California Landscape Spring Oil Painting – Eaton Canyon Pasadena
“Gentle Springtime”
11 x 14 oil painting on hardboard panel
Eaton Canyon, near Pasadena, California
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I started this plein air painting a few years ago and got distracted with other things and didn’t finish it up. Now that it’s almost springtime again, it seemed like a good time to revisit it and complete it. Since then, I’ve bought an artworks essentials EasyL which is much easier to transport, and doesn’t require a separate easelmate to hold things, like this Yarka did. I like the fact that I can raise the tripod with the Easy L so I’m not looking down at the painting. I’m tall and I always ended up with a backache at the end of the day from slightly bending over at the waist. A good friend of mine said that the Yarka is great for carrying pastels outdoors, however, so I might set it up with that. Almost every plein air painter I know has a collection of easels that they try, in search of the perfect one. The biggest advantage of this old Russian Yarka is that it’s light and sets up in about 1 minute. The down side is its height and lack of adaptability to carry wet panels of all sizes.
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.
Can Spring Be Far Away? California Landscape Painting Oaks and Chapparal
“Can Spring Be Far Away?”
8 x 10 plein air oil painting on linen panel
San Gabriel Mountains, California native plants
Near La Canada Flintridge
These days the sycamores are beginning to show a little color. (Those trees in the background with white trunks.)
The buckwheat is putting on green growth (the shrubby bushes in the foreground) and the live oaks even look a little fresher around the edges, even though they never really lose their leaves like their deciduous friends. (Oaks are on the right side.)
Yup, the signs are all there that spring is on the way – which arrives earlier in California than most of the country, sorry about that. The joggers have abandoned their heavy sweatshirts, and a few souls are running in shorts.
California Landscape Los Olivos Oak Tree Sunset by Karen Winters
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“Reaching for the Sunset”
Los Olivos Oak Tree
California Central Coast wine country oil painting
8″ x 16″
oil on canvas
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
When we were recently driving through California’s Central Coast Wine Country (made more popular by the movie “Sideways,”) we happened to be near Los Olivos at sunset. I saw this beautiful oak tree and loved the way it looked surrounded by sunset clouds. But not the westward clouds, but the pink tinged ones in the east.
California plein air seascape Morro Bay Cuesta Cove – A Walk by the Bay
“A Walk by the Bay”
(Cuesta Cove, near Morro Bay and Baywood Park)
12 x 9″ plein air oil painting on linen panel
Central California
This painting was started en plein air last springtime, and I am getting around to finishing it up. A beautiful little inlet near Morro Bay is the setting. Of course there are eucalypti, which was what attracted me to the setting to begin with. At this time of day the tide was fully in the estuary. Other times, it looks like a mud flat – not a lot of reflected blue sky, then.
California Landscape Wildflower Stream – Eucalyptus and Poppies impressionist original art
Wildflower Stream
6 x 8 inches
oil
Two California icons – eucalyptuses and California poppies, gathered together around a quiet stream. One historical account recalls that in the springtime the hills of Altadena (above Pasadena) were covered with soft green grass and poppies. Streams flowed out of the hills to merge with the San Gabriel River at its confluence.
California Landscape Oak Painting – Oaks by a Country Road – Southern California
“Oaks By a Country Road”
9 x 12 oil on canvas laid on panel
Late afternoon sunshine touches the soft foliage of California live oaks, growing by a country road. There are many parts of the state that still have rural charm, not far from the city. When I was growing up, my father liked to take us for a ride in “the country” on weekends. I think he missed where he grew up, in the Southeast US. Sometimes we’d go up small roads surrounding the San Fernando Valley. When I was a child I couldn’t understand the appeal of Sunday drives. But when you’ve been cooped up in a workplace all week, I now understand how it must have restored him. Plein air painters are fortunate folk. Our workplace is along the byways and backroads. We are blessed to be here.
California Landscape Painting – Central Coast- Sycamore Breezes
Sycamore Breezes
8 x 10 inches oil on linen panel
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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
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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.
See more of my vineyard paintings here
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
