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November 29, 2007

Can I just say...

I just got off the phone with Ann Nichols from the Times Free Press! I know I'm a nerd, but getting in the paper feels pretty cool. eep!
Also, in other exciting Knuts' news. Remember that Josiah pretty much knocked his tooth out, well it was a bit anti-climactic because he, well, he pretty much knocked it out. I wasn't looking forward to how long it would take for his new tooth to grow in, and if his other teeth would go all wonky waiting for new tooth to grow in. Happiness, Josiah's tooth is growing in! I can't believe it, he's not even 5! But I'm glad, now I feel like celebrating his new tooth.

After going to IKEA and steering clear of lots of their Christmas stuff I went ahead and decided to get these cute Christmas dishes at Target. So much for self control. And yes, I'm going to type this out because it's TRUE! The latest Martha Stewart Living.....rocks. And Papersource has Taxi Christmas paper and Robot Christmas paper! Oh dear.

I must finish my Rotterdam painting. It needs some varnish and some venner sides! eep!

fine art | By | 4:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

More Reasons to Show

Here's the three pieces I've finished the past couple days. I've been working like a busy bee! The first piece is of Jefferson Heights, the next one is an approved borrowed flickr photo of Ft. Wayne TX, the last one is Rotterdam. I am glowing with pleasure from the IKEA frames that make my watercolors look professional, and the wood veneer strips I found to iron onto the sides of my larger panel (door) pieces to give it a framed, whole look. It looks soooo great! I'm not stressed completely, but I'll be glad to have this all over with. There are interviews (yes interviews), and inventory lists, reception drinks, and other events to plan for. I'm so thankful, but very tired!

I want to shout out to my friend Lynn, Happy Birthday! And to my other friend Jen, congrats on another healthy baby girl!

fine art | By | 12:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 24, 2007

I was about to get panicky...

In fact, Josiah in his exhaustion was starting to let his lip curl and say that, "Mama, the heater, it's scaring me!!" There was some kinda noise coming from the front of the house, but it wasn't the paper plant, and it wasn't pipes, or so we thought, I mean the fear/rage shooting through me as I thought, "Why in the world would Joel just turn off the heat! Completely! I mean it got down to 29 degrees!" We went down to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and Joel turned off the heat at our house. What was that noise? Where was it coming from? Joel walked out the front door and my mind is racing, remembering the pipes busting at our house in Marietta. The whole ceiling was dripping with water and the stain that we painted over and over so it wouldn't show. Then I narrowed it down, It wasn't coming from the house, or outside, it was coming from Eden's bag. I shouted out the front door, "Joel I know what it is and you'll laugh" It was our Oral B bleepity-bleep electric toothbrush. Josiah had a good laugh, no more fear. I said, "See, the toothbrush was reminding us that it's way past bedtime and we need to brush!" Oh my goodness, thank you Lord for my house, and my toothbrush.

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November 21, 2007

The Advertising

I hope to have these cards on Tuesday after Thanksgiving. But I was glad I didn't have to do it myself. Even though I like making my cards. I need to make the art! I was less concerned about the advertizing since I'll get myself on the MAINx24 marketing flier. But please, come everyone!

The Metro Series: Katie Ward Knutson
Hollis Gallery (Southside)1401 Williams Street, next to Niko's
423-265-4444
Saturday December 8th 1pm-5pm

Come after the Main Street Christmas Parade and party with us! Surround yourself with urban beauty in this lovely collection highlighting the Metropolitan in Paris and other public transit shots from Europe. These pieces are sure to send you on journey. We'll be joining the whole Southside of Chattanooga during the MAINx24 event, so drop by for an eggnog latte, hot chocolate and other festive treats!

fine art | By | 3:18 PM | TrackBack

This Season

The paper plant across the park from out house caught on fire the other night. It was neat seeing the firemen on the roof putting out the orange. By yesterday afternoon it was up and running with it's loud steam exhaust and shift change speakers. It made for some pretty pictures though. Maybe it'll make it's way into a painting.

With it getting dark so early it's been hard for us to get motivated and out in the evenings. Last night Joel and I desperately wanted to talk, but the children don't really care about that. They want to romp and frollick. So we set up Joel's European hitch-hikers tent in the living room and that made for a great evening playtime.

Our household has been kinda under a cloud recently. The details are too many to mention, but it has been a great effort to rise above the everyday and look to the future. It's hard to think of the tough solutions and then start to slowly act on them. In this time of thanksgiving it takes strength to look past these things that are irritating and move into the place where we are truly thankful. Marriage, parenthood, career, friendship, and commitment to Christ, these things all have very difficult paths sometimes. Now, don't get me wrong, we're a resiliant bunch, but there are things that are making us feel heavy and these things need to be uprooted to see what can be mended. So this Thanksgiving I am thinking about prayer. I am talking alot more to Jesus it those quiet moments of the day. I am remembering how nice it was to have older, wiser, mentor types around me. Now that Joel and I are falling into those roles ourselves, we're seeing how hard it is to believe that Our Rock, the Lord Jesus, will give us the fortitude to overcome our circumstances. I have to remember to pray for those young people that surround me. Their problems might not be as heavy as mine in comparison, but to them they are big. So I am thankful for responsibility. I am thankful for those I take care of. I am thankful for prayer, rest, cool evenings where the night air enters you and wakes up your senses. I am thankful for the faithfulness that only the Holy Spirit can put inside of us. And I am thankful for seasons, where you can see how God's hand is moving and molding you even if you're unwilling to be changed.

Ultimately, we are happy and we are not blind and blaming our problems on "the kids are so grumpy" or "we don't have enough money" or "it was a hard day at work" or "I just have all these projects" or "I can't take another day of pink-eye". We are depending on God to keep our eyes open so we can be honest, loving, growing, children of God. And it will be nice to get away, be with family back in the ATL. Go to Trader Joes and IKEA, and have fish tacos with new friends who will be there too. Oh yeah, and get some watercolors done for the Metro Series Show!

the spirit within | By | 9:27 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 17, 2007

A burning flaming soapbox

There is not much about Chattanooga I can complain about right now since moving back here has amped up my career as an artist, but I've said it before, I miss my stores. It was so easy to get groceries, clothes, pictures, froo-froo coffee and I didn't have to drive to the 4 sides of town beacause there were 8 of each of your necessary stores in a 20 mile radius. Of course, if you wanted the best Indian food in the ATL you have to drive through an hours worth of traffic to get to the other side of town. So, I'm not really complaining, BUT, I hate with great passion, Hamilton Place Mall. I can drive around the mall and tolerate what surrounds it. I guess not for long, since holiday shopping is begining to rear its ugly head. But yesterday I had to go inside the belly of the beast, Hamilton Place Mall. I had to take down my students art show at HHL then I had to go to Wolf Camera. The closest one was at the Mall. First, we are fighting off pink eye again. Eden has had it since Wednesday. And she is recovering nicely. But after we got into the Mall I saw Josiah's eye start to get reddish. By the time we left his eye was puffy. Ugh. I forgot our diaper bag and Eden pooped her pants before we even got upstairs. We got to Wolf after 15 minutes at the most boring indoor play area ever.

I was ready to off myself! All the parents sitting around looked terrible in their sweatpants and baseball caps. Their kids are dressed up for Christmas photos and the models at Express and Abercrombie mock us as we sit there. The kiosk vendors are out in full force and I had a good excuse today, a kid in each hand (one that smells, the other with a communicable virus) kept them from approaching me.

At Wolf it took everything in me not to send Josiah out of the store to the bench across the way just to keep him from punching the touch screens. See, I never never would have taken on this challenge but I was down a day. My Grandma fell and was sent to the hospital. She's Ok, they're keeping her to treat a mild pnemonia, she's fine but it's my mom's top responsibility and my kids are mine. Also Sandi from Hollis called me to say that her images of my artwork were corrupted and the guy doing the card needed images STAT. So plans changed and I had to go to get my images today.

So off we went, sorry kids, we'll play another day. Mama's sorry. I wanted that 8 hours of my life back so bad too.

We ate at Chick-fil-A, and the tables looked so gross. They were not clean, neither was the floor. The gumball machines next to where we were eating made me cringe and I wished so badly I had my diaper bag that was well equipped with Clorox surface spray and Purell. Oh, never again! Lord, protect my children with the blood of Jesus so they won't get a thousand cooties and protect the other children from the cooties my kids have.

But thank God I have my pictures! The guy thanked me up and down for sending the pictures and it was worth it, but it makes me sad and a little crazy when a waste so much time of my kids life. I count on Friday to do something fun. But when life throws curve balls sometimes I rise the occasion and when the Mall was thrown in to the mix I fumbled, coughed, wretched through the whole thing. Hopefully I can postpone this kind of experience and venturing into Hamilton Place again.

community | By | 3:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 16, 2007

Metropolitan

Wow, it's done. I thought I never would. I thought I shot myself in the foot as far as getting the proportions right. I need to varnish it after I do some small touch ups. I can't say I'm in love with it, it's worn out it's welcome on my easel, but it's a techinical exploration, and I'm pleased with it. As I did this one I just realized that in the hot spot centers of NYC and LA my artwork would not have an impact. It takes some real innovation to get noticed. But I am not looking to be in a hot spot. I've been watching Project Runway Season 3 (oh my gosh I love this show!!) and I relate it to the fine arts world. Am I an innovator? Could I be the one who makes attractive things that are also challenging? This is what I want to work toward. The Metros are pleasing, their effect and perspective is wonderful and they send people on journeys to places they've never been. But I'm looking to do something else for a while. Something that's innovative, challenging, and makes the viewing public see the growth. I have a goal to do two more acrylic Metro pieces and then work on watercolors over Thanksgiving.

The Metro Series by Katie Ward Knutson at the Hollis Gallery 1401 Williams Street Suite E-10. The capture of urban beauty featuring the Metropolitan in Paris and other reflections of Europe. Show starts December 1st, join us for an After Parade Party and Opening on December 8th during MAINx24!

If you, my readers can think of a better name for the 'after parade party and opening' than please let me know!! We hope to get someone their to make eggnog latte's!!

fine art | By | 9:05 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 14, 2007

I got free stuff!

Remember I told you about the oodles of art supplies I got from my neighbor Rachel? We'll I have some better photos of it all. I went through a bit of it to determine if I needed to throw anything away, so far, very little has been tossed. She had back inventory from her ex's art supply store and it was just too much to hold onto it all. So she called me and asked if I wanted to go through it and see if there was anything I thought I could use. I was tired, I didn't feel like it at all, but I'm so glad I went. Brand, new brushes, boxes of acrylic paint, a gold leaf set, brayers for printing, brand new carving tools, tons of palette knives, itty-bitty tipped illustration pens, silver and gold paint pens (just in time for Xmas), templates for tracing shapes (Cat uses these all the time), molding clay, rapidiograph pen sets, varnishes and mediums for acrylic, did I mention free brushes? Dozens of them?

I'm overwhelmed because I was really worried about next semester and what I would do with my students. Now I think I need to teach a painting class. I didn't even ask and God dropped this in my lap. I'll never have to buy brushes again!

fine art | By | 3:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 13, 2007

My Next Art Show

On Thursday there will be a Thanksgiving day program at Hilger Higher Learning. My students will have an art show during the program. They did a "Master Artist" Project where they had to study an artist and do an original composition based on the artists style, subject matter etc. I haven't posted all the projects because I just get tired of how my new laptop takes me through a maze to find my photos and upload them. I have a whole set of them on Flickr, go check out all these wonderful students sucesses! This is one of my favorites. Jonas does wonderful work, I love that he chose Rauschenburg and he went wild with breaking up the picture plane and using all kinds of symbols, shapes and line work. He's in 5th grade. I hope he continues to take art next year!

I'll back the students artwork with black posterboard and put title cards by their work. I'm also thinking I'll have a People's Choice Award for the favorite piece and I'll give out some sort of prize. Whatever that might be.

I'm swimming in deadlines these days. Life is exciting but the procrastinating spirit is strong. I MUST finish this large Metro so I can move on and do another. Oh man, I'm pretty tired of doing Metro's. I need to experiment and Metro paintings are pretty rigid in their bounderies. I have been sniffly and sick for the past week and my energy level has been lower. I try to force myself to work until midnight on my paintings, but my body makes me stop. dead. at. 11:45. I'ts crazy, just when I think I have it down my time management is gone.

We're also bummed at our house because Joel was served some serious injustice at BCBST. He applied for another position and went through interviews and waiting just to find out that they missed a qualification in the job description. They did not post this qualification until after the whole process was over. There are other things that make this situation worse that are confusing to me and is all this corporate brew-haha that just makes Joel more upset. And Joel doesn't get upset very often. I always battle with what "a good wife" is and this scenario is so foreign to our household that I am just praying for Joel. Prayer is the best service a wife can do for her husband. Ladies, pray for your husbands today. Not with requests for correction, but with blessings, that God will fill him with peace, joy wisdom and strength. My husband is such a great man, it makes me crazy when everyone doesn't see that. There is a mantle of discouragement that must be lifted, it's been around too long. His talents are just dying to come out and be used full force. I love my Joel.

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November 7, 2007

The Metro

I have this fierce sense of dread when I look at this painting. I must admit that failure for me is really hard. Especially when I put myself out there so readily. I am not shy to show my progress because I am also a teacher. I am excited about the possibilities, and I feel a grand responsibility on my shoulders as I produce these works. Not that they are my greatest challenge artistically (right Cat). I'll go into that another day. I feel these works are appealing beyond my wildest dreams and I thank you for all the marvelous feedback on these either in person or on this site. My friends are loyal, but they are honest. So I wish I could go on about all the great things I have to share on this blog but for these next couple hours of slleping children I need to not blog and work on this one summore, so next time I show you this piece I will be proud and not full of "eeeks".

I will say that my generous neighbor Rachel gave me, GAVE ME, ooldes of art supplies. Beyond my wildest dreams. When I pull them out of their dusty boxes I'll take pictures and show you all in great detail just how generous this woman has been to me. SHe gave me this panel, and a few more and then soooo much more. So stay tuned, I have a major praise to share!

| By | 3:29 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 6, 2007

We caught up

This past week our good friends from Boise came to visit. And we partied until we couldn't party no more! On Thursday the mom's met at St. Elmo playground and we stayed until the kids were falling over tired. That night we had the crew over to Jeff Heights for Kickball Night and we hung out until it was too dark and too cold. Saturday we went to the Monahans and had a bonfire, dawgs and Yuengling. The kids had hot chocolate and Jonah. Sunday we went to Isaac Perkins 3rd birthday party at his Nana's house. Cindy can never be undone to have plenty of goodies to eat and play with. I enjoyed sporting a witches nose, it smelled like an old Strawberry Shortcake doll.

Some major highlights were: While swinging hearing Gideon ask Cat, "Cathy, is my tail wagging in the breeze?". He was wearing a full body dog costume. Watching Lulu "mommy" baby Naya. Watching Josh push Juden into the stratosphere on the Monahans little plane swing. The whole crew zoned out watching a movie for like 15 minutes. Arriving to Isaac's party greeted by the sounds of Ibachs zooming on dirt bikes. Phineas in his lion costume, oh my gosh, so cute! And a close second was Eden wearing a pirate patch and saying "ARGH" to passers-by. It never seems like enough time, although when it's over we realize it was exhausting. We hope to plan a get-away this summer. Sounds like there's a plan in the works.

community | By | 9:14 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 2, 2007

Gouache

I yanked myself out of an exhausting vacation state while we were in Helen and started playing with the set of gouache paints I got. It started out as just playing and then the design started to emerge. I really like the opaque quality of gouache. I'm hoping to try some Metro pieces with this and see how it goes.

fine art | By | 9:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

the necessary hocus-pocus

Here are our Halloween visuals. Josiah of course was Robin-Josiah, boy wonder and Eden was a little fairy-pixie. It's amazing what you can do with a roll of tulle. We tried to get Eden to sit with all the super-heroes at the Cooley's house but she made a quick get away.


And in other celebritory news I have my mom's Reformation Day cookies. She has these antique cookie cutters and she decided after some research (cuz my mom loves to research) that these were not pilgrims, or Santas, they were more akin to the Reformers: Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox etc... It's a silly tradition, and we giggle about it every year, while we're biting off little Luther heads.

family | By | 8:28 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack