and upper torso are emphasized, both in terms of contrast and detail. I used cooler shadows on the face to pull it forward and kept the palette warmer across the chest and limbs to build a strong diagonal. His beard and wrinkles are treated with dry brush textures and negative space—my favorite way to keep things a little loose and alive.
This painting might feel powerful, maybe a little mysterious—like a statue stepping off a fresco wall, or a frame from a classic sci-fi film where everything is hand-painted. It could make someone think of bodybuilders, Greek sculpture, or a modern twist on a mythological titan. It ties into my broader interest in narrative, body language, and that space where memory and archetype overlap.
Details:
Materials: watercolor, graphite, and white gouache on Rives BFK
Size: 11 x 14 inches
Year: 2025
Unframed; ships flat in a protective sleeve
Signed on front
Ships in a rigid mailer
