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Drawing Challenge, Day 17

Today, I decided to do a drawing of a favorite sculpture of mine.  I've got many friends who all have loved ones that are having health problems, so they are all on my mind.  This sculpture says so much, I think.  It has laughter blanketed around her middle, centering her life.  She's looking up to the heavens, as if to have faith in a higher being, and her arms are wrapped around herself, saying that we need to love ourselves before anyone else can truly love us.  Last of all, I had only one garlic clove that I put at her base, for good luck to ward off evil spirits, just for good measure!  :)  Of course, it looks more like a strawberry than a garlic.  Oh, well!

Day 24- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Garden Walk"

My intention was to start a full sheet acrylic painting today, but then decided to do my 10" x 10" painting first, and work out the colors in it.  After completing this painting, I'm still undecided about my colors for my big painting.  One thing  I will change about the full sheet is to eliminate many of the small shapes, and to unify shapes more.  Don't get me wrong.  I like this painting, it's just not one that I would enter in a national competition.  As it was snowing outside... yet again..... I craved Spring flowers, so I decided to paint them.  Then I got caught up in watching golf on TV, and so the second painting didn't happen today.  This painting is available for $125. 

Day 23: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Big Shoes to Fill"

Today's painting is to pay tribute to all those husbands and fathers out there.  My husband is a real keeper, and this is especially for him.  Dick is such a great supporter of my art and even though he is the main bread winner in our family, he always makes me feel so special.  When he used to help me out at outdoor art fairs, he even wore the name tag, "Mr. Karen Knutson".  Here he is, a very accomplished businessman, and he's making me queen for the day, actually queen EVERY DAY!  I like the design in this piece, with an abstract F in the background to symbolize father, and the papers piled on the table, because Dick does so much paper work for everyone in our family.  Taxes, bookwork, receipts, banking.  I used one of my 30 minute studies for my reference, so this painting was a pretty easy one today.  The image size is 10" x 10" and will be a gift for my husband.  I will be making cards out of it, though if you would be interested.  They will be available for $10 for a package of 4. 

Day 22: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Doing the Happy Dance"

Today's painting was done in honor of my friend, Connie, who had her last chemo treatment today.  She's doing the "happy dance", and has visions of long glorious hair growing back in the future.  This has been a long difficult journey of many trips to doctors, some good news days, some bad news days, and

many anxious days awaiting news from tests.  Connie taught me so much about "taking lemons and making lemonade out of them".  I'm going to make cards out of this painting, and she will get the first one.  Thank you, God, for protecting my dear friend during this healing time.  Connie is a gifted artist and also writes great poetry.  Here's a link to her blog:   http://conniecuthbertson.blogspot.com/  This watercolor painting is done in the illusionary painting method and is size 10" x 10". 

Day Twenty One- 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Girl with Attitude"

Guess I shouldn't be surprised that this isn't one of my favorites.  I kind of had a bad attitude today, myself.  So, it stands to reason that the girl that I painted would have both hands on her hips, with a real attitude.  I'm needing a break today, but did my challenge painting anyway.  I so enjoyed doing an abstract yesterday, that I think I'll go back to that tomorrow.  I have learned so much during this challenge, and am very thankful that I'm doing it, but I look forward to the finish line!

Day Twenty- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Hidden Agenda"

Starting this painting as a total abstract, my plan was to include a woman at the last minute.  I had an all day painting day with my friend, Lana Grow and we had a great time trying to make a total collage painting like Carrie Burns Brown does.  Her DVD is one of my favorites.  Below is the painting before the changes.  When I got home, I knew that I would have to get the acrylic paint out and fix the painting.  I like that I have her right in the center of the painting, and yet, I got away with it.  (In my opinion, anyway)  I believe that the dark big shape on the right side of the painting adds more weight to that side of the painting, thereby disguising the fact that she is in the center.  What do you think? I called this painting, "Hidden Agenda", because I like the fact that the viewer doesn't see the woman right away.  This acrylic and collage painting is image 12" x 12" and is available for $295.

Painting BEFORE changes

Day 19- 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Girl with a Secret"

Nearly 2 years ago, I visited a coffee house in Texas, and saw this girl wearing a fun scarf, and I asked her if I could take her photo so that I could paint her.  Wonder what she would think of the way that I abstracted her image?  Again, being influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, this painting was a pleasure to paint from start to finish.  However, it took 8 hours to paint!  For my reference, I used a color sketch that I had done while I was in Texas.  I'm finding that my 30 minute sketches are so valuable as I do this 30 day challenge.  This painting is 10" x 10" image.

Day 18- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"The Optimist"

I have several friends who are having health problems right now, so I felt the need to paint a painting that expressed optimism and hope.  I think this girl looks so optimistic, with waves of good energy surrounding her.  I used a napkin for my color guide, with great greens, turquoise, oranges, and reds.  I believe in the power of optimism and that even in times of crisis, things will get better quicker if you keep a positive attitude.  My prayers go out to all my friends who are going through a rough time right now.  This painting is 10" x 10" image, and is available for $125.

Day 17- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Distance between Friends"

Again using a design sketch from last year, I found myself recalling wonderful memories between myself and 3 other friends who paint together once per year.  The story behind this painting might make you wonder about me, but this is a true story.  At that time, I was in the habit of doing 30 minute sketches every day, and even though we were in the Happy Hour of our time together, I grabbed my sketch book and pen and just let myself make up a scene without a plan.  As I was sketching the people, I thought how odd that I had sketched 5 people, when there were only 4 of us there at the Paint-in.  Then, in studying it further, I saw that the 3 people were separated by a fence from the other 2 people. The truth was that one of my friends sho was at the Paint-in, actually was traveling back and forth every day, visiting her husband in the hospital, and therefore, wasn't able to participate in our Paint-in very much.  I truly had nothing in mind when I started this sketch, and look what came out of my subconscious!  I'm thinking that the 2 houses in the background must be the fact that Janice was going from our house to the hospital every day.  Wow, spooky!!! To see my design sketch, click on this link.http://karenknutson.blogspot.com/2012/01/goals-for-new-year.html This painting is 10" x 10" image, and is available for $125.  I intend to paint a huge painting of this image.

Day 16- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Sassy Girl"

This is my personal favorite of all my people paintings in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  I taught an illusionary workshop this weekend, and really loved the class.  This was my demo for the group, although I didn't finish the details till tonight, when I got home.  Good karma really makes a difference in the outcome of my paintings.  Like when I'm up at the North Shore of Lake Superior, I'm at such peace, that my paintings usually turn out.  This class created the same inspiration.  So many laughs we had and they were all so eager to learn.  The only complaint I have is that it was far too short.  We neede more time!  This painting is image 7" x 11". 

Day 15- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"The Cosmopolitans"

I tried to do an easy painting today, since I am preparing for my illusionary workshop also, which is this weekend.  So, I grabbed a design sketch and thought, "this will be easy."  3 hours later, I finally finished!  I'm happy with the design in this painting though.  Notice how many times I repeated the martini glass shape?  Even behind the man I showcased his head by putting a big martini glass shape.  I will do this bigger someday in acrylics.  This watercolor painting is 10" x 10" and is available for $95.

Day 14- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Dreamer"

I have long been influenced by the achictectural style of Frank Lloyd Wright. Last April, I did a value study that is pictured below, and used it for my background of this painting.  Of course, I didn't follow it exactly, but it gave me a good start.  Last year, I did 30 minute studies every day, and now, I can use all of those design studies to incorporate into my current paintings.  I tried to stretch myself to use different colors this time, because so many of my paintings are red and golds.  Only one day till my illusionary workshop, so this was another warm up for that.  This painting is 10" x 10" and is available for $125.



Value study that was used in the background



Day 13- 30 paintings in 30 Days

"Classy Lady"

Finally, I'm ahead of the game.  I finished my second painting for the day and am so excited about this one.  It's a real stretch for me.  A breakthrough painting.  I love stylized paintings, and keeping it as simple as possible.  This painting took a long time, because I masked out all the lights and then poured on the reds.  I actually painted with masking fluid, which took over an hour to apply.  If you look back to the painting,  "Dreamer", you'll see that this is the same lady, but I wanted to have a more dramatic effect this time.  There are things that I will do differently next time, but overall, I'm happy with the results.

Day 10- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"True Love"

This marks 1/3 of my journey in this challenge, started by Leslie Saeta.   I've learned so much in the process, but I have to say that it's the hardest thing that I've ever done!  Because I committed to painting people, it has been so good for me!  I noticed that I have been painting in the same color scheme for quite some time, so I decided to change it up a little today.  I saw a painting on the HGTV channel today, that had purples, oranges, sage green, grays and gold tones, and I thought, "Those are the colors that I will use today!"  Actually HGTV gives me lots of ideas on not only colors, but in designing my paintings.  Designing a room isn't that different than painting a painting.  You need to repeat shapes, have high contrast in some areas, and soft edges in others. Rest areas are important and simple shapes are a must. That's a hard one for me, because I really enjoy negative painting, and sometimes I get carried away!  Because I painted this so late today, I was forced to keep it simple.  A good thing.... This watercolor painting is 10" x 10" image, and is available for $95. 

Day 8- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"A Walk with the boys"

This painting was so fun to paint!  First of all, this is my daughter in law, KJ, and my two grandsons, Brady and Austin.  What fun to paint the people that I love!  I worked from a design sketch that I had done almost a year ago.  It only had the girl in it, so I had to work the 2 boys into the composition.  Brady's favorite stuffed animal is "Giraffey", so that had to be added to the composition too.  Tomorrow is KJ's birthday, so I'll make a card out of this for her as a surprise. Her favorite color is blue, so I knew that blue had to be an important part of the color scheme.  This image is: 11" x 11" , matted: 17" x 17", and sells for $150. 

First people painting of 2012

I've been working on this painting for the last 4 days.  There are a few things that I like about it, but mostly, I'm just relieved to be done.  It was not fun to paint.  And when it comes down to it, isn't that what we're in this for.....the experience of ENJOYING the process?  It's been so long since I've worked in pure watercolor, and I needed a painting for the Transparent Watercolor of America show, so I promised myself to get one done!  I called it, "Between 2 Worlds" because I could see orbs floating around.  I used a 30 minute study for the idea for this painting. 

Goals for the New Year!

After reading Myrna Wachnov's blog this morning, I decided that I, too, must write down my goals.  Myrna's blog is one of my favorites.  She is such a gifted artist.  You, too, should check it out!  http://myrnawacknov.blogspot.com/ 

My goals for 2012 are:

1. Work on my new book

2. Do more people paintings

3. Continue my 30 minute studies every day 

4. Lead a more balanced life!

This sketch is one I did in early December when I was at a Paint-in with 3 other friends in Wisconsin.  I just let myself sketch without a plan, and as I was sketching the people, I thought how odd that I had sketched 5 people, when there were only 4 of us there at the Paint-in.  Then, in studying it further, I saw that the 3 people were separated by a fence from the other 2 people.  Now, you might think I'm off my rocker when I tell you this, but the truth was that one friend who was supposed to be at our Paint-in, actually was traveling back and forth every day, visiting her husband in the hospital, and therefore, wasn't able to participate in our Paint-in very much.  I truly had nothing in mind when I started this sketch, and look what came out of my subconscious!  I'm thinking that the 2 houses in the background must be the fact that Janice was going from our house to the hospital every day.  Wow, spooky!!! My intention is to paint from this 30 minute sketch later this month.  I'll post it when it happens.  Happy New Year, everyone!