California Landscape Spring Pastel Painting – Quiet Spring Reflections – Western Sierra Foothills – by Karen Winters
Quiet Spring Reflections
9 x 12 pastel on sanded paper
Western Sierra Foothills, near Visalia
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See more of my California landscapes here
I enjoy pastel painting although I don’t do it as often nowadays as oil. But I’m getting back into it. For this subject, I thought the soft spring foliage lent itself to the soft buttery texture of the pastel on sanded paper. I toned the paper first with a warm under painting, then let it dry, then painted into it directly with hard, then soft pastels, finally accented with pastel sticks.
Pastel has advantages over oil: there is less opportunity to make mud when working in layers alla prima. But there is the disadvantage of not being able to use transparent layers in the same way one can with watercolor and oil.
Surprisingly, I use many of the same techniques that I do in oil. Instead of doing drybrush, I drag the side of the pastel horizontally over a layer. Negative painting is much the same as with oil. Edges can be lost and found in much the same way. Getting the color right is the most difficult part. Virtually any color can be mixed with a warm and cool of each primary, plus black and white, in oil. In pastel you need to have a kaleidoscope of sticks unless you mix and blend some on the paper.
Whichever medium I choose, it’s still California impressionism and I think it still looks like something painted by me.
Pride Mountain Vineyard – Napa California Vineyard Oil Painting by Karen Winters
“Pride Mountain Vineyard, Autumn 2010”
9 x 12 vineyard oil painting on plein air linen panel
Private Collection (sold)
This painting is sold, but you can see more of my vineyard paintings here
Last autumn, while visiting our children over Thanksgiving, we had the pleasure of visiting this wonderful vineyard on Spring Mountain near St. Helena, above Napa Valley, California. The wines were superb and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour which was given by a very knowledgeable and entertaining man who was also a refugee from the advertising business, like me. The day was magical in every way. We picnicked on a hillside overlooking the vineyard fall color. Bread, wine, cheese, sausages, more wine, fall color, crisp air … ahhhh.
This commissioned painting evolved out of that delicious fall inspiration. I’d love to go back there again to paint in another season – maybe while the grapes are still on the vines.
Show reminder: The California Art Club 100th Annual Gold Medal show continues at the Pasadena Museum of California Art – through April 21. Check the museum website for days and hours. Be sure to see my painting, “Gaviota Springtime.” It’s in the side room where the smaller works are hung.
Malibu Seascape Oil Painting – Malibu Memories by Karen Winteres
“Malibu Memories”
6 x 6 inches
oil on plein air panel
The end of a beautiful day in Malibu, as the marine layer rolls in, the sun tints the clouds a warm shade of pink. The tide is coming in, gently touching the shore. What a wonderful spot for a wedding or a proposal!
This miniature painting would look wonderful in a gold plein air frame.
Central California Sierra Foothills Oil Painting “The Hay Barn” by Karen Winters
“The Hay Barn”
6 x 6 inches
Central California Sierra Foothills (western side)
Original Oil painting on plein air panel
SOLD
More Sierra Nevada paintings here
While attending a California Art Club paint out in the Sierra foothills a few years ago, I came upon this scene of an old hay barn framed by eucalyptus with wildflower hills in the background. I thought the setting was a perfect representation of some of my favorite California things. Eucalyptus, of course … wildflowers in the hills … and rural agriculture. This small study will be a starting point for a larger painting on the same theme.
Peaceful Pasture – Equestrian Miniature California Landscape Painting
Peaceful Pasture
(Central California)
6 x 6 inches, oil painting on canvas
SOLD
Last weekend we spent some time up in San Luis Obispo for the opening of the California Art Club’s “Gems of the Central Coast” show at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. We had a great time seeing old friends and making some new ones, too. Once you get out of Los Angeles you really begin to appreciate the rural beauty of the state and the quiet moods of hills, pastures, marshes and mountains. Driving up the 101 we saw many ranches with scenes just like this.
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
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Western Sierra Wildflower Landscape Painting – Earth Rainbow by Karen Winters
“Earth Rainbow”
(Western Sierra Wildflower Oil Painting)
9 x 12 inches
SOLD
See more of my California wildflower paintings here
When morning light touches the wildflower strewn meadows of the Western foothills of the Sierra, the poppies and lupines seem to light up from within – the blue violets and golden yellows competing for the sun’s attention. In the distance the valley oaks are putting on their spring foliage. The leaves emerge as a sort of pinkish beige, then eventually green up as the weeks go on. This season of color is all too short, but glorious while it lasts. We’re hoping that all the rainfall will bring another good year to this special part of California.
Fields of Peace – Los Osos Valley Road, San Luis Obispo County California Landscape Painting by Karen Winters
“Fields of Peace”
11 x 14 inches oil painting on canvas
Central Coast California, near Los Osos
(San Luis Obispo County)
In late spring, the ranch land near San Luis Obispo starts to turn from green to a dusky brown. Here and there the dried remains of earlier grasses take on hues of violet and umber. Coastal scrub plants provide a stark contrast with their fresh green foliage. Eucalyptus, of course, stay green year round – the ever-constant providers of shade and windbreaks. As the marine layer moves in from the sea to the west, the clouds catch the light of the lowering sun and turn shades of peach and apricot.
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 Wine Country Vineyard Oil Painting – by California impressionist Karen Winters
“In The Vineyard Hills”
9 x 12 oil on wood panel
original oil painting
SOLD
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
Sierra Landscape Oil Painting – Bishop Windbreak, Owens Valley by Karen Winters
“Bishop Windbreak, Owens Valley”
California Sierra Landscape Oil Painting
16 x 20 oil on canvas
More Sierra Nevada paintings here
The first time that I painted this stand of trees, I thought they were aspens. The leaves were similar in shape, but the trunks are not the characteristic aspen white. The trunks looked more like cottonwoods – but the silhouette of the shape was more poplar like, and didn’t have the rounded tops.
A little net searching led me to discover that the the tree is actually a Lombardy poplar – and it is a variation of the black cottonwood. The whole botanical name is Populus nigra sp. Italia. So it’s both a black cottonwood and a poplar – and I think now my curiosity is satisfied. Whatever they are, these stately trees form excellent windbreaks along pastures near Bishop.
