Simplicity- a great design principle

"Just out of Reach"  Acrylic
Image:  18" x 13 

This painting was finished the first time, (haha) about 2 months ago.  I thought I liked it, but upon judging it more, I realized that it was far too busy, so I simplified it.  The design in this piece was established by drawing a wire drawing in an abstract manner.  

I love to use Iphone apps to check up on my design.  One of them that I love is called PencilSketch and another one that I like is called Notanizer.   The one on the left is from PencilSketch and the one on the right is from Notanizer, using 4 levels (white, light, medium and dark values)  I can see if I need to choose a different color or perhaps add a glaze to unify a section, just by looking at these apps, when I think I'm getting to the last steps of the painting.  

Keep experimenting!

"Quirky Friends"   Acrylic
Accepted into the San Diego International 2020 Exhibition

This painting started by me doing a blind contour drawing onto tracing paper.  I did each girl separately and then held my finger on the side so that I could maybe position them where I wanted them.  Blind contour means that you do NOT look at your paper, and you don't lift your pencil.  It's a great way to loosen up and get some unusual free paintings.  I had done a really abstract beginning, using acrylic and when I traced my new drawing onto the underpainting,  I loved how the design cut through their faces.  And the outfits just painted themselves, looking like the one on the right had bare shoulder.  This was a total experiment for me, and was so much fun to do.  I definitely plan to do more!  Notice how the light pathway leads the viewer all through the painting.  That's always very important to me.  This painting was accepted into the San Diego International 2020 Exhibition, where there were 874 entries and juror, Michael Reardon, picked 100 paintings to be included in the show.  This is one of the top shows in the USA.  I'm honored to be a part of it.

30 minute daily sketches, AGAIN!

"A Guiding Force"

I just finished teaching at Autumn Art Workshops in Aurora, NE.  They have 4 instructors there at the same time, so Soon Warren, David Lobenberg https://lobenbergart.com, David Mensing, and myself were the instructors for this year.  It's great fun to see what the other classrooms are up to!  I was honored to be chosen by Autumn Art Workshops and be among such great artists as David L., Soon, and David M.  I had a fabulous time!  Great friendships were made!  Look them up Autumn Art Workshops and consider going next year!
I told the class how important 30 minute daily sketches are!  So, I'm taking my own advice and starting up again.  Odd to be starting on Sept. 19th, on a Thursday, but that's how I roll.  No Monday or 1st of the month for me!  :)  This time, I'm going to write a couple of sentences about the day by each sketch so that I will have a diary of sorts.  I'm committing to 3 months, but I wouldn't be surprised if I keep it up longer than that.  This truly does make me a better artist!  I can see the growth after only one month in my sketchbooks of the past.  I keep my sketches to 30 minutes for 2 reasons:  1. I don't have any excuse about not having enough time that day and 2. It will make me get the simple shapes in there.  Since I tend to do so much detail, this is a protective measure for myself.  Hope you all will decide to join me!  I use these as studies for bigger paintings.  Can't wait to paint this one!

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!

Plein Air Painting- A Challenge and a Privilege!

"Beach Fun"  Image: 11" x 15"
Watercolor  $150

I painted with the Peace River Painters yesterday.  I'm enjoying plein air painting (painting outdoors) so much!  What a glorious way to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine and remember the day.  When I look back at my plein air paintings, I always remember the day's events, the sounds around me, and the smells in the air.  Every detail of that day comes back to me!  We were at Blind Pass Beach in Englewood, FL. When I arrived at 9:00 a.m., there were only a few beach people,  but it didn't take long for the beach to become packed!  Quite a change from the time I started to sketch.  One thing that I learned long ago, is to take a photo from my painting view point right away, because things will change.  It's a little like watching an ant farm when I sat there, painting the people at the beach.  Constant movement.  What I'm most excited about, is that my own style is coming out when I paint outdoors.  I used to paint traditionally, but now I start with a paper with an abstract design on it and work the scene into that!  

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!

Tricks to break through a painter's block

Wire drawing (7" x 10"). "The Hikers"

This is the sketch that I used for a reference for a pure watercolor painting.   I hadn't done a pure watercolor for a year, so it didn't surprise me when I failed at the first attempt.  I'm starting to really love acrylics, but the deadline for the Transparent Watercolor Society show is coming up, and since I'm a lifetime member, it doesn't cost me anything to try to be juried in each year.  I do have my signature membership, but it's still such a great challenge to try to get in!  So, here I am, trying to remember how I used to get such glowing colors.  Here's what I did to get out of my slump.

1. Go back to what you know.  Do whatever you used to do that was so easy and foolproof.  For me, it is little abbeys.  You can look back at earlier blogs to see them.  Just put a search in for Little Abbeys. I love them because they remind me of the way that I should be painting all of my paintings.  Starting at your center of interest with bright colors, working towards the edges.  Saving your whites for sparkle.  Weaving a unifying color from the center of interest towards the edges.  Lastly, staging your center of interest with a darkest dark and then changing to a less dark color as you approach the edges.  Keep the edges simple and keep the whitest white near the center of interest.  Those are my rules for Little Abbeys (small abstract collages). (Look back to June 13, 2015 for directions for little abbeys.)
2. Use limited colors
3. Use limited shapes
4. Think cool or warm as the dominant washes and then add pops of the opposite color later within the light pathway.
5. Trust your value sketch and keep the light pathway connected.

I'm not going to post my failure, but below are my 2 small paintings that I did AFTER I went through the above rules. Now, I think I'm ready to do the big quarter sheet painting next.  These 2 paintings are 7" x 10".

Too many small shapes, but interesting colors

Good design but I miss the bright colors. 

Always Be Yourself!

"Yacht Club"
original acrylic on paper
Image:  14 x 21"

Do you catch yourself saying something negative about your artwork over and over?  The same statement?  I used to say that I didn't like making so many itty bitty shapes.  Virginia Cobb straightened me out in a workshop when I told her that.  She asked me if I liked making little tiny shapes, and I said that I must, because they keep showing up.  She said to honor that unique quality of my work and then just unify them with a glaze to make fewer "grouped" shapes when I was done. I LOVE that advice.  So, now when I teach a workshop, I tell everyone that the very thing that they think might be their worst thing about their artwork, actually is the very thing that they should keep!  We all need to be ourselves!
This painting, "Yacht Club" is part of a local show called Bonnie and Friends.  Bonnie Featherstone asked about 30 artists, from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, to bring 2 paintings each.  It's at the Ames Center in Burnsville, MN for the month of December, if you get the chance to see it.  I'm so honored to be a part of such a grand show.  You won't believe all the different styles.  I was talking with one of the artists and he said that he wishes he could be a little looser.  His paintings are so good, that they are almost photographic!  I told him my story about excelling at what you consider your worst feature.  He agreed with me, and we both appreciate our differences.
By the way, one of my favorite painters is Gustav Klimt.  Check out how many tiny shapes he has in his paintings!!!! www.klimt.com But they are beautifully combined into big shapes and so well designed.

Try Something New!

Wire Drawing, "Three's a Crowd"

I just realized that I had been ignoring my blog, and I'm sure you all wonder what has happened to me.  It's hard to keep all the balls up in the air sometimes!  I apologize for my absence and will try to be better at keeping in touch in the New Year ahead.
This is one of my wire drawings.  It is called that due to the fact that it looks like a wire sculpture when completed.  They are done using permanent markers.  I absolutely LOVE doing them!  I learned the beginning steps of this process from my friend, Mary Beth Downs, a Duluth, MN artist.  I will always be thankful to her for sharing how to do this!  It has changed my life!  Always fun to see what appears out of the contour abstract start!  I'm teaching this process in Clearwater, FL on January 21 - 23rd, 2019.  Contact workshops@arttrysts.com if you are interested in information on that!  We will learn how to make a wire drawing and then progressively learn how to turn them into semi-abstract or completely abstract.  It's called, Painting with Wild Abandon, mainly an acrylic workshop with the emphasis on wire drawing and how it will make your imagination go wild!
My challenge to all of you is to do something artistically that is out of your comfort zone.  I'm doing Life Drawing every Wednesday, and I'm pretty inexperienced, to say the least, but I'm loving it!  I'm finding that it's stirring up my imagination in all of my other paintings too.  It's great to try something new!

30 Paintings in 30 Days Collage

30 Paintings in 30 Days!  Images:  7" x 10"

Well I made it!   But I have to say this was my hardest 30 in 30 that I've ever done!  So many things on my calendar during February and my pride got in the way, so I really tried my best.  No 5 minute paintings here!  Most of these took 4 - 6 hours to complete. This was supposed to be abstract collage, but I diverted from that style as the 30 days progressed.   Below are the only ones that are not sold.  If you are interested, be sure to contact me BEFORE March 15th,  when the 30 Day Sale will be over.  Right now, these are available for $75 each, but after March 15th, they will go back to regular prices. 

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

"One of those Days"

"One of those Days"  $75
6.5" x 9.5"  Watercolor 

Sometimes, it's fun to escape the usual routine and just paint for fun!  This is one of my funky ladies.  I named it "One of those Days", because her crown is falling, her hair is messy and she's just feeling not quite like herself.  We've all been there, right?  I'm teaching in Kiawah Island, SC next week, and we are painting funky ladies one day.  Can't wait to see what they all come up with.  It's always a blast with lots of giggling.

"Tell me no LIes"- Wire Drawing #20!

"Tell me no Lies"  10" x 7" image,  $50
Ink on Paper,

It's the last day in March, and finally, I have completed 20 wire drawings, so I'm ready to make them into an adult coloring book!  Yippee! I did this one last night, as a redo of an earlier painting that I did a couple of years ago.  It is pictured below.

 It always amazes me when I do funky ladies, how they develop their own personalities in their eyes and seem to be speaking to me.  This one is a shy girl who has had some hard times, and therefore has lost trust.  She looks hopeful though, for the future.

"The Morning After"   SOLD
Watercolor on paper

From Wire Drawing to Colored Painting

Wire Drawing (sold)

"The Highest Power I"  18" x 14"
$795,   Acrylic on Paper

What an adventure this has been for me.  I absolutely LOVE doing wire drawings.  And they serve as great value studies so that I can go on to painting colored paintings.  "The Highest Power" has been accepted into the Minnesota Watercolor Society Exhibition, which will be featured at the Arboretum,  3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska, MN 55318.  The show runs from April 7th till June 30th.  I did this colored version, using acrylics in the same manner as I described in my blog from January 26, 2015.  It's so fun to squirt paint on the surface of the paper, and then scrape those colors, using a credit card.  I will be teaching this procedure at the White Bear Center for the Arts on August 16-18, 2016.  To register, call White Bear Center for the Arts, Center for the Arts •  Phone 651.407.0597.  It is located at 4971 Long Avenue, White Bear Lake, MN 55110 • Tuition: $360 Member/$450 Non-Member. Hope to see you there! The art center is lovely!  One of my favorite places to teach!

"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!

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!

 

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! 

Wire Drawings

 

"Flower Child"  watercolor and markers, 11" x 14",  $145

It's been awhile since I've blogged.  Busy with workshops and travels.  This was my demo for a recent home studio workshop. The students did beautiful paintings and were as excited as I was, when they learned how to do these!  It's again the process of what I call, "wire drawings".  I love the imaginative shapes that this process creates.  It's too hard to explain on paper, so you will have to come to one of my workshops to learn the process.  I'm teaching this process in 2 separate workshops coming up.  One is in Watertown, SD on August 26 and 27th.  Contact Jennifer Stone for info on that one:  jstone@wat.midco.net  The other one is  a 3 day workshop from November 3-5th in White Bear Lake, MN. (this is a northern suburb of Minneapolis)  It's packed with info on wire drawings, charcoal pours, and incorporating both these techniques into abstract paintings!  Contact the White Bear Center for the Arts at 651-407-0597.

 

Surprise! Day 31 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Wearing their Paintings"        11" x 11"            $145

First of all, let me explain why I did a 31st painting.  In the middle of this challenge, I painted a chicken painting instead of my figurative paintings, due to the guilt of that long overdue commission painting.  I knew that the chicken wouldn't fit in with all my other collection, so I promised myself that by the end, I would replace that painting.  I will be making a booklet (published by Blurb) of this series, so if you are interested, mail me a check for $30 (includes shipping) with your shipping address and email, and I will mail you a copy upon it's publication.  It usually takes about 3 weeks to publish.  My address is Karen Knutson, 8621 Coachman's Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55347.

Now, a little about this painting.  I've always gotten a kick out of artists holding their full sheet paintings in front of themselves, because it looks like they are wearing their paintings.  So, this was so fun to do, and complete the background with a Frank Lloyd Wright look to it.  I'm hoping that the figures don't pop off the page right away.  I tried to make you see an abstract first and then, later, discover the figures.  By the way, this is me and a Florida friend, when I taught her how to paint in acrylics for the first time. It brings back such fond memories!

Collection of all 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

Well, there you have it!  All 30 Paintings to view in one glance!  What did I learn from this challenge?  That it is better to be prepared with meals and sketches ahead of time.  I love that Leslie Saeta features this every year, because it gives me the push that I need in January after not painting at all in December.  I discovered many new tricks and they are all shared on my daily posts, so if you are a student, you might want to look back over this past month's posts.  For those who want to buy a book of these paintings, just send me a check for $30 (this includes shipping) with your mailing address, and email to : Karen Knutson, 8621 Coachman's Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55347.  It is size 6.5" x 6.5".  I made one last year of my bird paintings, and really liked the quality of the Blurb product.  Thanks to all those who purchased many of these paintings.  It's always so rewarding to have you buy my artwork for your homes.  If interested in any of these, I've tried to keep updating them as to whether they have sold or not, so each day should have the details of each painting status.   I can't thank all of you who commented or "liked" my paintings as I posted them on Facebook.  It really means a lot to hear what you think!  And special thanks to my wonderful husband for encouraging and supporting me when the house hasn't been cleaned all month and we've been eating take out food most days.