Day 11 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Ooh Lah Lah"            11" x 11" image      $145  SOLD

“Ooh Lah Lah” came into being because I’m excited about the Golden Globe Awards tomorrow night.  I love all that movie star stuff! J  On tracing paper, I did a free hand drawing of the girl all glammed up. To check up on my drawing skills, I then placed the drawing over the actual photo to see how well I did.  I’ve been doing that lately, because I want to improve my drawing skills so much!  I used to think of myself as a pretty good drawer, but really lack confidence in that area lately as I’m really looking more critically at my skills and trying to improve each day.  Next, I drew a value sketch using only 2 values.  This is my road map while I paint.  At the very end, I decide where to put the darkest darks, depending on what I want to accentuate.  When trying to think of a background, I came up blank.  So, I looked through all my 30 minute color studies and found the one pictured below. I made a few changes, but it gave me a good starting point.  I did it on January 27^th of 2011.  That year, I had the goal to do a 30 minute color sketch using Tombow markers every day for a whole YEAR!!!! Yes, I said a whole year!  I only missed 2 days, due to totally forgetting!  How can one forget when you’ve been doing it for that long??!!!!  Life gets busy some days-- that’s how!  Anyway, I love being able to page through the color studies and be inspired for either a total abstract or a background for a semi-abstract painting.  Be sure to check out Leslie Saeta's blog to see other artist's paintings from this challenge.  I notice that many have dropped out by now.  Sure hope I make it to the finish line! Below are my first nine paintings.  I couldn't get the 10th one on there.

color study that I used for inspiration (left)
value study (right)

Flying by the seat of my pants

"Helga, the Housekeeper"

Sometimes, you just need to fly by the seat of your pants!  Upon arriving at my Buffalo destination last night, I discovered that there was no mirror for the audience to see my demo.  So, I held the painting up with my left hand, while painting vertically with my right hand.  Then the audience could see what I was painting.  It actually went pretty well.  I finished the details on the hair this morning, using Tombow markers and permanent black markers.  But otherwise, this was my demo for the Buffalo group.  I was asked when I started painting funky ladies.  I think it was after watching a video by Anne Bagby, one of my favorite artists.  She has been a great influence on my work.
 And I finally discovered what my imaginary housekeeper looks like.  "Helga, the Housekeeper" has been my nickname for myself whenever I do my monthly deep cleaning.  I just know that this is her!  Got her hair all tied up in rags, but she's a bit of a diva, having to wear jewelry while she cleans.  And let me tell you, she is a minimum cleaner! I have no idea why I keep her around.  :)  When I arrived in Buffalo at the airport building, there was a blackboard, so I again flew by the seat of my pants and did the drawing on the blackboard so that all could see, as we did a funky lady drawing together.  They all loved learning the tricks!  It was a fun evening.  Below is my blackboard drawing. 

Warm-ups to kick Artist's Block

This is a "wire drawing" of an eye, done while I was up at the North Shore, relaxing.  Whenever I have art blocks, I have 3 or 4 tricks to get myself back into the mood.  One of these involves sketching anything with a pencil.  Then I use an ultrafine marker to connect all the lines, and finally, I add thicker lines with a fine marker.  Before you know it, an hour has passed, and now you'll be ready to paint the moon!  Another trick is to paint color studies, using only 3 colors, and starting with only 4 shapes.This color study started with a blue square surrounded by yellow.  In the middle of the blue square was a yellow olive shape with a red center.  Do you see them? I used manganese blue, cadmium yellow, and red rose deep.  At the very end, I allowed myself a mixture of alizarin crimson and winsor green for the black colors. Now you have 2 tricks to keep that mean old artist's block at bay!  Good luck!

Day 28- "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Love that Dove"  $145  Watercolor and Felt Markers,  (11" x 11" image)

Now I can relax.  The one bird that I really wanted to include in my bird series was a mourning dove.  It's probably my favorite bird.  I love it's gentleness and when it calls, I love it!  Beautiful sound!  We have a pair of mourning doves that land on our deck every Spring.  I love watching them.  In this painting, I challenged myself to staying with neutral colors, something that I usually don't do.  I usually LOVE color!  But today, because of the gentle nature of this bird, and the fact that it's feathers are different shades of grey, I decided on a neutral background. Then, I added lines at the very end, using Tombow markers, channeling another favorite, Frank Lloyd Wright.  I have the full set of 96 Tombow markers.  They work great for my 30 minute sketches- water soluble and double tipped.  I love them! 
I didn't realize until today, that mourning dove is spelled like this.  I always thought it was "Morning Dove".  I don't think of it's sound as mournful, but rather soothing.  I can't believe that I only have 2 more paintings to do in this challenge!  These last 2 weeks have been fun for me!

30 Paintings in 30 Days: Day 8

"There's Something Fishy about this Pelican"  (watercolor)  11" x 11"  $125

Yesterday, I babysat my granddaughters all day, and so I didn't get a painting done till now.  Good thing I was one day ahead with this challenge.  Now, I have to play catch up!  My oldest granddaughter, Alex, is 4 1/2 years old, so she loves to do anything artistic with grandma.  I knew that I should be painting, so I talked her into painting a pelican with me.  She decided to make her pelican purple.  I sat in awe of her artwork!  So free, no worries, always loving everything that she did!  What a lesson it was for me to just take it all in!  I had the drawing from yesterday as my start today.  I decided to make it playful, like Alex was! I did another painting similar to this with my crazy ladies.  It's pictured below.  It sold right away! If you are interested in purchasing any of my paintings, just comment below.

30 Paintings in 30 Days- Day 4

"Bird Brains"

Have you ever had "one of those days"?  Today was that day for me!  I started out the day, intending to paint not ONE, but TWO paintings, so I would be ahead of the challenge, so that when I babysit later in the week, that I could pull one out of a hat, so to speak.  Anyway, I knew what I wanted to do.  I had a PLAN.  Step one, CHECK!  Below is my sketch that I had done, using Tombow markers last year.  And I thought it would be fun to turn that into a painting. I realized that I didn't like the position of the two birds, so I changed that.

Sketch using Tombow Markers

So, I thought I would use pure watercolor for a change.  But, it had been awhile since I'd painted with ONLY watercolor, and I was definitely out of practice.  So, after 4 hours struggling, I finally looked at the painting, and realized that I needed more whites, so out came the acrylics.  Another hour later, I finally finished the painting, and decided to call it "Bird Brains", due to the fact that I felt like a bird brain myself today!  This is 11" x 11" image, and is available for $95.

30 Paintings in 30 Days, Day One

"Cardinal's New Coat"

 Happy New Year!  My first painting of 2014!  I'm again challenging myself to 30 paintings in 30 days!  Leslie Saeta proposes this challenge every year, and I did it last year.  Check back to January of 2013 to see all of those!  This is a great way to get back into painting after taking December off for all the parties! Check out Leslie's blog to see all the many artists who are doing this challenge.  There are 360 this year!  Call me crazy, because this is no easy feat!  My series this year will be birds. I've always loved cardinals, especially in the winter when they show up so well against the snow.  This cardinal has a funky new coat!  It is available for $125, unframed.  I used a past simple shape study as my idea for the background.  It is pictured below. 

I hope you will follow along as I bring in the New Year with daily paintings.  Please comment too.  I love to hear what you think!

Favorite Fun Sketches of 2013

Favorite sketches of Crazy Ladies (and men) for 2013

As I reminisce about my artwork of 2013, I think about the fun I had doing sketches of what I call, "Crazy Ladies" and all the fun I had teaching workshops of this subject.  The students had a ball creating odd faces and their imaginations soared.  These were done using Tombow markers, and after completion, many times, I created paintings using the sketches as my guide.  Usually, I write goals on December 31st, but this year, I'm going to try to keep it short.  I'd really like to complete my book that I've been writing for the past 5 years, and make it my top priority.  Otherwise, I'd like to write goals every night before I go to bed about the next day's expectations.  Not only artwork, but eating and exercise goals as well.  So, there you have it.  It's in print, so there's no going back from here!  Have a great New Year everyone!  I hope to see many of you in my future workshops.http://www.karenknutson.com/workshops.htm  I'm teaching in Arizona in February and in Florida in March. So, if you live in Minnesota, it's a great chance to get some sunshine! Check out my website for my teaching schedule.  www.karenknutson.com

Design sketches make winning paintings!

I just realized that I forgot to post that I had won second place award at the Northstar Watercolor Society Fall Show, for my painting, "Sailing Through Life". I truly believe that if I hadn't taken the time for a value and color sketch, this painting would not have turned out as well.  I'd like to talk a little bit about the importance of a plan as we paint. Whether you're the type of artist who flies by the seat of their pants, or one who likes a plan beforehand, SOMETIME during that painting, you need to stop and make a plan!  I'm the type who likes to have the plan to start with; but I have been known to start very free and wild, and then, 3/4 of the way through the painting, I will make a value sketch where either my medium or light values connect.  Plus I try to combine shapes, so that I have as few shapes as possible, making for a stronger painting.  I really LOVE making color sketches, using Tombow markers in my little 6" x 6" sketchbook.  Another trick that I use is to take a photo of my painting, then copy and paste it into Microsoft Word.  Then click in the middle of the photo, and pick Format.  Then pick the black and white version of that photo.  This isn't a gray scale.  It's where the values below a value 4 become white and those above a value 6 become black.  This truly shows where you might need to combine shapes, or simplify busy shapes. It also spells out whether your painting is balanced.  I love using the computer as a "spell check" for values.  What ever did I do before all the wonderful technology?

Color Studies, good design

"Luring Music"

Only a few days till I teach a design workshop in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.  One of the lessons involves the students looking through magazines and cropping the photos down to a 1 inch square.  That simplifies the shapes, big time!  This color study (size 4" x 4") was done, using Tombow markers.  I love that they have two ends; one is fine marker, and the other is a brush.  Also, they don't smell, and work very much like watercolors, where I work in layers, etc.  This color study started from a photo of a dining room table and chairs.  How crazy is that?  Below is my 2 value sketch of the photo.  My steady rule (that I really believe in) is to connect the light pathway.  I can always adjust it later, but in the beginning of every painting, I have a light pathway. I will post the painting that I do from this color study after the workshop.

30 Minute Studies, One Year Challenge

"Radiating Beauty"

I again am challenging myself to do a 30 minute study every day for one year! Limiting the time to 30 minutes makes me use bigger shapes, and simplify. These aren't meant to be framed works of art, just studies!  I find that my whole life is in better balance when I do these each day.  And they often lead to paintings later!  Working out the design and colors on a small format is a practice that I really like. So....my one year challenge started on March 2nd.  I won't post every one, just my favorites, OK?  Unlike last year, I will give myself a little more slack when my schedule is busy, and will allow myself to do extra 30 minute studies before the busy days.  But no catch up!  Only thinking ahead sketches.  This one started as a contour drawing from a flower.  I then used Tombow markers to build up the layers of color.  I can't wait to turn this into a big acrylic painting!