Day 28 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Sunflower Power"          $75
Watercolor        7" x 10"

I did this painting at Karlyn Holman's Paint-in, and showed everyone how to start with the toilet paper roll to get the curved lines.  I'm so enjoying painting sunflowers, and although they are pretty fast paintings, the timing has to be perfect, so it takes a few tries to get it right.

Day 27 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Dragonfly in Gold"     $75
Acrylic, permanent markers, gold foil        7" x 10"

I have to admit that I grabbed this from my stash of finished paintings  Confession: I didn't do this within the 30 Days.  But I'm attending a Paint-in and I want to paint large paintings and try new things.  That's what I love about Paint-ins.  We exchange ideas, and have critiques at the end of each day.  For many of us, its a reunion, only seeing the other artists once per year. There are usually 40 of us attending.  So much fun!!!!  This painting was originally $155, so this price is a steal, specially for this 30 Day Challenge.  I use gold foil paper instead of gold leaf.  It's so much easier.  This process will be shown at my workshop in Bradenton, FL on March 8 and 9th.  It's called, "Painting like Gustav Klimt".  Here's the link:  http://keetonsonline.com/GImages/180308KK.PDF

Day 26 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Overhead View"      $75
Watercolor and permanent marker         7" x 10"

I began this painting thinking it was going to be an abstract.  Then as it developed, I knew that it needed something recognizable in it, so I added the dragonfly.  I used a design study for the initial abstract design. (see below) It was a square format, so I stretched it lengthwise to fit my 7" x 10" size.  I'm so excited to be going to Karlyn Holman's Paint-in tomorrow, so I'm going to keep this short today.  This is an example of part of my workshop for Dillman's Resort.  Use this link to find out more!  http://www.dillmans.com/dcaf/2018/karen-knutson.html

Design study for "Overhead View"

Day 25 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Clara, the Chicken"    $75
Watercolor and permanent marker        7"x 10"

I have been drawing chickens for the past year.  The wire drawing technique works so well for this subject.  Every time I teach this workshop, the students are amazed how much fun it is, AND how it leads to them to develop better drawing skills.  I'm teaching Wire Drawing at 2 future workshops.  The first one is in Bradenton, FL on April 10th.  It is a one day workshop.  Click on this link to sign up. http://keetonsonline.com/theartistscorner.html  I'm also teaching this process at Dillman's Resort in northern WI, at a beautiful location, nestled in the pine trees and a gorgeous view of a lake.  This workshop starts with the process of the wire drawing and then each day, teaches the students how to develop their own designs into an abstract painting by the end of the 4 days!
Click on this link:  http://www.dillmans.com/dcaf/2018/karen-knutson.html
Students can choose to use mixed media or stick with watercolor or acrylic.  It's a great workshop that I'm really proud of!

Day 24 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Roots of Love"       $75
Watercolor and Acrylic        7" x 10"

Trying new colors today.  This painting started with  my new technique of the toilet paper roll, (See blog from February 14th, 2018)  and then I added a "dry brush drag" as I call it.  Analogous colors with a tiny bit of an opposite color. 

Steps one and 2

I then drew in the figures and worked from a previous value study weaving the colors in and out of the colors and lines from the under-painting.  As the painting developed, I saw lots of root shapes, so that brought me to the title, "Roots of Love".  I struggled with my old nemesis, tiny busy shapes, and I actually wonder if the painting is better as a cropped version.  But then, I would lose the meaning of the painting.  These are questions that an artist faces as they are 3/4 of the way through a painting. You decide.  I'd love to hear your comments.  Below is the cropped version.

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

Day 22 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Summer Day"      $75
Waterccolor        7" x 10"

I'm really enjoying painting sunflowers.  This one makes me think that there is a gentle breeze on a summer day.  I can almost feel the wind blowing by the flowers.  The process of this painting is to wet the entire sheet of paper, then work as fast as you can to paint the petals, leaving a little bit at the tip in white.  Remember, you are working on a WET sheet of paper, so the color "Spreads" really fast.  Then, I negative paint, using a dark thicker mixture of paint.  to carve out the edge of the flowers.  This usually takes at least 3 coats to get dark enough, with rewetting, etc.  I enjoyed the looseness of these sunflowers.  Fun to paint, but the timing had to be perfect. 

Day 21 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Imagine Butterflies"      $75
Watercolor and Collage      7" x 10"

I started this painting several days ago, and then didn't quite know what to do with it.  Sometimes, paintings need to brew awhile to tell you what they will become.  I had tried a new technique when I started, and it really had me scratching my head on where to go.  I had collaged 1/2 of a butterfly, and decided to wire draw some more butterflies to accompany the first one.  Whenever I teach, I tell the students not to use the whole image that is on napkins.  Only use a part of the napkin image and then add your own touch to it.  Make it your own.   Once I added the red unifying color to weave around the butterflies, it all came together.  Just goes to show that if you try new things once in awhile, you might make a breakthrough.  Below is my beginning. 

Step One

#20 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Sunny Side Up"      $75
Watercolor      7" x 10"

These wet into wet watercolors are much faster to do than the watercolor collages and figurative paintings, so you might be seeing a few more of these, cuz I'm running out of steam for this challenge.  This painting started like the other ones, using a toilet paper roll for the underpainting.  I love the random line work in the finished piece. I forgot to take a picture of that beginning, but if you go back to my blog from February 14th , you will see how this discovery was made!  The main thing I have to remember as I'm doing this painting is to keep layering with the darks.  Look at the photo below when the painting was in the middle stage.  Quite a difference when the dark values are painted and then the sunflowers start to pop!

Day 19 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Meant to Fly"     $75
Original Watercolor and permanent marker      7" x 10"

This started as a wire drawing, and then I decided to add color.  Because I'm surrounded by lots of lime green here in Florida, I decided to start with lime green.  I mixed aureolin yellow and antwerp blue to get a really bright lime color. Below is the first step.  After that first layer, in order to make the wings look a little more transparent, I negative painted leaves, going right through the wings.  I will be teaching "wire drawing" in Bradenton, FL on April 10th and will feature "wire drawing" every day of my Dillman's Resort 4 Day workshop in Lac Du Flambeau, WI in mid June.  For me, Wire Drawing has been life changing!

Step One