El Capitan Yosemite Valley – California Plein Air Oil Painting – Sierra Landscape
El Capitan
Plein air oil painting
9 x 12 inches
SOLD
See more of my Yosemite paintings here
This was painted en plein air Friday, July 17 in Yosemite Valley.
If you’re interested in this painting, please write
Well, I’m back from our whirlwind tour of Northern California. I didn’t have the time or energy to upload paintings every day, but now that I’m back I’m going to try to catch up. This was painted on the last day of our trip, late in the afternoon. If you are a new visitor to my blog, one of the people who saw me painting this in progress, welcome! Now you know how it turned out.
Yosemite Valley was spectacular, as always, but it was very hot, as it currently is in Los Angeles. But just looking at the cool water of the Merced River seemed to help. Those distant thunderheads, which rose as I painted, tell you how much moisture and humidity there was in the air.
As always, people gathered around to watch me tackle the scene. They are always very polite and ask if they can watch. I let them know that if I wanted to be alone, I’d be in my studio! I truly enjoy having observers, as long as they are ok with me continuing to work as we chat. My husband took the picture below as I wrapped up. You can see by the painting compared to the final photo how much the light changed during the time I was painting. But it’s a no-win game to keep chasing shadows. You just have to draw them in at the beginning and then stick with the plan.
Pasadena Pops – Picnic under the Oaks – Plein Air Landscape Genre Painting at Descanso Gardens
Interested in a painting of your event? Please write.
Picnic Under the Oaks
Plein air landscape 9 x 12 oil painting
SOLD to collectors from Pasadena, CA
Upon returning home from our Northern California trip, I had the opportunity to paint Saturday night at the Pasadena Pops at Descanso Gardens. The big oaks were just glowing in the late afternoon sun so I decided to paint the festivities from this angle instead of looking toward the stage.
The orchestra, conducted by Maestra Rachel Worby, was divine, as usual. Some highlights for me were the Edith Piaf tribute, Offenbach’s Can-Can (complete with saucy dancers) and the concluding Gershwin number, An American in Paris. Yes, it was an evening in Paris theme. As a plein air impressionist I felt right at home.
This painting was challenging not only because I was quite tired from the weeklong painting adventure up north, but because of the heat and the rapid light changes. I got most of it blocked in during the show but needed to retreat to my studio to pull it together and add the finishing touches.
Point Lobos – Monterey Peninsula
Pt. Lobos Rocks
9 x 12 acrylic on paper
We’ve been having a great time seeing some of the natural beauty of Northern California, and this is one of my recent studies from a few days ago at Point Lobos. I’m updating from the road so I don’t have quite as much time for blogging – there’s too much to see and do.
This scene is from Pt. Lobos State Park, on the Monterey Peninsula. It’s a breathtaking place and I could spend days there. We’ve also spent some time in Big Sur, San Francisco and around Paso Robles and the central coast.
I don’t have Photoshop with me on this computer so I can’t tweak the colors to get them exactly like the original, which is a bit frustrating. IPhoto does an ok job, but it doesn’t have the control I’m used to with PS.
Last night we went to see Wicked, a Christmas present from our kids. It was fantastic and I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. A great musical and one that will surely become a classic in American musical theater.
Sierra Splendor – Mt Whitney, Lone Pine, California landscape oil painting – Eastern Sierra Nevadas
Sierra Splendor
a view toward Mt. Whitney Portal from Lone Pine
18 x 24 oil on canvas
SOLD
More Sierra Nevada paintings here
Some time this fall we’re going to return to the area again for another painting and research trip. A new collector has tipped me off to some beautiful painting spots in the area – and it’s a trip I’m eagerly anticipating.
Lacy Park San Marino Plein Air California Oil Painting – Fourth of July 2009
Lacy Park on the Fourth of July 2009
9 x 12 plein air painting
SOLD
Click the image for a higher quality, larger version.
Interested in this painting? Please write.
Remember that old “Chicago” song … “Saturday, in the park, I think it was the fourth of July.”
Well, this time it really was! My husband and I have gone to Lacy Park in San Marino through the years, but it’s never livelier than on the fourth when everyone turns out for picnicking and fireworks.
There was so much color and excitement everywhere I hardly knew where to begin. Finally I settled on this familiar view of the palms surrounding the big lawn. By the time we left there was hardly a patch of green grass to be seen.
For those people who stopped by to take a peek at my work in progress, here’s the finished version, soon to be signed and framed.
La Canada Angeles Crest Landscape Oil Painting – Karen Winters
“Snow on the Crest”
16 x 20 oil on canvas
This is a view into the Crescenta Canada Valley from a high road in Flintridge, near the Sacred Heart Academy. The 210 freeway can be seen on the left as it passes the upper Arroyo Seco. The mountains are the San Gabriel range. Last winter, a snowstorm left a dusting of snow on the Angeles Crest Forest. It only lasted a few days but I had the opportunity to take some early morning pictures of this rare occurrence. By the next day, most of the snow had vanished.
Now that the temperatures have reached the high 90s locally, I thought it was a good time to think about something cool.
San Juan Capistrano Train Station Plein Air Oil Painting by Karen Winters
SOLD
Capistrano Train Station
9 x 12 oil on linen panel
Plein air painting – June 2009
This painting is sold but I have others of Capistrano. Please write
Among the other locations we explored during our week in San Clemente was nearby San Juan Capistrano. The old train station is a picturesque diversion bordering the Los Rios Historical District.
I found a good spot in the shade and had fun talking to people as I painted.
California Golden Hills – Oak Landscape Plein Air Oil Painting
California Golden Hills
11 x 14
Plein air oil painting
Interested in this painting? Please write
This painting is currently on exhibition in the San Clemente Art Association Gallery, in San Clemente, CA.
Much of the week in San Clemente we experienced “June gloom” – that cool gray marine layer that covers the seacoast until early afternoon. Although paintings in the gloom do have a certain mystery to them, I was looking for a more colorful subject, and so we traveled inland along the Ortega Highway to find this vista at Caspers Park. But really, it could be anywhere in the state – the golden hills studded with oaks is so typical of our scenery.
Just for fun, I included a photo of me, mid-painting, on location. You can see my preliminary sketch on the easel, above the canvas. If I have the time I always try to do a sketch because it helps me to organize my thoughts and not to “get lost” as I strive to capture the scene on canvas. Here are the steps I usually take:
1) select an appealing scene
2) do a value sketch
3) draw the “bones” of the scene on canvas
4) put in the darks
5) put in the lights
6) refinement
If the light is rapidly changing, though, all bets are off, and sometimes you just have to paint whatever is most ephemeral. In this case, I knew that the cloud shadows might go away, so I painted them first, saving the golden grasses for last.
More paintout paintings to come …
Above San Clemente Coastal Plein Air Seascape Skyline Painting
“Above San Clemente”
8 x 10 oil
The view from Salvador Drive, high above San Clemente, about 5:30 in the evening
This painting is on exhibit at the San Clemente Art Association Gallery, until July 31.
If you are not in the area but are interested in purchasing, please write me and I will contact the gallery.
This was one of the paintings I did for the plein air paintout – at the end of a very long day painting in other locations. It portrays the silvery bay in late afternoon light from the vantage point of Salvador Drive, up Presidio, east of the city. The sun was just out of the frame, and I was trying to keep it under the brim of my hat – not easy! My husband took this picture of the painting on the easel at the end, just as the sky was starting to turn warmish. I thought it looked kind of neat backlit by the sun.
More of my work from the paint out will be posted all this week, so please check back.
Painting a kildeer from life in Dana Point California – oil painting study
Kildeer on ground nest – plein air painting
“6 x 8” oil on canvas board
The paintout continues in San Clemente. Today, I had a rare opportunity, very unexpected, to do an oil painting of a bird from life. We were walking along a bluff in Dana Point and suddenly saw a kildeer guarding its nest – only a few feet from where we were walking. The brave little bird stood its ground even though we were very close. I found a place to sit down about 6 feet away and my husband brought me a small 6 x 8 inch canvas panel and a palette and my plein air bag. I didn’t want to take the risk of standing up at an easel and scaring it – and besides, I was closer to it on the ground. For more than an hour the bird sat motionless except to occasionally turn its head. Eventually it stood up and called to its mate for a break. It is a kildeer behavior to take turns incubating the eggs. I have never had the privilege of painting a wild animal (not caged) from life before and hope that sometime it will happen again. Although the eggs were completely under the bird, I took the liberty of showing one partly exposed. They are speckled black and gray and blend in perfectly with the rocky sandy ground where they are laid in a shallow depression.
I won’t be entering this painting in the San Clemente competition although I will have it for sale in my booth. I doubt that anyone would believe it was “plein air” – imagine a bird sitting still for an hour. And yet, it happened!
