Announcing New Zoom class- Little Abbeys (small abstracts)

Announcing NEW Zoom class!

My Zoom Little Abbey workshop is posted on my home page of my website, with a link to sign up. Only taking 25 students. It is $65 and will be on March 2. (10:00 -4:00 Eastern time) www.karenknutson.com. This is filling fast! Be sure to get your place today!

Free preview of my newest acrylic video!

More Exciting news!! Mark your calendar for this Thursday, June 18 , at 3:00 Eastern Time (2:00 Central Time zone) when Streamline Art Videos Facebook page wil be featuring part of my new acrylic video Karen Knutson: Fun with Acrylics!

We'll be broadcasting @ 3pm ET from the Streamline Art Video Facebook

page (

https://www.facebook.com/StreamlineArtVideo/

). I will be on hand to answer questions in the chat line. There is a great discount if you order the video on that day!

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/

30 Paintings in 30 Days: Day 13

"Friends Forever"   11" x 11" image   (mixed media)    $125

Yesterday, I hit a wall.  And I really had many life lessons in the process.  A good friend called after reading yesterday's post, and encouraged me to do what I love!  Make it fun again!  And I thought all day about deadlines, and changes.  I went to get a new cell phone and told the manager that I was really phobic about losing data from my old phone.  She told me that she used to be that way too, but now, is all about minimizing "stuff" in her life.  When it really comes down to it, what's most important?  Our family and our friends!  So, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted, and I painted a simple painting and I really enjoyed doing it!!! Yay!!   I used many deli papers that I had collaged earlier for the background.  I learned this from the Anne Bagby DVD, which is one of my favorite DVD's!  What a blast it is to make all of these papers!  I used the design from one of my 30 minute sketches that I had done many years ago.  Anyway, the moral of this story is to "do what you LOVE", and life will be good!  :)

30 Paintings in 30 Days: Day 11

"Time to Reflect"  (Mixed Media)  $125

Today, as I was painting this, I was thinking about how lucky we artists are, that we can call other artists and have "play days" from time to time.  My friend, Jeanne Larson came over and painted all day with me.  We made journals to start with, and it felt so good to not be painting a "real painting" for a change.  Just playing!  The design button never turns off with me, so even when I am painting journals, I still think about dominance, and repetition of colors, etc.  The point is that every now and then, it's important for us all to recharge, doing something that we love.  After journals, I found a half finished painting that I had done on Day 6, so this painting will be a companion painting for that one. Check it out!  I do that often- painting 2 small paintings at once, so that the buyer can hang them either vertically or horizontally.  It's a great sales technique too, since they look really nice side by side in a gallery setting.  So, anyway, I didn't have too much to do to finish this painting, and I liked that way the bird looks deep in thought.  What a great day we had painting!

Creating texture with Charcoal Powder, Birch Trees

This painting, Roots and Rocks, #1, is image size 11" x 15".   I'm preparing for my next home studio workshop, "Graphite Pours to Create Texture".  This painting started using charcoal powder and then pouring a big bucket of water on the paper!  This process is explained in Virginia Cobb's book, Discovering the Inner Eye, Experiments in Watermedia .  I love textures and I find that starting with texture on the paper, leads to inspiration for completing the painting.  It was fun to go back to traditional painting for a change.  But tomorrow, it's back to abstracts!

Good News! Missouri National Watercolor Society Show entry accepted!

Just got my letter of acceptance from the Missouri National Watercolor Society 2012 Exhibition!  This painting is of a student, who took my workshop in Thunder Bay, Canada.  She was so striking, that I asked her if I could take some photos and got her permission to paint her portrait.  I didn't mean to get so detailed with the facial features.  Most of my paintings have more simple shapes to form the contour of the face.  But I did like the results, and intend to do lots more paintings of Anne (pronounced Annie).  I made my own collage papers, using deli paper and carved my own rubber stamps for the impression on the papers.  This is mainly watercolor, but also has acrylic and collage.  I learned how to do the collage papers from the Anne Bagby video.  It is one of my all time favorite art videos.  http://www.annebagby.com/