Deep Thoughts

"Deep Thoughts"        Image:  8" x 10"
Watercolor

This painting is pretty deep.  The figures in the center are my husband and I, holding my broken heart.  The dark figures on the left are my mom and the other residents in the memory care unit where she is residing now, (a 10 hour drive away) with no visitors allowed.  The figure on the right depicts the Corona Virus and how it is stealing our time with our loved ones.  Much love to all of you as we all struggle with this horrible time in our lives.  I'm very thankful to have a patient husband, loving friends and family, and my artwork to help work out my frustrations. Stay safe....

So, below are the steps to this painting, that I used only 3 colors:  New Gamboge, Winsor green (blue shade), and alizarin crimson.  Very unusual colors for me.  I scrubbed out some lights at the end, using masking tape to block it off.  I also cropped so that it would be better design.

Good Days Ahead!

Our Easter Sunday was cold and snowing all day.  We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow.  But today, we woke up to sunny skies, and it honestly was a beautiful scene.  Our lake is the most beautiful shade of Antwerp blue with the sky being cerulean blue, and the shadows on the snow are so striking!   The moral of this story is-  sometimes, we have to have some gloomy days, so we will appreciate the beautiful ones!  It got me to thinking about our present situation and how dismal it seems, but we have to hold onto hope that tomorrow will be a better day!  So, here's hoping you are having a great day, and maybe I can give you some inspiration to keep painting!

Easter weather on the left.    One day later, on the right!

I thought I would take photos as I progressed through an illusionary painting.  Hope it will inspire you to give this process a try.  I only used 3 colors throughout this painting.   I used quinacridone gold (DS),  Red Rose Deep (DaVinci) and Antwerp Blue (WN).  Watch for future workshops if you want more instruction.  This process is called Illusionary Painting and it is pure watercolor.  This image is 7.5" x 7.5".

New painting, "Hope"

"Hope"
10" x 10" watercolor   $125

In this time of social distancing, I think we all need hope.  I've really had to dig deep to get myself out of the blues, and I know many of you might be in the same boat.  Thankfully, I'm back to feeling good again, mentally.  If you still are struggling, my advice is to reach out to friends doing FaceTime calls or I discovered a Zoom app that is fantastic for big groups of people.  The other thing that I'm doing is taking one or 2 walks per day, trying to schedule them when the sun is the brightest. Vitamin D is so healthy for us!  But I really believe that the thing that made the difference for me, was exercising to a Facebook site, Planet Fitness, with the trainer, Erica.  I can't keep up with her at this time, but I'm hopeful that each time, I will get better and stronger.  It's free, and has a connection with TV show, The Biggest Loser.  Who knows?  Maybe I will lose a few pounds too, but the main reason I'm committing to this is that it helps my mental health.
Now, let's talk about my painting.  This is a watercolor color study , using only 3 colors: WN raw umber, Hobein Pyrole Orange, and WN Antwerp.   The process is shown if you look back at my blog on Sept. 1, 2018.  Or you can type in "color studies" in the search box at the top of my blog and that will bring you to all posts that involve color studies.  Adding words makes it really difficult and I fly by the seat of my pants for that.  Have a great week everyone, and be safe; stay home!

Day 23 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Florida Palms"     $75
Transparent Watercolor        7" x 10"

Today, I went to another plein air event held by the Plein Air Posse group on Manisota Beach.  It was a really great location, and I quickly found a picnic table in the shade where I had a view of the beach and several palms that intersected the gulf view beautifully.  My new friend, Linda Banas, and I painted side by side and several people stopped to admire our work. :)  I am truly LOVING painting outside and have met so many really nice artists during the process.  I came prepared today with an under-painting done.  (I forgot to take a photo of it before I added the first layer of the palm drawn in.)  The cruciform shape was there, when I arrived at the outdoor site and then my first step was to draw the palm and negative paint around it.  This painting is an illusionary painting, where it's a little ghostly.  I used to teach this process but it was a hard workshop, and so I've taken it off my workshop list.  The one thing that I can say about plein air painting.  You remember sounds, smells, and even conversations so much when you paint on location.  I'm still struggling with the outcome, but I'm loving the process.  Yes!  I found out that if I work on 2 paintings, I can keep switching when the one needs to dry. 

Step one and 2

S=Day 11 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Wine with Friends"      $75
Watercolor, Collage, Acrylic painting       7" x 10"

I had started this several days ago, and just didn't quite know what to do with the beginning, so I thought, why not add a couple of wine glasses, since I had collaged the word, "Wine", in the painting.  That's when my problems started.  It's really hard to add something "real" in these abstract paintings without a "plan" beforehand.  But, I stuck it out and kept layering till I got a painting that I was happy with. I actually had to get out my acrylics though and my Molotow markers (acrylic markers) for details.  This is what I call an illusionary painting.  My goal was to have the viewer search a little bit for the wine glasses, so they are partially transparent and ghostly.  Here are my steps, for you to see the progression of this painting. 

Step 1- first wash and adding collage

Step 2- Negative painting around wine glasses
and making a dark pathway to the edges.

Summer Home Studio Workshop Schedule

Every Summer, I host 3 workshops in my home studio.  They are limited to only 10 students, so everyone gets lots of individual attention!  These really fill up fast, so if you are interested, sign up TODAY!  Seriously!

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May Workshop:  Wire Drawing and Illusionary People Workshop

 (3 Day watercolor, collage, and marker workshop)

Instructor:  Karen Knutson www.karenknutson.com

Dates:  May 6 – 8^th, 2015 (Wednesday – Friday)

Hours:  9:00 – 4:00

Place:  Karen’s Home studio (Red Rock Studio)

8621 Coachman’s Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55347 

Home phone:  952-934-0876      Cell:  612-940-9231

Cost:  $295

Contact:  karen@karenknutson.com to sign up

** (To register, send me an email.  The first 10 to respond will get in!  Then mail your check to 

Karen Knutson, 8621 Coachman's Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55347)

This is my new favorite thing to do:  wire drawings.  They are done with permanent markers, but they look like they are wire sculptures!  That’s why I invented the name, “wire drawings”.  We will have one day of wire drawings, and watercolor paintings and the other days will involve learning how to paint groups of people in an illusionary manner.  You may or may not choose to add collage.  You know me, I will more than likely be adding collage, but you have the option either way. 

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June workshop:  Painting Textures with Acrylic- People paintings

 (3 Day acrylic workshop)

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Instructor:  Karen Knutson www.karenknutson.com

Dates:  June 16 – 18, 2015, (Tuesday – Thursday)

Hours:  9:00 – 4:00

Place:  Karen’s Home studio (Red Rock Studio)

8621 Coachman’s Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55347 

Home phone:  952-934-0876      Cell:  612-940-9231

Cost:  $295

Contact:  karen@karenknutson.com to sign up

** (To register, send me an email.  The first 10 to respond will get in!  Then mail your check to Karen Knutson, 8621 Coachman's Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55347)

I’ll demonstrate painting people in this workshop, however, you can paint totally abstract if you would prefer. No drawing experience necessary.  I have shortcuts to make drawing people really easy!  This workshop will concentrate on how to get many textures that only acrylic allows.  We will be using rubbing alcohol, different surface textures, and many other tricks to come up with special effects. Each painting will have about 4 layers to produce the special effects.  So fun! I’m really enjoying acrylic most of all lately!  Can’t wait to share my tricks!

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July Workshop:  Paint like Gustav Klimt with Good Design! 

(3 Day Watercolor OR Acrylic workshop with collage and metallics)

Instructor:  Karen Knutson www.karenknutson.com

Dates:  July 28- 30 (Tuesday – Thursday)

Hours:  9:00 – 4:00

Place:  Karen’s Home studio (Red Rock Studio)

8621 Coachman’s Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55347 

Home phone:  952-934-0876    

 Cell:  612-940-9231

Cost:  $295

Contact:  karen@karenknutson.com to sign up

** (To register, send me an email.  The first 10 to respond will get in!  Then mail your check to Karen Knutson, 8621 Coachman's Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55347)

We will get to doodle to our heart’s content in this workshop.  Acrylic actually makes this process easier, but if you’d rather work in watercolor and collage, that’s fine too.  This workshop will emphasize good design and lots of tricks to make the detail work easier.  We will also be working with several different types of metallic special effects and will be studying Gustav Klimt’s paintings. 

Day 20 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Treasured Friends"        11" x 11" image        $145
watercolor

I must admit, I hit "the wall" today.  I was so totally wiped out that I tried to take the easy way out, and just do an easy painting.  You'll see the first version below.  I thought, "It's good enough."  So, I went to have my hair colored and thought how nice it was to be done with my painting in the mid afternoon, so I could totally relax this evening and maybe even go to bed early.  I hesitantly showed my painting to my husband, (who has gotten to be one heck of a good critique), and he said, "is it half done?"  I love that he was willing to give me an honest opinion.  So, after supper, I went back to my studio and worked for 2 more hours on this painting, bringing it from "good enough" to good!  Lesson learned.  Always show your best work, or don't show it at all.  This is an illusionary painting, which I will be teaching at Cross Lake, MN in September of 2015.  Check my website www.karenknutson.com next week for details of that workshop, or email me at karen@karenknutson.com if interested.