Casa Adobe de San Rafael plein air style oil painting art

“Casa Adobe de San Rafael – Sanchez house”
9 x 12 inches, oil on plein air panel
Available

This past spring, looking for a little break from the isolation of the pandemic, we took a walk around this beautiful adobe in Glendale.
The jacaranda trees were blooming and it seemed to pull us back in time to a quieter moment. The building has been in continuous use since it was built in 1865 when it was the home of Tomas Avila Sanchez and Maria Sepulveda. Sr. Sanchez was the first sheriff of Los Angeles and a third-generation Californian.


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“Season of the Superbloom” oil painting California poppies

 

“Season of the Superbloom”
California poppies
9 x 12 inches, oil painting on linen plein air panel

There’s no doubt, this past springtime, 2019, was one of the best seasons ever for wildflowers in California. At least one of the best in recent memory. There was a time when all of the hills and valleys were covered with these spectacular blooms from north to south.


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Paso Robles Vineyard Sunset California landscape oil painting

SOLD

Paso Robles Vineyard Sunset
12 x 16 oil painting on canvas
Off highway 46, near Paso Robles, California in wine country

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This is a painting I’ve been meaning to paint for a long time – the beautiful colors of sunset drenching a warm California landscape. The vines had just been harvested and a mid autumn chill was in the air. How I love the central coast – it’s such an inspiring place to paint.

Grand Canyon plein air oil painting El Tovar view

View From El Tovar
Grand Canyon plein air oil painting
9 x 12 oil on plein air panel

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December 2012

Another of my plein air paintings from Grand Canyon, South Rim. This one was painted near the El Tovar Hotel, the majestic old inn on the edge of the canyon. The time of day is near sunset. Below, some photos of the work in progress

Chasing Clouds – Carmel Valley Road landscape oil painting

“Chasing Clouds”
8 x 10 oil
Carmel Valley Road landscape,
Monterey Peninsula
Available


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On our way back from the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival this year, we drove up highway 1 through Big Sur, spent a night in Carmel, then returned via Carmel Valley Road. This beautiful “back road” features wonderful hills covered with oaks. The day we passed through, the clouds were spectacular, so I decided to focus on them in this painting.

If you look to the left side of the blog, you’ll see I’ve gotten around to updating my sold painting list. I haven’t put my new sold paintings there since January, and this year’s almost 50 sold works are now featured. I sort of wish that I could see a pattern in what appeals to my wonderful collectors, but it appears that their tastes and interests are as broad as mine. Some paintings are large, some very small. There are seascapes, animals, genre paintings, flowers, fruit, landscapes … and the subject matter is from every part of California.

Sunset Eucalyptus California impressionist oil painting by Karen Winters

Sunset Eucalyptus
oil painting
8 x 10 inches

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I love paintings sunsets, and eucalyptus. These eucs near Pepperdine University at Malibu, California, were a natural subject choice for me.

Paso Robles Pathway – Central Coast California impressionist ranch oil painting


Paso Robles Pathway
8 x 10 oil on plein air panel
Painted for the 2012 San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival
SOLD

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Not far from Paso Robles, in San Luis Obispo County, rural roads wind through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen. This ranch was tucked into the hills and surrounded by big, beautiful oak trees. A few cattle were grazing in the distant pasture.
This painting bears the official stamp of the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival, 2012, on the reverse side.

Six of my 2012 SLO paintings have already found new homes. If you’re interested in having one for your own, don’t wait. I’ve updated my website to include these new works, so you don’t have to wait for them to be posted here on my blog.

At the Hacienda – Mission San Antonio de Padua Plein air painting by Karen Winters

“Meanwhile, at the Hacienda”
9 x 12 oil on linen panel
plein air painting – painted at Mission San Antonio de Padua
California Central Coast area

During the California Art Club paint out at the mission, I came upon this small guest house which intrigued me as a painting subject. In the late afternoon light, I could imagine it as an old California adobe, cool inside in spite of the surrounding heat. Some early model chickens miraculously appeared where a late model car had been.

California impressionist wildflower painting by Karen Winters

california landscape oil painting pepper tree san gabriel mountains impressionist art

“Those Fields, Those Hills”
9 x 12 oil on hardboard plein air panel

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Springtime in Southern California brings the awakening of wildflowers to the hillsides. Some of the dried grasses of winter remain, but the cheery California sunflowers brighten the scene. This hillside was not strewn with wild mustard, as many are, but had a profusion of small beige and white flowers, plus helianthus californicus, the California sunflower.

The large tree is a pepper tree. The foliage of its soft branches seem to drift and sway in the wind, not unlike a weeping willow.

Tejon Ranch California Oak Landscape Plein Air Painting – Welcome Shade

SOLD
“Welcome Shade”
9 x 12 oil on plein air linen panel
Painted at the Tejon Ranch, May 2012


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In the middle of a warm spring day, just about high noon, a mighty Tejon Ranch oak spreads its limbs to offer shade to all who visit. Cattle, mostly, but most likely some other critters, too. This majestic tree was silhouetted against the rolling hills and mountains of the ranch. Wherever you look, beauty surrounds you, making it a real treat for plein air painters – even during the part of the day when the light is less than dramatic. (That’s why we get up at dawn and stay painting until moonrise, when we can.

Below, a photo of my work in progress. There were occasional gusts of wind which threatened to topple my umbrella. A road hazard sawhorse came in handy. Sometimes you’ve just got to improvise.