Day 20 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!"

 

"Letter of Love"  $75  (6.5" x 7" image)

I’m back from my trip to Spokane to visit my mom, who was very sick.  I left off at Day 19, so here we go. 10 more paintings after this one.  I will finish on Feb. 10th, instead of in January.  Family comes first.  But when I start something, I finish it. 

“Letter of Love” is a painting that evolved all by itself.  The hearts kept showing up.  I always think of my deceased friend, Connie, when a heart appears in my paintings.  In this one, hearts just kept appearing over and over.  I’m wondering if it has to do with my visit to see my mom and my sister. Lots of love. 

Tip #20:  Start with one color only.  Then glaze with its opposite.  I used permanent magenta with a glaze of quinacridone gold.  I love the neutrals that are produced. Below are the steps of this painting.  I actually started this as a horizontal, but when I saw the hearts, I decided to rotate it 90 degrees.  

Day 19: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Going Through Hoops"     $45,    5 x 7" image

"Going Through Hoops" is a little 5” x 7” watercolor collage.  I call these Little Abbeys (nickname for small abstracts).  If interested in this, go to karenknutson.com 

Tip of the Day:  Adding gold lines, using Pebeo glass outliner.  You can find this in most art supply stores.  It's actually for painting on glass, but I use it for my paintings.  Do NOT bake it as the directions say.  That's just for glass. BTW, there are TWO things to do before using.  You must unscrew the tip and puncture the silver film that is holding the paint inside, screw the tip back on, and then barely cut off the end of the tip, before using.  I love the 3 dimensional look that this adds to many of my little abbeys.  It’s the finishing touch.  

 

Day 18: 30 Plantings in 30 Days!"D

 

"Doodle Mania"  5" x  7" image,  $45

Day 18:  30 Paintings in 30 Days!

“Doodle Mania” is one of those paintings where everyone will see something different.  For me, I just had fun doodling.  I wanted to keep it simple since I had been working on another painting that I intend to enter in a national show, and I only had a short time to work on today’s challenge painting.  This painting is only 5” x 7” image.  It is mixed media on paper.  If interested, go to:  karenknutson.com 

Tip of the day:  Use disposable palette for a center of interest!  When painting an acrylic painting,  I use a disposable palette.  When I’m done with the painting, I fold the palette paper onto itself, so that it makes a mono print.  This makes unusual colors and shapes.  I like to tear out a small portion and then adhere it to a blank paper, using matte medium.  I use that as my center of interest and let my imagination complete the painting. 

Here is the palette piece that I used as a start for another painting.

Day 17: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

 Today, I got to go plein air paint.  We discovered a new park reserve in our area.  We hiked about 20 minutes to get to the river, but it was so beautiful, it was worth the hike.  Perfect temperature, no wind, and a fellow artist for good conversation.  What more can I ask for?  One lesson that I keep having to learn over and over is to pack lightly for outdoor painting!!!!  When you walk for 20 minutes to get to your painting site, it’s important to pack just the essential items. Here is the scene and my painting that is in a sketchbook. 

Painting in my sketchbook (8" x 8")                               photo of scene

Tip for the Day:  Try combining areas to make as few shapes as possible, when outdoor painting.  I got the sketch done pretty quickly (about 10 minutes) due to combining shapes.  My plein air is not supposed to be framable work.  I do it to work out the value patterns, observe nature to learn new things, and try to get the feeling of that moment in time. I LOVE painting outdoors.   Life is good!  (I circled the shapes so you can see how I simplify)

Circled areas are simple shapes.  

Day 16: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Love They Neighbor"  8" x 8" image,  $65

I'm working on a painting for an upcoming national show, and I want a variety of grey tones.  I had started with the colors, Antwerp blue, Quinacridone gold, and Red Rose Deep.  So I decided to do a small color study to see if I could get the greys that I had in my mind.  This is what I ended up with.  "Love thy Neighbor" is 8" x 8".  If interested in purchasing, go to:   karenknutson.com  

 Tip of the Day:   Recovering whites:  The best way is to completely surround the shape with masking tape, making an island.  Then press the tape down securely.  Then scrub in little circles, using a wet toothbrush, and clean it often. Be gentle as you scrub.  Gently blot the surface when it's back to white, and then gently remove the masking tape.  Make sure you remove the tape, by pulling it off onto itself, so that you won't tear the paper.  This really works, and whites are magical to make other colors sing!   

Steps 1 - 3, recovering whites

Day 15: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

 

"Best Dressed Award"  11" x 15" image,  $195

“Best Dressed Award” was half done, so I decided to finish it up. I love painting crows! They are such smart birds.  If interested in purchasing,  go to karenknutson.com

  This started as a charcoal pour, which is explained on my video. Here’s a link:  https://painttube.tv/products/karen-knutson-fun-with-mixed-media?_pos=2&_sid=5eca397e7&_ss=r

Tip #15:  adding charcoal powder is a great texture.  It involves adding water to the surface where you want to save whites, then sprinkling charcoal powder, then throwing a big bucket of water on top of the whole paper to get the explosion look.  I do this outdoors!  Haha. Let dry, then spray it with a workable fixative.  Then paint whatever subject you want on top.  Below is an example of how these look.  

Beginning stage of a charcoal pour painting.  

Day 14: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

 “Changed my Mind”  started as a blind contour drawing.  I had so many directions I wanted to take this.  First, I wanted it to be like a sketch, maybe with painting some grays.  I knew I wanted to doodle, so I stayed true to that wish.  I’m including the original drawing so you can see how much these change. If interested in this painting, it can be found on my website, karenknutson.com 

Tip of the day:  Adding texture.  I like to make diagonal lines at an angle like the left side of a roof.  Then I add opposite diagonal lines, like the right side of the roof.  Then I add straight up lines, and then start over.

Close up view of my favorite doodle

 

Day 13: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!Eac

Each of these are 5" x 7" images, $35 each

Day 13: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

 I kind of needed an easy painting today, so I worked on little 5” x 7” image Little Landscapes. They are 5 minute paintings! I kid you not!! I wet both sides of the paper, and am done in 5 minutes. I charge only $35 each for these, and they come with a white mat, measuring 8” x 10" for easy framing. They are listed on my website,  karenknutson.com  and at the top of the Home page, go to Shop, then click Small Originals, then click on the one you want, and then use PayPal to purchase.   

 Tip 13: Here’s my magical formula for good colors in my paintings. Pick 3 analogous colors, and then pick an opposite color. In these little ones, I put the opposite color right on top of the lower color in the sky, making it a greyed color. That shows off the luminous colors better! BTW,  these little landscapes start out by wetting both sides of the paper.  Then I work with a 1" flat brush and stroke on the 3 analogous colors.  The complementary color is used over part of that mixture to create a grey.  Then it's just a matter of timing and thickness of paint.  They truly do turn out better when you limit yourself to 5 minutes.  

My favorite color wheel is by Jill Ridder.  I take it with me everywhere I paint.  It costs about $18.00.  Here is the link:   https://www.colorharmonywheel.com/products/color-harmony-wheel 

Color Wheel by Jill Ridder 
www.jillridder.com 

Day 12 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

 

"Proud Heron"  $115  (7" x 11" image)

"Proud Heron"  was so much fun to paint.  I feel so fortunate to be in Florida during the winter months and the colors, blue and green are influencing me greatly.  If interested in this painting, go to karenknutson.com 

I started this painting just like Day 5, where I used the beginning of a Little Abbey (small abstract watercolor collage) as an underpainting.  You can look back to that day on this blog to see directions.

Tip 12:  When drawing a difficult subject, draw 90 degree horizontal or vertical lines near the edge of the subject.  I can see the angle so much easier when I have a 90 degree angle nearby.  Try it!  Below is my lines that help me draw the accurate angle. 

Day 11: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

 

"City Life"  $245  (11" x 15" image)

“City Life”  turned out to be a giant color study.  I didn’t mean to do that, but as I layered, I made all kinds of discoveries about colors.  It’s watercolor on paper.  (11” x 15 Image).  If interested in this painting, it can be found on my website, karenknutson.com 

I am charging special prices just during this challenge.  Afterwards, they will go back up to my normal prices.  

Tip 11:  Prepare the figures using masking fluid.  Let dry completely.  Run your fingers through it to create little holes and texture marks.  I created this process many years ago and when students wanted to do figures in Watercolor like mine that are in acrylic, I made this work.  

Close up of holes made in figures by running your fingers through it.

When you paint over the masked figures, you will want to dig your brush down into the holes, so it will cover.  Be sure to dry thoroughly before removing masking.  Then add more bright colors in the outfits.  I add wire drawing, and trace most of the shapes using an ultra fine tipped permanent marker.