A fall garden, plein air
Fall Garden – 9 x 12 – oil on board
A little plein air painting at Huntington Gardens – in a fall mood. In the foreground: mexican bush sage, backed up by red amaranthus. The green clump was another sage but I don’t know the name of the plant with the yellow foliage. I’ll try to ID it on my next trip. The day was gray and overcast but it made the colors “pop” in comparison.
Tonight I had the great delight of watching watercolorist Fealing Lin paint a demo. Last month I saw her paint a landscape – this month, at a different art group meeting, she did a fantastic loose portrait. Seeing her use of color and wet-into-wet techniques was inspiring and made me want to reach for my palette.
Desert Morning – Daily Painting
Desert Morning 5″ x 7″ oil
My thanks to those of you who have sent such thoughtful emails recently – either asking questions about my painting practice or what it’s like to be a full-time painter juggling family responsibilities: your questions have given me the opportunity to reflect on what I’m doing, and your supportive thoughts are appreciated more than you know.
This very small painting was done quite quickly a few days ago as an exercise in establishing a scene economically with the use of color, value and shape.
This weekend (Sat., October 20) I’m going to be doing a plein air paintout at the University of Redlands, as part of their centennial celebration. On Saturday the 27th of October we’ll be showing and selling our work. If you’re in the area, please stop by and say hi (either on the painting day or the showing day.)
Sheltering Sycamore
“Sheltering Sycamore” 8 x 10 oil
SOLD
This is the last of my Descanso demonstration paintings, which I finished yesterday afternoon. It is a local painting of a clump of sycamore trees only a mile or so from our house at the edge of the Angeles National Forest. I have painted this cluster before – and they are beautiful in every season. Some autumns, the sycamores turn a range of colors from red orange to green gold to yellow. In other years the leaves simply turn a dusty brown and fade. I suppose that it depends upon what the weather is doing – or perhaps it’s a matter of drought and what kind of summer it was.
I will be at the gallery most of the day today, Thursday, and tomorrow a new group of painters will arrive. Then, it will be time to turn my attention back to some larger paintings and framing some of the juried works for upcoming shows.
Vineyard Oak
Vineyard Oak – 9 x 12 original oil painting
SOLD
We are winding down at the gallery – only three days to go before we pack up and go home on Thursday night. It’s been a good run – an interesting and educational experience in many ways. This painting was started today at the Carriage House and finished at home. As much as I enjoy painting in public I still need some quiet time alone to bring a piece to completion. My guess is that this stately oak will remain growing for some time and will not end up as a barrel. In fact, I believe these evergreen live oaks are protected species.
The inspiration for this painting was a road leading out of Paso Robles, off the 101 freeway. This is central coast wine country where the climate is just right to produce a wide range of varietal wines.
Drifters in the Stream – and still celebrating!
SOLD
“Drifters in the Stream” – 12 x 16 – oil on canvas
Accepted into California Art Club’s biannual show, opens Nov. 3
We were celebrating yesterday because I just found out that my oil painting “Drifters in the stream” was accepted into the California Art Club’s biannual show at the Pasadena Women’s City Club at the Blinn House in Pasadena. The show, themed “Rivers and Harbors: Sources and Confluences” will open Saturday November 3 with the artists reception from 5-7 pm. So if you’re in So. Cal and would like to come see a lot of new art, including my painting and a painting by my friend and co-exhibitor at Descanso Gardens, Laura Wambsgans, please join us.
My painting (above) was inspired by a small koi-filled stream at Descanso Gardens where fall leaves were swirling in an eddy. I was captivated by the abstract patterns that were made by the leaves, the reflections of the oak trees above and the moving water. I did a Moleskine sketch on site and have been intrigued with the image ever since.
So, after I got the notice in the mail, we went out for some antipasti at a local Italian restaurant, and my dear husband snapped this shot of notoriously camera-shy me. There’s a little glass of champagne in my right hand in commemoration of this very happy week.
Also, tomorrow (Saturday) is my artists reception for Brand 36, works on paper, at the Brand Library Gallery in Glendale: 4-7 pm, so if you see me there, stop and say hi! I’ll be the one with the big silly grin on my face!
Desert Hills – Daily Painting
“Desert Hills” – 5″ x 7″ pastel
The colors of the desert near Palm Springs provided the inspiration for this small pastel painting, which I worked on today. It was quite gray and drizzly today at the show, but it didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of our visitors.
Just to give you an idea of what a difference a frame can make, here’s an example of how this little painting might look with a simple gold frame
Under Autumn Skies – Arroyo Seco – Pasadena
“Under Autumn Skies” – 11 x 14 oil on canvas
SOLD
This was the painting I worked on yesterday at Descanso Gardens’ Carriage House Gallery. I did a good part of it during the day while I gallery-sat, then finished the rest at home in the evening.
The place is the upper Arroyo Seco, north of Devil’s Gate Dam – AKA “Hahamongna Park.” When the weather starts to turn the river-loving willow trees turn yellow and big puffy clouds billow over the San Gabriel Mountains, as they did a few days ago. But the graceful eucalyptuses continue to provide a gray-green accent, year round.
Today I worked on a still life painting, which I will try to finish up this evening or in the next few days.
Although I am used to painting every day, the experience of demonstrating for the public every day has been good for me. The response has been positive and people really seem to enjoy seeing art as it is being made. If you’re in Southern California, I hope you can come up for a visit before the show ends at 4 pm October 11!
On Descanso Pond – La Canada
“On Descanso Pond” 5 x 7″ oil on gessoed board
SOLD
There is a large pond (or a small lake) at Descanso Gardens where migrating birds stop to rest. Turtles swim in the water and herons are commonly seen wading in the distance along the far shore. A large white goose seems to be the king of the roost. Today I painted this small landscape while visitors passed by the gallery.
I’m very happy with how it turned out, and at the suggestion of my co-exhibitor Laura, I think I will use it as a basis for a much larger painting. If this dries quickly I might even bring it back to our reception on Sunday – party time – noon to four!
We had many pleasant talks, and I especially enjoyed my time with a very precocious young lady of 3 or 4 who was very interested in mixing colors. We discussed the names of everything on my palette and I mixed a few colors to show her how it all worked. At the end she picked out a sunflower from my cards to put in her room. I like the idea of that sunflower greeting her every morning when she wakes up.
I was delighted also to meet a lovely betrothed couple who are going to have their wedding in Greece. I am quickly discovering that one of the very best things about doing the show is all the interesting new and friendly people I get to meet. Painting and good conversation – could there be any better way to spend a day?
Golden Days – Karen Winters Daily Painting
Golden Days – a highway near Lompoc – 12 x 16 oil on canvas
SOLD
This painting will be used in the movie “So We Bought a Zoo,” starring Scarlet Johansen and Matt Damon – Christmas 2011
Windswept – by Karen Winters
“Windswept” 18 x 24 oil on canvas
This new painting was finished just a few days ago, and will be in the show at Descanso Gardens, now just two days away. It’s my favorite painting, so far, for a few reasons. For one, it’s the largest oil painting I’ve attempted and probably represents the most dynamic design. The larger size meant using larger brushes and standing back farther. Although I did the block in part sitting down, all the finishing was done standing, which was a different experience for studio painting. I almost always stand when painting en plein air, but not in studio.
The best part was the inspiration for this piece. A month or so ago we visited our daughter in San Francisco where she was doing her summer internship between the two years of her MBA program. We went up to Mt. Tamalpais for the day and had great time wandering through a redwood grove. On the way back we got caught up in the traffic returning over the Golden Gate bridge, and our movement came to a standstill. When I’m a passenger in a car, I almost always have my camera at the ready, and this time, I happened to see a tree clinging to a cliffside we passed. The light was striking it in a particularly dramatic way and I was immediately started thinking of creative possibilities. (It was not a cloudy day – I made that part up.) So because we were frustrated and inconvenienced, this shot became a possibility. Speeding by at 60 mph, it wouldn’t have been.
This incident reminds me of the value of acceptance. Acceptance of things the way they are, rather than how we would like them to be. Possibilities are all around us if we are not fixated on achieving specific results.
For example, you run out of the color of paint you want as you are beginning a painting. Use a different color and see what happens. Water dribbles in the wrong place on your watercolor. Is it an error or a doorway to a new shape that you might not have tried? You leave your pencil sharpener at home and have to sharpen a tool with an exacto knife instead – creating a different sort of edge. I’ve heard stories of artists who suddenly develop an allergy to their medium of choice, and have to switch to another, leading to breakthroughs in their careers. These stories are abundant in art and other endeavors.
Have you had this happen to you? How did it change your art or, even more so, your life? How did acceptance of something unexpected or even unwelcome make a difference for you?
