Students work from my last workshop!

Can you believe it?  I'm so proud of all 10 of my students who did these paintings!  Mine is the second one on the top row.  I should have made you guess.  We had a super time and they did such a spectacular job learning how to make a messy beginning for textures and then add big simple shapes to create their subjects. Next home studio workshop is the end of July! 

Paintings LIttle Abbeys (small abstracts)

"Little Abbey 1", Original watercolor and collage, $45

"Little Abbey 2"  Original watercolor and collage, $45

I just finished teaching 2 separate workshops on Painting Little Abbeys.  "Little Abbey" is my nickname for little abstracts (5" x 7" images).  I use these as warm ups whenever I haven't painted for more than 3 days.  It's amazing how much I forget in those 3 days that usually comes naturally.  I sell them for $45 each.  We start these by laying in analogous colors.  Then I add collage for texture.  The things that I keep telling myself are 1. Simple shapes to start with. 2. Keep colors pretty by remembering the "clean color" rule. 3. Let my painting talk to me, so that I get interesting shapes.  4.  Repetition and variation of shapes and colors.  5. Make sure that I have accentuated the center of interest.  These paintings are so fun to do!  I've been asked to do another workshop on October 29 and 30th in my home studio here in Eden Prairie, MN.  It's a 2 day workshop: one of the days will be Little Abbeys and the other day will be Funky Ladies.  If interested, please email me.  Karen@karenknutson.com   Below are the student's paintings: