"Cupid", #10 Wire Drawing of the 30 Day Challenge

"Cupid"    7" x 10"
Price:  $50        Ink on Paper

The past weekend, I got to stay with a good friend who lives in Orlando area, and Karlyn Holman stayed there too, in between her teaching gigs.  We all painted together and shared our new painting tricks with each other.  We've done this for the past 3 years and it's so fun!  Karlyn wanted to learn my wire drawing, so I demonstrated this.  You wouldn't have believed what this subject was to start with.  I told them that it doesn't matter to me whether the finished wire drawing looks like the reference or not.  These are meant to be fun!  Here was the surprise for me.  A wing appeared from the initial pencil drawing!  So, I  went with it, and later, when I added the darks, I even saw bow and arrows near the edge.  See if you can find I can spot 3 of them!  We even noticed that Cupid is wearing a Fit bit watch!  How about that? 
My workshop in The Villages got off to a great start today, but I have to say, I was absolutely wiped out, after the first day.  I will have to protect myself by not standing as much.  Still recovering from the pneumonia and I thought I had my energy back, but evidently NOT!  Dang! I loved my class though.  Very nice group!

"Mermaid Madness", # 9 Wire Drawing of the 30 Day Challenge

"Mermaid Madness"        7" x 10"
Sold            Ink on Paper

I'm staying with a good friend in Florida right now, and she collects mermaids, so I gave this one to her for a hostess gift. This one was especially fun to do, and I love the shapes that appeared in the lower left corner that almost look like musical notes.  That was unintentional, but I like it! Right now, I'm painting with Tammy and Karlyn for 3 days before I start my workshop at The Villages on Monday.  We are doing all kinds of new techniques.  It's so fun to share with other artists and try new things!  I am blessed!

"Read my Mind", #8 Wire Drawing (30 Day Challenge)

"Read my Mind"  Price:  $50
7" x 10"    Ink on Paper

Yesterday, I spent most of the day creating starts for my demo paintings for The Villages workshop that I'll be teaching in FL next week.  I have to do that, because I'm basically a slow painter, and my rule is to only demo for one hour in the morning, and 30minutes in the afternoon.  I like to make my workshops fun and easy, and I know that most people tire of watching someone paint after about an hour.  It's a lot of work, but sure makes it easier for me once I get there!
So, finally, at the end of the day, I decided to sketch a bit in front of the TV.  This one was a real stretch for me, because it is more realistic than many of my paintings. I named it "Read my Mind" because I can't tell what she is thinking.  It feels so good to be feeling good enough to paint and sketch again. I am very thankful!

"The Church Lady", #7 Wire Drawing of 30 Day Challenge

"The Church Lady", 7" x 10"
Price:  $50, Ink on Paper
 

Remember the good ole days when everyone dressed up to go to church?  The ladies even wore hats!  I have fond memories of my mom dressing up for church and playing the piano for the congregation.  I can't wait to turn this drawing into an acrylic painting!  Maybe soon.  Look closely for all of the hearts that showed up when I was doing the initial pencil sketch for the wire drawing!  My friend, Connie, must have been looking over me.  She passed on last year in November, but she used to collect rocks that were heart shaped.  I miss her lots!

"The Chaperone", #6 wire drawing of 30 Day Challenge

"The Chaperone"  7" x 10"
$50   pen and ink on paper

This is the 6th wire drawing done in the January challenge. It dawned on me today that I am the type of person who requires goals in order to get things done. I've done the "30 paintings in 30 days" challenge for the past 3 years. It is a really tough challenge, but I always grew as an artist and felt such a feeling of accomplishment when I finished that 30th painting! So, this year, due to recovering from a bad bout with pneumonia in November and December, I decided to just try to do as many wire drawings as I could. Here it is, Day 18, and I've only done 6 wire drawings! My lesson learned is that I need to have specific goals in order to get more done.  That goes for everything in my life. When I diet, if I just tell myself that I will do my best, it comes off really slow. But if I have a deadline to lose a certain amount, I usually meet that goal. So.... Going forward, I commit to complete 9 more wire drawings, making a total of 15 wire drawings within the 30 day period. That's a good goal!

"Chicken Little", #5 Wire Drawing of 30 Day Challenge

"Chicken Little"  7" x 10"
Ink on Paper,  Price:  $50

I started this wire drawing yesterday, and worked 2 more hours on it this morning.  These drawings have been selling really fast!  So, if you are interested, contact me right away.  It was fun to be inventive with the detail, making checks in the feathers, etc.  I may need to space these wire drawings out though, because they are really hard on my eyes right now.  I need to see an eye doctor.  I'm so excited to turn these drawings into an adult coloring book.  I can just picture these with many different colors!

"Love Conquers All", Wire Drawing #4 ,within 30 Day Challenge

"Love Conquers All"    7" x 10"
Ink on Paper,  Price:  $50

This is the 4th Wire Drawing that I've done in January.  The last few days have been spent painting in prep for national show competitions.  There are many deadlines that fall in January.  Today, I took a past painting, pictured below and did a wire drawing of it, hoping that it would have a different outcome.  I'm anxious to use this wire drawing as a start for another painting, where I will be using gelli printed papers for collage.  Stay tuned for this!  If interested in this sketch, it is only $50, my January special price!

"The Diva"

"The Diva",  Acrylic on paper, 14" x 20" image
Price:  $850



I painted this artwork yesterday, starting at 8:00 a.m. and finishing at 5:00 p.m.  I had to meet a deadline for the Northwest Watercolor Society.  I entered with one hour to spare!  Several times, I almost quit in the midst of this painting, but my granddaughter, said, "No, grandma, you can do it!", so I continued.  Constantly, I tell students that very thing.  If we just keep going past the "ugly teenage" stage, lots of times, these can be your best paintings.  I really listened to the painting as I worked.  For instance, the blue streak coming from the left side was in the underpainting, and I liked how it connected the background to her dress, so I left it in.  Also the abstract shapes behind her head were formed in the first layer also, so when I negative painted around them, the shapes were very interesting. 
This painting started with squirting several colors on prepared paper, and then scraping it with a credit card.  It's a great way to get exciting colors in the underpainting.  I'm teaching in The Villages, FL from January 25 - 29th, and this is one of the subjects, "Painting like Gustav Klimt".  It's really a fun technique!  If interested in coming, contact Beverly Hennessy at www.thevillagesartworkshops.com
bbaug97@aol.com  352-572-5317

Woman of Mystery, (#3 Wire Drawing of 30 Day Challenge)

"Woman of Mystery"
 6" x 8", ink on paper, $100

I have to admit, I was procrastinating this morning, perched in front of the TV, scared to go down to my studio and face the watercolor painting that I'm doing for the TWSA show.  So, instead of wasting time, I grabbed my sketch book, and drew another wire drawing. I love this, because her hair is so long, that you have to imagine:  is she naked or is she wearing an evening gown with a low back?  Most of my paintings in this January challenge will be marked for $50, but I fell in love with this one so much, that I decided to mark it higher.  If interested, contact me.

"Cardinal Calling", Wire Drawing #2, Within 30 Days

"Cardinal Calling", 7" x 10", $50

Here I am again, making these drawings more difficult that they have to be!  These are supposed to be little sketches, and so far, both of my wire drawings have taken 4 hours or more to complete!  Oh, well, I love to doodle, what can I say?  This was started with a pencil drawing, and then I switched to felt markers to complete it and turn it into a wire drawing.  Check out my website, www.karenknutson.com to see my teaching schedule, if you are interested in learning this procedure.

"Peaceful Farm Site"- (Wire Drawing #1within 30 Days!)

"Farm Site, Wire Drawing #1"
7" x 10", Ink on Paper, $50

This is a farm site near my friend, Jennifer Stone's family lodge near Watertown, SD.  I've had a dream of painting farm scenes with Holstein cows in the foreground for about 7 or 8 years.  I decided to build up to adding the cows and start with a farm site alone to start with.  My plan is to complete a painting of this scene to enter in the Transparent Watercolor Society of America Show.  The hard part for me is that is has to be totally watercolor, and I've become a mixed media artist these past few years.  This drawing took about 4 hours, so the idea of doing quick wire drawings is a far fetched idea, at best! Stay tuned to see the finished painting! Remember, if interested in buying this, contact me right away.