Peaceful Pasture – Equestrian Miniature California Landscape Painting

Peaceful Pasture
(Central California)
6 x 6 inches, oil painting on canvas
SOLD

Last weekend we spent some time up in San Luis Obispo for the opening of the California Art Club’s “Gems of the Central Coast” show at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. We had a great time seeing old friends and making some new ones, too. Once you get out of Los Angeles you really begin to appreciate the rural beauty of the state and the quiet moods of hills, pastures, marshes and mountains. Driving up the 101 we saw many ranches with scenes just like this.

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Fields of Peace – Los Osos Valley Road, San Luis Obispo County California Landscape Painting by Karen Winters

Fields of Peace Oil Painting, Los Osos Valley Road, San Luis Obispo County, California Central Coast, California impressionist landscape art by Karen Winters

“Fields of Peace”
11 x 14 inches oil painting on canvas
Central Coast California, near Los Osos
(San Luis Obispo County)

In late spring, the ranch land near San Luis Obispo starts to turn from green to a dusky brown. Here and there the dried remains of earlier grasses take on hues of violet and umber. Coastal scrub plants provide a stark contrast with their fresh green foliage. Eucalyptus, of course, stay green year round – the ever-constant providers of shade and windbreaks. As the marine layer moves in from the sea to the west, the clouds catch the light of the lowering sun and turn shades of peach and apricot.

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Garden at the Ranch – San Luis Obispo – California Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by Karen Winters

“Garden at the Ranch”
11 x 14 oil on linen panel
San Luis Obispo Central California Coast area

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I’m still catching up on posting a year’s worth of plein air paintings that didn’t get photographed when they were created. This one is from last May, 2010 at a California Art Club paint out at a friend’s ranch in the San Luis Obispo area. Although it was a gray day, the poppies and other California natives really shone through. In fact, maybe the grayness accented their colors. Our friend has a wonderful native plant garden that would rival any garden planted with cultivated non-natives. It’s drought tolerant and seems perfectly adapted to the environment – because it is!

An almost finished work in progress photo is below – thanks to my hubby for taking it. Yep, there’s that hat again.

California Landscape Painting – Central Coast- Sycamore Breezes

Sycamore Breezes
8 x 10 inches oil on linen panel
SOLD

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A fully leafed out sycamore dances with the passing breeze in California’s Central Coast ranchland, near Jolon. A distant barn provides shelter for the herd. But if I were a cow, I’d rather be lazing around under one of these big, beautiful trees.

High Sierra California landscape ranch painting- Bishop, California


Grazing in Paradise
8 x 10 oil painting

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A herd of cattle grazes peacefully in a region called “Paradise” near Bishop, California, in the shadow of the Eastern Sierra.
If I were a cow I’d think this was a pretty heavenly place to graze, especially in the late afternoon when everything is warm and mellow.

California Wine Country Vineyard Oil Painting – by California impressionist Karen Winters

“In The Vineyard Hills”
9 x 12 oil on wood panel
original oil painting
SOLD

California’s rich Central Coast wine country was the inspiration for this tranquil scene.

Late afternoon light, and a fog bank drifted in from the sea brings moisture to the thirsty vines. Oaks and eucalyptus trees punctuate the hills with their stately beauty.

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Windy Vineyard – Temecula Vineyard Landscape Oil Painting

“Windy Vineyard”
12 x 9 oil on canvas laid on panel
Plein air landscape, Temecula,
Falkner Vineyard. November 2010

SOLD

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This was the third painting I worked on last year at the Falkner Vineyard paint out. I can’t say it was the third painting completed, because the light had changed so completely late in the afternoon (and a cloud bank rolled in) so I knew it was time to call it a day.
I finished it up back in the studio where there was considerably less wine, and a lot less wind.

The folks at the vineyard had a nice reception for us after we all finished painting for the day. After a glass of “Luscious Lips” I erroneously declared this one to be titled “Vindy Wineyard.” The alternate name stuck. So you can call it Vindy Wineyard or Windy Vineyard, depending upon how much Luscious Lips you’ve imbibed.

Have I ever mentioned here that I love to paint eucalyptuses? Only about a hundred times, right?

Karen Winters paints at Falkner Vineyard in Temecula, California

California Central Coast Plein Air Oil Painting – Farm near Nipomo


“Farm Near Nipomo”
8 x 10 oil painting
Central Coast, California, San Luis Obispo County

• SOLD
to a collector in Buffalo, NY

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This is the 2nd of three plein air paintings I did last spring in Nipomo, near the Dana Adobe. If you look at my previous painting posted a few days ago, you’ll see some trees and buildings in the distance. This is a “closeup” of one of those clusters of habitation. Because I wasn’t inclined to move my whole setup, I simply changed my point of view to “zoom in” so to speak, and continued with a new field study.

California Landscape Plein Air Painting San Luis Obispo County – Nipomo

SOLD

Golden Hillside
(near Nipomo San Luis Obispo County)
9 x 12 plein air oil painting on linen panel

See more of my California Central Coast paintings here

This is a plein air painting that I did last springtime with the California Art Club in San Luis Obispo. We were at a historical location, the Dana Adobe, in Nipomo, and the weather was perfect. I got three paintings done that day. The next day a rainstorm moved in from the north. The fields of mustard liked it, but it wasn’t hospitable to painters. The day after this was painted we went to Moonstone Beach in Cambria (see earlier posts for those paintings.)

Paso Robles Vineyard Oak California Landscape Oil Painting

SOLD
“Paso Robles Vineyard Oak”
8 x 10 oil painting on canvas on hardboard

See more of my vineyard paintings here

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The Paso Robles wine growing area has developed so much over the past few years. Every time we take a trip through there we see new vineyards and new plantings. Oaks seem to be iconic in these vineyards. Although it appears that most of the barrels are actually made in France rather than from domestic oaks, I like that some are preserved to add their beauty to the landscape.