Living your life with gratitude

I just returned from a trip to Austin, TX, where Creative Catalyst (now called Streamline Production Inc) filmed 2 videos of my painting process. The painting above, “Enduring Love”, is one of the videos.  It’s a story about a couple with the orbits of love coming their way.  And even tho there might be some hard times mixed in with the good, they lived their life with gratitude. I’ve heard several stories lately about friends who are grateful, even in tough times. It truly is a good practice. Finding the good in situations brings more goodness into your life, and makes us healthier and happier.
Check out my website soon (www.karenknutson.com) to get in on the early bird discount for my videos. The first one is a charcoal pour process.  You will love it!

Being Prepared- the secret to success!

"Stepping into the Light",    Image 15" x 22"
acrylic on paper.    $1200 framed

I'm the last one to preach about being organized and prepared, but as I continue my journey as a professional artist, I find that my most successful times always are when I'm prepared.  Today, I printed out a calendar of the upcoming months and marked the deadlines of upcoming shows, because I missed a couple of important show that I had wanted to enter!  UGH!!!  So, I keep trying to be more organized.
Today, Dick and I went down to Carney's, an Irish Pub in downtown Venice to properly celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  I told him that I thought we should be early so that we could get a good table and listen to Irish music while having a Reuben and a green margarita.  Good plan, right? Well.....there was a car show in the main parking lot, so we had to park many blocks away.  Then we arrived at 11:10, and they said to eat inside, we would need to pay a $10 per person cover charge.  I thought, no problem, it's worth it.  Got sat down and asked the waiter when the music would start and it was at 2:00!  So, we enjoyed our lunch, without live music, like I'd hoped, and then left knowing we had just paid an extra $20 for nothing!  So, going forward, we will call ahead and find out all the details!  On a good note, we now have 2 plastic green top hats and some green beads for our grandkids to play with.  :)
The painting above was well thought out.  I did 2 different value sketches and worked out the problems on those.  Below is the one that I decided to go with.  These types of paintings develop stories as they go along.  This one is about the challenges in life.  If you are having one of those challenges, get help, but most importantly, do it for YOURSELF.  Until you realize that you matter, no amount of friends or family will make the difference.  You matter and you are loved!

Day 30! 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Life of the Party"     Sold
Acrylic          7" x 10"  

“Life of the Party” is my exclamation on the end of this 30 Day Challenge. I just wanted to do something wild and free. The under-painting had pink, yellow, and orange. I really liked the pop of pink, so I tried to save that color vibration. See below:

Step One

As the painting progressed, I decided to outline some of the details within the sunflower, kind of like Gustav Klimt. This 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge has been the hardest one that I’ve done. This was my 5th time that I’ve done this challenge. I’m always amazed how many new ideas come to me because of painting every day. I thank Leslie Saeta for offering this challenge. It always pushes me to new levels and it gives me a chance to offer my paintings at this discount sale for my longtime supporters.   Thanks to you all for reading my blog and liking my work!  

Day 29 or 30 Days in 30 Days!

"Love is in the Air"     $75
Acrylic         7" x 10"
Second day of Karlyn's Paint-in and when I looked at what I had started yesterday, I just wasn't ready to tackle that large painting.  So I grabbed a small 7" x 10" that I had the first layer already on.  It was so fun to paint with pinks, greens and oranges.  A fun color scheme!   Below is the first layer, done by dropping acrylic on the surface and scraping it with a credit card.

I used a wire drawing that was in my sketch book and drew the figures on the under-painting. I'm having so much fun reconnecting with other artists and truly basking in the fact that I'm sitting next to Karlyn Holman for 5 full days.  We have so many laughs together and share lots of tricks with one another.  So, this is all I accomplished in one full day, but I'm not sorry.  Enjoying the moment!  And enjoying the process! 

Wire Drawing that I used for a value study

Day 27 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Dragonfly in Gold"     $75
Acrylic, permanent markers, gold foil        7" x 10"

I have to admit that I grabbed this from my stash of finished paintings  Confession: I didn't do this within the 30 Days.  But I'm attending a Paint-in and I want to paint large paintings and try new things.  That's what I love about Paint-ins.  We exchange ideas, and have critiques at the end of each day.  For many of us, its a reunion, only seeing the other artists once per year. There are usually 40 of us attending.  So much fun!!!!  This painting was originally $155, so this price is a steal, specially for this 30 Day Challenge.  I use gold foil paper instead of gold leaf.  It's so much easier.  This process will be shown at my workshop in Bradenton, FL on March 8 and 9th.  It's called, "Painting like Gustav Klimt".  Here's the link:  http://keetonsonline.com/GImages/180308KK.PDF

Day 17 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Dragonfly Love"     $75
Acrylic      7" x 10"

I'm finding it harder and harder to get my painting done daily.  Today, I actually cheated and picked out one of my half done paintings and completed it.  This process is what I call, "Painting like Gustav Klimt", one of my most popular workshops, where we actually drop paint on the surface and then spread it out, using a credit card.  It's really fun! This painting also has 3D Gold outliner on it for an extra dimensional look.  This also has the Wire Drawing in it, that I love doing so much!  Check my website to see where I will be teaching both of these different workshops next. www.karenknutson.com

Landscape Wire drawing

So, my latest craze is wire drawings. I love drawing birds or other animals, and now have added abstracts to the list. One thing that has been hard for me till now, is drawing landscapes using my wire drawing skills. I'm encouraged by this outcome. I'm hoping to do an acrylic Gustav Klimt beginning and bring this landscape study to life. Wish me luck!

Upcoming Workshops in Florida!

I'm excited to announce that I will be teaching in Cape Coral, FL on January 12- 14th, 2017.  This is the second time that I've taught in this location.  I love escaping the MN winters, so timing is everything!  Charcoal pour birds is one of the subjects.  This procedure is so fun.  We actually pour a big bucket of water on a watercolor surface that is sprinkled with charcoal powder.  The effect is so fun!  Also, I will be teaching how to paint like Gustav Klimt.  That technique involves scraping dots of acrylic, using a credit card.  The colors are so beautiful!  These two techniques are my most popular workshops.  Both paintings below started using the acrylic scraping technique!  Students send me paintings for months after each workshop.  Pretty fun! For information on the workshop, please contact  Marjorie Ewell   Phone:  239-945-3158   Email:  strgazr39@comcast.net

Painting like Gustav Klimt

"Tribute to Gustav Klimt-2"  Acrylic on paper, $295, 11" x 14"

Gustav Klimt has been one of my favorite artists for many years.  I just completed teaching a 3 day workshop in my home studio.  There were 12 eager students who really did fantastic jobs with their paintings, which are pictured below.  We start these paintings by dropping acrylic paint on the surface and then spreading it with a credit card.  They liked that part the best!  This abstract beginning is perfect for us to use as an underpainting for the busy patterns in the outfits. I love teaching in my home studio, because I'm able to give lots more individual attention than in other workshops.  We all get to be such good friends by the end of the 3 days!