A Walk in the Surf – Romantic Seascape California Marine Oil Painting
A Walk in the Surf
8″ x 6″
oil on canvas
SOLD to a collector from Santa Cruz
A romantic stroll on the beach, the water rolling up gently on the shore. If you live near a coast I’ll bet you have a memory or two, don’t you?
I’m thinking seaward these days, getting geared up for the San Clemente paint out the week of June 20 – 28, culminating with a two day show and sale. The plein air painting should be great – I’m really looking forward to it.
Cabo San Lucas – Lands End Mexican Seascape Painting
Cabo San Lucas – Land’s End
24 x 30 inches
oil on canvas
Painted on commission – SOLD
A 16 x 20 version of this painting is still available here.
Today I had the pleasure of packing up this big painting for a new collector in the midwest. I was delighted to be able to paint it for the couple because 1) I love to paint seascapes and 2) it brings me special enjoyment to paint something that has a lot of meaning for the patron.
Lands End is a landmark geologic formation, and it appears that the arches have been carved out by consistent wave action over milennia. I’m guessing that those standing stones once were capped with arches as well, a very long time ago.
Probably the most exciting part of the painting process for me was the painting of the many different rock surfaces, which reflect the color of the environment as well as having their own “local color” which comes from the minerals in the rock as well as the effect of weathering.
Now I’m working on a new commission of the Sierras, while finishing up some rose garden paintings for the Descanso Rose paintout and sale April 18-19. Busy, busy. And I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Cabo San Lucas – Los Arcos Oil Painting Seascape
Cabo San Lucas Seascape Oil Painting
16 x 20 oil on canvas
I’ve been working on a large commission of this same scene (in a 24 x 30 inch size) for a lovely client … and still have a few areas that I’m finishing up. In order to have something to paint over this past weekend at the bookstore, and to experiment with a few things, I painted the same scene in this 16 x 20 size. I don’t usually paint the same painting back to back, but this was a very useful experiment, and it also provided a little “performance art” for the people who came to the show.
So, for those folks who stopped by and picked up business cards during the show, thank you for visiting the show and now, my blog … and here’s how the painting turned out.
I have been tagged numerous times by different people in the 25 things game, and I’ve been so busy I haven’t gotten around to making the list. So instead I’m going to list a few things a day until the list is complete. I hope that counts!
1. I really don’t like heights. I don’t mind airplanes or tall buildings or big wide mountaintops but I feel very uncomfortable on tall stepladders or walking along trails with sheer cliffs or driving along ravines. Maybe I just don’t like heights when there’s the opportunity for falling.
2. I never owned a dog until 10 years ago, and I’m sorry we waited so long! I’ve turned into a real dog lover ( as well as a cat lover) and will happily pet and greet every friendly dog I encounter.
Newport Beach Painting – Sunset Surf – California impressionist marine seascape
More of my Newport Beach Paintings
Sunset Surf (at Newport Beach, CA)
8 x 10 oil on linen on board
SOLD
During those times of year when the landscape has shed its fall color, and before spring color appears, sunsets continue to charm the colorist in me.
Newport Beach is one of my favorite subjects for painting – from Balboa Island with its charming shops and village ambience, to the spectacular sunsets of the beach and back bay.
While visiting the Laguna Art Museum recently for the Wm. Wendt exhibit, I saw some paintings by Laguna painter Frank Cuprien and was captivated by the way he captured the luminesence of the surf when the day was drawing to a close. When I saw a Newport sunset with those same opal tones, I was tempted to give it a try.
Try this: This is a small painting, a study, just 8 x 10 inches. To see it as it is meant be seen, enlarge the picture then stand back from your monitor about 8-10 feet, if you have the room. It looks different, doesn’t it? Whenever I am painting up at the Descanso Gallery, people come up to see what I’m doing, standing about 3 feet from the painting. I think that I can read their minds sometime as they see the expressionistic brush strokes, which look coarse in close up. So I walk them back a short distance, as in a living room or dining room and then have them look again. They are almost always surprised at the difference.
This is one of the inherent problems with showing work online when your viewer is sitting right next to the monitor. So … give it a try, stand back and see the difference.
To see more of my seascapes, visit my seascape gallery page.
Laguna Beach Oil Painting – Laguna Romance – Daily Painting
Laguna Romance
8 x 10
oil on canvas on board
SOLD
Several of my friends have been incorporating palette knife techniques into their work, or painting entirely with the knife. I thought it sounded like fun to experiment with, so I took one of my photos with a lot of clouds that I thought would lend itself to that expression, and this is the result. The location is Heisler park in Laguna Beach, a little north of the art museum. Clusters of fan and sago palms decorate the promenade and make interesting shapes against one of Laguna’s radiant sunsets. Everytime we visit we see lovers gazing at the sea. On one occasion a wedding was being held in a small gazebo along the walkway.
So this is my tribute to Valentine’s Day – a little romance along the seashore, as wild and tempestuous as love itself.
Huntington Beach California Seascape Painting
SOLD
Stormy Day at Huntington Beach
8 x 10 oil on panel
For price and more info about this painting, please write.
When stormy weather churns up the ocean, the results can be dramatic, and the sunsets are glorious. This is a view of Huntington Beach, with Catalina, cloud-shrouded, on the horizon.
And here’s how it might look in a nice plein air frame:
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Timothy Clark paint a demonstration watercolor for a local art club. Since Timothy doesn’t demo publicly, only for his own workshops, this was a rare treat. What made the evening even more special was when one of my watercolor portraits got the blue ribbon for Artist of the Month, which puts me in the running for artist of the year. The perfect ending to a perfect day, even if it was dark and rainy.
Yosemite Painting – Autumn, Merced River Fall Color
“Yosemite Autumn”
15″ x 22″ watercolor on paper
SOLD
See more of my Yosemite paintings here
Interested in this painting? Please write by clicking this link
The colors of fall dazzle when caught, reflected in the serene waters of the Merced River. This large (half-sheet) watercolor takes advantage of the range of Yosemite’s beauty and is a preview of some new work I’ll be showing this year, both in watercolor and in oil.
When I’m exhibiting at a public show, one of the questions that people ask me most frequently is “which do you prefer painting, watercolor or oil?” It’s a hard question because the two media are so different in some ways, yet so similar in fundamental ways. For the sheer excitement of painting with all the unpredictability and opportunity for “happy accidents” you just can’t beat watercolor. Take a look at the luminous reflections in the water, for example, they were created with a wet into wet technique. You can certainly paint water in oil (and I do it all the time) but you can’t get a look exactly like that. Oil allows you the luxury of correcting mistakes more easily. Watercolor (especially when working with staining colors) can be very unforgiving. The short answer is, I love them both, for different reasons and I find that what I learn in one medium can often be applied to the other even though paint handling is different. The basics … color, line, shape, value, feeling, interpretation, composition … these things do not change and translate easily from medium to medium.
Here’s a closeup of just a detail of one of the trees. This would actually make a nice painting, enlarged, all on its own. Hmmmm, wheels turning … stay tuned.
Carpinteria Bluffs Sunset Oil Painting – California Impressionist Karen Winters
Carpinteria Bluffs Sunset
16″ x 16″
oil on canvas
SOLD
This is one of the paintings inspired by our recent trip to Carpinteria, on California’s central coast. The late afternoon marine layer had come in, shrouding the Channel Islands in a misty glow that reminded me of those tales of Arthurian Avalon. The sky colors were both delicate and intense their various layers, and this stately eucalyptus tree was bathed in all that glorious light.
I had not had the pleasure of visiting Carpinteria Bluffs before, but it’s a place that I want to return to, especially late in the day. So many beautiful vistas to enjoy.
Laguna Beach Shores – Oil Painting Seascape by California Impressionist Karen Winters
Laguna Beach Shores
12 x 16 inches, oil painting on canvas
See all of my Laguna Beach paintings here
This painting is for sale. If you are interested in it please write: karen@karenwinters.com and use Laguna Beach Shores in the subject line. This is also on the seascape page of my website, see the link on the right under “Other Places on this Site”
For the past two summers we’ve enjoyed visiting Laguna not only to see the art festival but the sparkling beauty of the landscape, the golden shores and deep turquoise water. This new painting is a result of that inspiration.
What I especially like about this one: I like the contrast of the warm cliffs and sand against the complimentary cool blues and greens of the sea and landscaping of Heisler Park, which overlooks this serene scene.
Laguna Reflections – Crescent Cove – Karen Winters original oil painting
“Laguna Beach Reflections (at Crescent Cove)”
14 x 18 oil on canvas
If you would like to find out if this painting is still available for sale…..
please write
(I have more Laguna paintings, please see My seascapes page
For all of your folks who visited me over the weekend at Sierra Madre, here’s how the painting turned out that I was working on when you stopped by.
I had a great time painting there and the cool scene seemed to help me tolerate the stifling heat.
This scene was inspired by my visit to Laguna Beach a month or so ago. What attracted me the most were the reflections in the sand, revealed for just moments as each wave receded. I’ve considered adding a few sea birds to this, either a sandpiper on the shore or a few gulls. What do you think?
I can hardly wait to go back there and paint with those cool ocean breezes.
