California Landscape Oil Painting – Temecula – Vineyard Afternoon
Vineyard Afternoon
(Falkner Winery, Temecula, California)
9 x 12
Plein air – oil on linen panel
SOLD
There’s something about the afternoon light in the Temecula and Fallbrook areas that just makes me melt when I see it. I love the soft peaches and gold tones that come around magic hour … and when it kisses the vines just so, it begs to be painted.
This is the second plein air painting I did on Day one of the Falkner Winery Invitational, courtesy of the Pasadena Art Gallery Association. I was an invitee of Segil Fine Art Source, and there were painters from Galerie Gabrie and Tirage as well. Some folks even came from as far away as Oregon for the event. We had a great time painting all day and enjoying fine vintages like “Luscious Lips” at our reception.
The weather couldn’t have been more cooperative – a morning fog burning away by 9 am, revealing beautiful blue skies and rolling hills of green and amber vines. By three o clock the haze moved back in, as you can see in this painting. I’m thinking this might make a good study for a larger painting as well.
More paintings to come ( I did three in total – two on day 1 and one on day 2. I called it quits early so I could spend some time visiting with friends old and new. )
Malibu Meadow Plein Air California Landscape Oil Painting
Malibu Meadow
8 x 10 oil on canvas on hardboard
(Click image to enlarge)
More of my malibu creek paintings at this link
I painted this in the spring, when the meadows of the Santa Monica Mtns were still green, but never got around to finishing it up. Now that the summer/fall show season is starting to wind down, I have time to revisit some of my field studies and bring them to completion, like this one. This is a meadow near one of the grassland trail entrances to Malibu Creek State Park
Mark your calendars for the annual Pasadena Art Walk, Saturday, October 10.
Fallbrook Ranch Afternoon
“Meanwhile, back at the ranch”
10 x 12 oil
plein air painting of a ranch in Fallbrook, California
Late afternoon light casts long shadows across the pasture of this peaceful ranch in Fallbrook, California. When I was there painting, the peepers had already started their songs in the nearby irrigation canals. Spring grasses have turned to summer gold, perfect for grazing.
This weekend, June 27-28, I’ll be at the San Clemente Art Association Annual Show and Sale on the lawn by the community center. Dozens and dozens of plein air painters will be there, so I hope you can stop by if you live in that vicinity.
Fallbrook Landscape Oil Painting by California Impressionist Karen Winters
Spring to Summer in Fallbrook
9 x 12 oil painting on canvas
A country ranch road in Fallbrook, California
SOLD
This painting is sold but I have others from the area. Please write me.
Here’s another little landscape inspired by my Fallbrook trip. There were several mornings when the marine layer had moved in and was cloaking the hillsides with a gauzy look. Around 8 o clock the mist would start to burn off. You can see where the grasses on one part of the field have already started to turn golden. Other foliage still maintains the fresh spring look.
I haven’t posted in a few days because it’s been very busy getting ready for my show at Gale’s Restaurant, celebrating Mothers’ Day and taking care of other family responsibilities.
Did you know that if you want to see all of my paintings in any one category – such as all Fallbrook paintings, or all mountain paintings that you can filter these posts by categories? Look for the pulldown menu in the left sidebar.
Windbreak – California landscape oil painting – Karen Winters
Windbreak
10 x 12 oil study
SOLD
This little windbreak was interesting with its varied heights and shapes. It reminded me of a group of kids lined up for their school picture, or perhaps an a capella group getting ready to perform. I had a good time capturing the top light on the trees, which suggests the middle of the day. The short shadows communicate the time of day as well.
Studies are useful for many purposes – we learn about how to render certain types of plant life, how to capture the quality of light at a certain time of day, how to describe distant and near objects, even how the sky looks under different weather and lighting conditions.
The Meadow Wakes – California landscape painting – Karen Winters
“The meadow wakes”
(Sierra foothills, east of Visalia)
6 x 8 oil on canvas
SOLD
When the first strong rays of light hit a meadow filled with fiddlehead flowers, the mist was still rising from the nearby hills, providing an interesting contrast of saturated and desaturated colors. The statuesque valley oak was just starting to put out its new foliage, creating that lacy effect that is only characteristic of earliest spring. I wonder what it would be like to live on a farm like this, with so much beauty to see in every season.
Fallbrook Landscape Oil Painting – Morning Breeze – by Karen Winters
Morning Breeze (Fallbrook, California)
16 x 12″
oil on canvas
• SOLD
As the week progressed in Fallbrook, the weather cooled and large clouds would appear every morning. This painting, inspired by my visit there, depicts a view looking eastward across a small creek that helped irrigate the ranch where we were painting. Clouds are among my favorite subjects to paint and in this case they are the primary interest.
If this painting is dry, I might be bringing it to the Montrose Art Walk this Saturday on Honolulu Avenue in Montrose. I can’t promise, because it may not be dry enough. But on the other hand, at a plein air event, the patrons buy paintings at the end of a QuickDraw event, and they are soaking wet, painted just an hour before. So I might very well bring this one along.
Lean on Me – Fan Palms – Plein Air Oil Landscape Painting
“Lean on Me”
9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
(Fan Palms in Fallbrook, CA)
This friendly palm twosome caught my attention on Wednesday morning at the Libby Tolley workshop. Our assignment was to find a composition that interested us and to paint it in two hours before the light changed. The week got progressively cooler, with atmospheric mornings and more brilliant sunsets. Capturing the quality of cool morning light was one of the many enjoyable challenges we rose to. This painting represents the moment where the morning fog is just starting to burn off, when the sun catches the edge of the palm fronds. Close to the ground the mist still hovers and swirls. But higher up, the clouds are breaking up to reveal a brilliant blue sky.
More palms in other workshop paintings to come …
What I love about workshops – going somewhere new to paint – meeting other artists and making new friends – getting immediate critiques and suggestions about one’s work “in the moment” – the fun of experimenting and trying new solutions to common painting problems – seeing how other people paint a similar scene – feeling tired but satisfied at the end of the day.
Morning at the Ranch – Libby Tolley plein air painting workshop
Morning at the Ranch (Fallbrook) by Karen Winters
8 x 10 inch
plein air oil painting on canvas panel
This past week I had the pleasure of spending five days in a plein air painting workshop with Elizabeth (Libby) Tolley, who is a remarkable central California coast painter. The curriculum for each day built upon the day before, taking us from a demonstration of how she sets up her palette and mixes accurate color quickly to the uses of a quick-drying medium for underpainting. There’s too much detail to share it all here, and besides, it’s all in her North Light book Oil Painter’s Solution Book 
On Monday of the first day, the temperatures were in the 90s by early morning, so instead of going on location and sweltering, our demo was done in the classroom at the Fallbrook School of the Arts. On the second day, we went out to a rural location and were given an hour to do a small painting exercise for mixing greens. This painting was the result. Composition wasn’t the primary goal here – identifying the color and getting it down was. I did touch this up a bit back in the studio to add some details and refine some brushwork, but I didn’t change it much.
Libby is an excellent teacher as well as a gifted painter. She’s clear and precise in her instruction, well-organized, flexible in the face of changing conditions and very down-to-earth in her teaching style. No question is off limits and she is generous in sharing her knowledge.
More about the workshop (and more of my on-site studies) as the week goes on.
Valley Girls – Landscape oil painting – Cows on ranch in Central California
Valley Girls
8 x 10
oil on canvas on birch panel
SOLD
This painting is the result of a test of a new panel I’m working on – a very fine canvas, primed for oil painting and then attached to a birch panel with acid-free archival glue. I didn’t have time to get out today so I used some reference sketches and photos to compose this peaceful scene of a valley in central California.
Although I like the “spring” of stretched canvas, these panels are very light, portable and good for plein air studies.
As I painted this, it started to have sort of a folk art feeling, so rather than fighting it, I just went with it and had fun with the process.
