Exciting news! Artist of the Day on Streamline Productions Facebook!

On this Thursday, May 21st at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone, I am the featured Artist of the Day on Streamline Productions Facebook page.  Be sure to mark your calendar and tune in!  I will be there to answer any of your questions as the video progresses.  This video explains the charcoal pour process and then how to collage and paint a bird in watercolor.  Lots of design tips as well.  Hope you will be enticed to buy the video!
Here's the link to watch it:
https://www.facebook.com/StreamlineArtVideo/

Day 27: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Jungle Fever"    $99  (SOLD)

Image:  11" x 15"      Watercolor

Today, I tried something new!  I started the painting by drawing random doodles on the paper using a really wet brush.  Then I floated the color into the wet lines and let the drips happen wherever they broke through.  After that was dry, I drew the bird on the paper, trying to have the line work break across the bird.  I'm excited about this procedure because I now have a new lesson to teach for the next couple of years.  Below is the start of this painting.  To learn more, you will have to take one of my workshops!  (wink, wink) :)  Check my website for future workshops.  I've got a full schedule, traveling to many states on the East and West coast.

Beginning stages of "Jungle Fever"

Day 25: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Eyes of the Forest"      NFS
Image:  15" x 11"      Watercolor

This painting started out as just a tree painting.  Then, I just had to add a bird.  My intention is to have the viewer aware of how we need to preserve our world by recycling, and conserving energy as much as we can.  Our forests are beautiful and I want them around for generations to come. I intentionally made the bird illusionary, as if it were a ghostly being, watching over its habitat.  That's why I named it "Eyes of the Forest".  I worked on this painting all day today, and may enter this painting into an upcoming national show, so I'm not selling it yet.  If interested, you can private message me.

Day 24: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Early Bird gets the Worm"      $99 SOLD
Image size:  11" z 15"     Watercolor, Charcoal, and Collage

I'm torn about painting landscapes or painting birds.  I love the process of painting birds, so I've been switching back and forth.  I've also been really wanting to do a total abstract painting lately, but I'm committed to finishing this 30 day challenge.  I'm finding it really hard to do this challenge this year, since I'm in Florida.  We've had lots of company, I taught a workshop one week, AND I got sick for a week.  Now, all that is behind me, but the nice weather keeps calling my name.  I'm loving my times at the beach or the pool.  It was easy to paint in MN when it was cold and snowing outside.  This is teaching me to be very organized and try to paint ahead.  I should do this more often.

Day 17: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Sing like a Cardinal"      $99 SOLD
11" x 14" image      Watercolor, charcoal, and collage

I had started this painting last week in prep for the Cape Coral workshop.  So I decided to finish it up for one of my 30 paintings this month.  Cardinals are such a fun bird to watch, especially in MN when I spot them in the trees in the Spring.  It's like our first bit of color all winter, and of course, it's my favorite color, red!  This painting, started with a charcoal pour, explained in earlier blogs this month.  The preparation process is in the book by Virginia Cobb, Discovering the Inner Eye, Experiments in Water Media.   Then I added collage for the wings and in the background.  I love collage! This painting is available for purchase at the special January price of $99 plus shipping.

Day 15: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Bird's Eye View"   $99 SOLD

This was my demo for the Cape Coral, FL workshop. It was so fun to show my eager students how to complete their charcoal pour beginnings. This lesson included collage, charcoal pour procedure, negative painting to create depth in the branch area, and how to paint the bird's eye. They seemed to enjoy the eye lesson the most. Even tho the eyes are very small, there are about 7 steps to creating the glassy look. Their paintings turned out so well!  I'm back in Venice, FL now, enjoying the beaches and warm weather.  :)  We are renting a condo for all of January and I love it here.  Nice to escape the cold winter of MN.

Day 14: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Rest Stop"        $99 (SOLD)
11" x 14"   Watercolor and collage

Yes, another bird!  I've done so many crow paintings, and I still get excited every time I start a new one!  Adding collage for the feathers and adding brightly color napkins and collage papers is such fun.  I always have loved quilts, and I think my paintings even resemble quilts sometimes.  Too much work to actually sew one. To read about the process of the charcoal pour for this painting, check back to Day 11 of my blog.  Almost to halfway of this challenge!! Thank you, Leslie Saeta for posting this 30 day Challenge.

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

"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.

Blogging with a Friend, (Charcoal Pour Lesson)

"Cardinal Creation"

I have a friend who is going through chemotherapy right now and she asked me to be a guest artist on her blog.  I loved to do it, knowing how miserable she has been from the treatments.  Kathie George is my friend who is such a joy to be around and such a fantastic artist! She's a master of batik paintings!  I got to meet her through Karlyn Holman, another great friend, who I respect so much!  I have met so many lifetime friends through my art.  What a blessing!  Anyway, I'm purposely NOT showing you the steps to this painting, so that you will visit Kathie's blog to see it!  You won't be sorry!  Look back through all of Kathie's posts, for great lessons and what a great writer she is!  Here's the link:  www.kathiegeorge.com/blog  Be sure to hit "read more", so you can see the whole lesson.  And sign up to receive notices of her blog!  Have fun doing the charcoal pour!!!

Another Wire Drawing

"Heartfelt Wishes"

This was my demo for the Two Harbors, MN workshop on Day 3.  We had a fabulous time, starting out with Funky Lady paintings, then Charcoal Pour bird paintings, and lastly, wire drawings.  I told them how hooked I am in this process, and I think there are several of them that are just as hooked as I am.  This painting started out with random collage pieces positioned in a cruciform manner.  I keep the colors of the fiber paper very neutral. After the collage dries, we add the drawing of the bird, using permanent markers.  Lastly, we paint the background, using neutral colors.  My favorite combination colors for this is neutral tint and aureolin yellow.  It makes an army green/grey color that I really love!   These drawings sometimes lead to abstracts, by cropping into certain areas. 

Another Charcoal Pour Bird Painting!

"Deep in Thought"

Here is the finished painting that I demoed for the workshop last weekend in Bethel, MN.  Below is the painting 3/4 finished.   When I am at this point in a painting, I ask myself many design questions, in order to complete the painting.
 1. Do I have a dominant value?  In order to see that, I take a black and white photo of my painting.  Then I see the values of each color. In this case, the lights and medium values were equal, so I decided to add more aqua collage paper.
2.  Have I linked the center of interest to the sides of the paper?
3.  Repeating the busy shapes within the bird by adding the stripes on the side is a good idea!
4. Cropping the picture so that the bird isn't right in the middle of the painting.
5. Added shadows under the feet.
6. Worked on details of the eyes.
By the way, the aqua colored paper was handmade by painting on deli paper and stenciling layers of different colored paint after the main first layer of paint.  To read more about how to do the charcoal pour, go to Virginia Cobb's book, Discovering the Inner Eye.  I absolutely LOVE this process! 

Stencils and Mixed Media

"Morning Meeting"

I'm preparing for my home studio "Painting Birds" workshop, and wanted the last day's lesson to be a very easy one.  So, I decided to emphasize stencils and show them how to do a very easy illusionary painting. BTW, I only used 2 colors in this painting. (quinacridone gold and neutral tint) I will be having a mail order lesson on this process available soon, if you are interested.  It's a fun way to paint!
The image is 11" x 14" and is available for $145.

Poster of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

Here are all 30 paintings!  And I have a FREE GIFT for the first 20 who comment on this blog!  Just comment below stating your favorite painting of the 30 Day challenge, and then send me your mailing address OR email to: info@karenknutson.com   Do NOT put your email or mailing address on the comment below.  Congrats, you will get a FREE gift.)  When you comment, it won't appear till I approve it, so don't worry if you type it all out and it doesn't appear.  I'll approve them ASAP.   Thanks!
If you've been paying close attention, you'll notice that there is a new one in the mix.  Remember on Day 15, I said that I just grabbed a bird painting that I had already done a couple of months earlier?  Well, today, on the last day of the challenge, I finally made a replacement for that one.  It's up to you to find which one it is!  I honestly am feeling kind of odd now that the challenge is over.  Finally, I was in a kind of routine, painting another bird each day, and loving my time in my studio.  Luckily, I am going to a  5-day Paint-in on Sunday, and I'm anxious to paint abstracts again, in acrylic and mixed media.  That will keep me busy!  I really recommend that you all join me in this challenge next year.  I won't lie.  It's really HARD!  But it's so rewarding when you look at the gallery of paintings from the month!  I would advise that you should prepare meals, etc. ahead of time, and even have value sketches done of your subjects ahead of time.  That will help keep you sane during the experience.  I like to have a theme when I do this, but it's not mandatory.  Birds was a fun series!  One artist took all of her old paintings, and redid them for this challenge.  That might be a fun one for next year!  Another artist did all of her paintings on her i pad, which she barely knew how to do in the beginning.  She really improved by the end!  Whoever said that "Practice makes Perfect" was certainly right!  I did get better during this challenge.  Not perfect, by a long shot, but lots better!

Day 30 of "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Dancing the Night Away"  $145  watercolor, collage, acrylic  (11" x 11" image)

Yahoo!  I made it!  Day 30!  I wanted to finish with a special painting, so I decided to collage my wonderful city, Minneapolis, in the background.  And the crow looks like he is dancing, thus the title!  It's odd, but I'm really starting to like this color combination, and I had rarely used it before this challenge.  This painting goes with "Opening Act", #5 of this series.  I used the same napkin for collage and changed the design by painting with acrylic on top.  *Big tip for stripes to use for collage:  Save those pesky renewal postcards that come in new magazines.  The bar code can be cut up and used for collage.
So, what did I learn from this challenge?  1. How to simplify.  2. Limit colors  3.  Don't work so hard.  4.  Enjoy the PROCESS!  5.  I have a new appreciation for birds now. 
Maybe I'll become a birder!  Funny story:  My husband said that my last painting should be titled, "giving you the bird".  Sorry, I just had to include that.  :)   Dick has been an important part of this challenge.  He had great patience with a messy house, only 4 home cooked meals in January, and me spending most of my time in my studio.  He knows how important my painting is to me, so he's been very supportive, but we both are looking forward to more order in our lives.  And I look forward to doing this again, next January!  Thank you, Leslie Saeta, for organizing this challenge.  You all might enjoy looking at all the artist's work on her blog site.  Just click on her blog title, and span down the page.  Be sure to check back tomorrow, when I will post all 30 paintings together!  Most of these paintings have sold, but if you're interested in any, email me with your request.  I can paint commissions! 

Day 29: "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"In the Pink!"  $145  Watercolor  (11" x 11" image"

Well, you knew it had to happen!  What's a bird collection without a flamingo?  Even when I saw this bird with my very own eyes, I could hardly believe that it wasn't a lawn ornament.  They stand on only one leg lots of times, and one would think that they would just topple over!  Such an odd bird, but actually, very beautiful!  After yesterday's painting being in neutrals, I was so ready to paint in bold bright colors!  So, here it is!  This isn't the best photo of it, since I finished at 10:00 p.m. and I took the photos under bad lighting.  I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of this challenge.  I'm stumped on what to paint.  Any guesses?  Thanks for visiting my blog.  Your comments mean so much to me!

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!

Day 27- "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Laundry Landing"  $145  Watercolor, collage, acrylic  (11" x 11" image)

Yesterday's Blue Jays were so popular, that I decided to paint another Blue Jay today.  It's -8 degrees outside, with all the schools closed, so I decided to paint blankets on the line, to add warmth to this painting.  I tore 2 different napkins in strips and collaged them do the blanket area.  Then, I painted with acrylic to create the quilted look.  I still love seeing laundry hanging on clotheslines.  It reminds me of my childhood on the ranch.  There's nothing like the smell of fresh sheets just brought in from the clothesline, don't you think? 

Day 25 of "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"The Hen Pecked Husband"  $145  watercolor and collage  (11" x 11" image)

This rooster hits me on so many levels.  First of all, I used a photo from a painting trip to France with Karlyn Holman.  Check out her schedule.  Her trips are so fun!!! My friend, Connie and I were taking a walk near the resort which was located in the country.  There were many chickens and roosters, but this guy was clearly in charge!  I took countless photos of all the chickens there.  Aw.....France, what a great trip that was!  I chose the name for this one, because I wanted it to be a mate for the painting that I did yesterday, and I have to say, I wondered if my husband would want it for his office. Now, I wouldn't call myself a nag, but when it comes to road trips, I have been known to pipe up a few times when Dick is driving. :)  I enjoyed painting this so much, that I may be painting a few more chickens this year.  They really do develop their own personalities as I paint them!

Day 24 of "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"The Hen Pecker"  $145   watercolor and collage  (11" x 11" image)

Chickens have always fascinated me.  They have so many expressions that make them almost human.  I almost named this one, "Say what?"  but decided at the last minute that she is a bit of a nag, so I named it, "The Hen Pecker".  Tomorrow's painting is a rooster, so be sure to check back to see the companion piece for this one.  I love the feathers of this chicken.   I took this photo at a farm in Minnesota, where they had a big old truck that they had transformed into a flower garden.  Really cool place!   Wish I knew the breed of this chicken.   I'll bet my friend, Sarah Rosedahl would know. She wrote a whole book about chickens.  Click here to see it!  https://www.facebook.com/ChickenBreedsAtoZ