San Luis Obispo Flower Fields – California impressionist painting – Central Coast
San Luis Obispo Flower Fields
9 x 12
oil on linen plein air panel
SOLD
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This is one of the paintings that I did for the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival, sponsored by the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.
It was painted the first day of the paint out, bright and early Monday morning, along a rural road. A photographer for SLO City News saw me painting by the side of the road and spent some time taking pictures of the work in progress. It was a nice surprise to find out that it made the cover of the paper …
Sycamore Shimmer – California landscape tree oil painting by Karen Winters
Sycamore Shimmer
8 x 10 oil on linen plein air panel
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See more of my sycamore paintings here
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
This painting was painted for the 2012 San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival and hung in the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.
The official festival stamp is on the back side. Sycamores are among our most beautiful California trees, and in the fall they are especially radiant as the colors change.
The active brushwork indicates the way the breeze stirs the leaves of the tree. The use of transparent color creates a luminosity that makes the leaves glow as though light was shining through them.
Before the Harvest – California Central Coast Oil painting
Before the Harvest
12 x 9″ oil on board
San Luis Obispo area
California Central Coast
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I’m getting warmed up for the San Luis Obispo Plein Air festival with this study of some of the agricultural areas, under splendid skies. I love the skies over the Central Coast.
San Simeon – Big Sur California Seascape oil painting by Karen Winters
“Cloudy Day at San Simeon” (Big Sur, California)
12 x 16 oil
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The southern part of Big Sur, California is at San Simeon, the site of Hearst’s Castle. The dramatic ocean cliffs frame the always changing sea. The day I painted this the sun was peeking through from time to time, but overall the scene was moody, with blowing fog and moving clouds. I actually like these sorts of days as well as the ones with bright sunshine.
Below, a photo of me working on it on location:
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 Mission San Antonio de Padua, landscape oil painting by Karen Winters
Mission San Antonio Morning
(San Antonio de Padua, California Central Coast, northwest of Paso Robles)
9 x 12 inches
Oil on linen plein air panel
In early June 2012, I joined a group of other California Art Club artists to paint at Mission San Antonio de Padua, a California mission that is the most “untouched” of the chain. Although some outbuildings and residential quarters have been added, the setting is very much as it might have been hundreds of years ago. This side of the building, the facade where one enters the church, remains much as it was in the early years. By mid day this was all in shade, so morning is the time to catch it. We were up before dawn getting set up to capture the light. We were warned several times to watch out for rattlesnakes. It’s easy to become so focused on what you’re painting that you might not notice one that’s emerged from a hole while you are painting. I didn’t see one, thankfully, but I was certainly careful where I stepped.
Sailing Clouds at my Solo Show – Gale’s Restaurant
“Sailing Clouds”
18 x 24 oil on canvas
(Moonstone Beach, Cambria)
See more of my Cambria paintings here
This painting, “Sailing Clouds,” is one of about 30 currently on exhibit for sale at Gale’s Restaurant in Pasadena, in my 2nd solo show at the venue.
The opening reception is this Sunday, May 20, from 4-6 pm. All are welcome to come see some new art, and enjoy a wonderful wine and cheese event. Gale’s Restaurant is at 452 S. Fairoaks Avenue, Pasadena.
“Sailing Clouds” is from Cambria, California, on the southern edge of Big Sur. It’s an area where I love to paint small studies as well as larger studio works derived from those studies. The image is especially calming, and is a visual retreat for a busy, hectic day. You can almost see the clouds move if you sit quietly.
There’s a quote from Wordsworth that was the inspiration for this title, taken from the poem, “Written in March.” The phrase is “small clouds are sailing.”
Those words stuck with me as I saw these massive ships of vapor and moisture making stately progress across the horizon. I have always enjoyed reading poetry, both western and eastern, and find them to be good sources of ideas for titles of painting. Perhaps it’s because creating visual art and creating poetry are closely aligned. In both cases, the writer or the poet is pointing to an emotion beyond the literal representation of the subject. Much is suggested and implied rather than stated directly. Some art teachers describe a painting’s brushwork as being “poetic.” Conversely, we may describe a poem as “painting a word picture.” William Blake was one of the rare individuals who both painted and wrote poetry. Maybe one day I’ll post some of my old haiku here.
Coming up next: another plein air painting from the Tejon Ranch paint out last week.
The Yearling Sheep oil painting – San Luis Obispo
“The Yearling Sheep”
14 x 18 oil on canvas
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See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
This sweet young sheep was painted from a photo I took last year at the San Luis Obispo Plein air festival. I was near the grounds of the Cal Poly SLO Cheda ranch, and the animals moved close to the area where I was already painting Bishop Peak. The sheep, I read from their website, are managed by students in the Cal Poly animal husbandry program. Several students were out monitoring the flock. I found it interesting that small birds were perched on the backs of many of the sheep, presumably helping themselves to insects in the fleece. It looked like a mutually beneficial relationship. This particular young sheep (a ewe, I’m guessing) was quietly munching and looked up at me with curiosity.
Morro Rock Dunes – Morro Bay Oil Painting – California Central Coast Seascape Impressionist painting by Karen Winters
“Morro Rock Dunes”
9 x 12 oil on canvas
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This is another of the plein air oil paintings which I did last fall at the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival. At the end of the day, as the sun headed for the horizon, the mist from the sea blew in, partly obscuring the large rock. Ice plant provided a colorful counterpoint to the grays and browns of this massive geologic feature.
Peaceful Waters California oil painting – California Art Club Gold Medal Show
SOLD
“Peaceful Waters”
9 x 12 oil on linen
Devereux Slough in Santa Barbara
This painting was accepted into the 101st annual California Gold Medal show, opening Saturday night at a gala party at the Autry National Museum in Los Angeles.
The slough is just on the border of the University of California at Santa Barbara. The morning I was there a marine layer was partly cloaking the beautiful eucalyptus trees, which made created wonderful reflections in the water.
