Santa Barbara Meadow – Karen Winters California Impressionist Oil Painting
Santa Barbara Meadow (at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden)
12 x 16 oil on canvas
Whenever we visit Santa Barbara, I try to make some time to visit their beautiful botanic garden which features native plants in natural settings. Last week my husband went to a seminar up in Santa Barbara and I tagged along to take pictures, visit the museum and the mission and of course, the botanic garden. It was late afternoon when I arrived there, but close to the solstice the days are long. Although the poppies were gone many other summer perennials were blooming, surrounded by sages and plants of every texture and description. The experience has persuaded me to turn part of our yard into a natives habitat – and then not worry so much about watering!
Granted, Santa Barbara’s coastal climate is most likely moister and more even in temperature than our inland valley, but I saw plants that I think would be at home with us.
This is one of the paintings I’ll likely be bringing to our show at Descanso starting August 23, unless it finds a home before then.
Foothill Pines – California Impressionist Oil Painting – Karen Winters
Foothill Pines
6 x 8 oil on canvas
• SOLD
A gentle road winds through California’s Gold Rush Country, where the oaky foothills give way to the first pines of the Sierras. The morning fog lifts in a slight breeze to reveal the radiant hills of mid summer. A moment of pure tranquility!
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Sunset Magic – California Impressionist Painting by Karen Winters
Sunset Magic
12 x 16 oil on canvas – California impressionist landscape
My latest larger sized landscape draws inspiration from the works of George Inness – a Hudson Valley painter who gradually evolved into an impressionistic style (even though he always rejected the term “impressionist” when it was applied to him.) I have been studying his work for the past few weeks, having seen some of his paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago, and then seeing Sun Shower, at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Inness had a unique way of combining realism and impressionism that I admire. And no doubt it was because of the era in which he worked – in the transitional period between the two movements.
Here’s how it looks a dark frame. I wouldn’t put a bright gold frame on a painting like this – the brightness would compete with the sunset.
California Impressionist Oil Painting -La Canada Memories – San Gabriel Mountains – Karen Winters
12 x 16 oil on canvas
“La Canada Memories – Oak Grove Park”
This one is not for sale but was a last Christmas gift to my daughter. But it wasn’t really practical for her to schlep it back on the plane to Northwestern U. so we agreed I’d get it framed up for her to take to her new place in the SF Bay area. So, it’s all finished up and here it is.
This is a scene of Hahamongna Park looking northward to the San Gabriel Mountains. (Formerly Oak Grove Park.) It is right across the street from the high school where Kelly and her brother went to school, as well as right next door to their preschool. So this truly is a hometown painting. Hahamongna Park is also known as the northern part of the Arroyo Seco, an area I’ve painted often and will again in the very near future!
Pacific Palisades Hillside – Will Rogers State Park by Karen Winters, California Impressionist
“California Summer Hillside – at Pacific Palisades, Will Rogers State Park”
Plein air painting 11 x 14 oil on stretched canvas.
Yesterday I enjoyed the company of the Allied Artists of the Santa Monica Mountains for a paint out at Will Rogers State Park in Pacific Palisades.
I saw many faces I knew from the California Art Club, Artists of the Canyon, and other paint-out groups, and we all had a wonderful day enjoying the mild good weather and range of painting subjects.
It was a little breezy and I struggled getting my umbrella to shade my work but finally gave up and positioned my medium sized Yarka easel so that the sun wouldn’t strike it directly. Note to self: bring a sandbag next time for the umbrella and stand. It had been left in the other car.
Because I positioned myself at a trailhead I had the pleasure of talking with many hikers on that beautiful Saturday morning, including some who were quite knowledgeable about impressionism and the growing popularity of plein air painting. It really is undergoing a revival!
After the paintout we enjoyed a potluck lunch and shared stories about galleries, shows, teachers, art products and more. I always have a good time getting together with artists – for all our solitary pursuits we can also be gregarious.
California Mountain – Impressionist landscape oil painting by Karen Winters
“California Mountain”
12 x 16 oil on canvas
This is another in my series of spring landscapes, capturing the beauty of California in an impressionist mood. When I’m out painting and taking pictures for reference I don’t always know the name of the landmarks, especially if they are out of my home territory. But this strong summit is around California’s central coast area.
This painting was such a pleasure for me to paint – especially mixing all the different colors of greens that represent grass covered hillsides, trees, meadows and wildflowers. Can’t you just imagine this in a gold plein air frame? Eternal springtime!
Oak in the Meadow – Santa Monica Mountains – Karen Winters Daily Painting
Oak in the Meadow 12 x 16 inch oil on canvas
Late afternoon light streams across a meadow dotted with oak trees. The glow reminded me of a long ago time in a peaceful place.
In real life, the place is the Santa Monica Mountains – a meadow not far from Malibu Creek State Park. The distant mountain range takes on a violet cast as the sun descends. Soon, even the wildflowers will be covered with deep shadows. Don’t you just want to sit under that tree and listen to the calls of the red-winged blackbirds?
Dana Point Headlands – oil painting – Karen Winters
Dana Point Headlands – 18 x 24 oil on canvas
This brand new painting, shown for the first time here, features the headlands of Dana Point near the Ocean Institute. You can see the face looking out to sea on the sharp edge of the cliff. I don’t know if that’s the author Dana after which Dana point was named or some other mythological figure. If someone reading this knows the answer, please post the answer, ok?
My, what a few weeks this has been! It’s been a steady pace of painting, show-prepping, selling, followup and more painting. I’m loving every minute of it, of course.
The Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden show show went very well. Thanks to all those who purchased works from me, and thanks as well as some very special guests who made the trek out to Claremont to say hello. A few nights ago, I attended A Taste of Art at Gale’s Restaurant in Pasadena, where a group of artists (including me) all donated artwork to be sold to support the AIDS Service Center. It was great food, great wine, tons of good art and all for a wonderful cause.
Now I am back to my everyday painting routine, with many new works to come. So, watch this space … new art is on the way.
May at Malibu Creek – Karen Winters Daily Painting – Art
“May at Malibu Creek”
11 x 14 pastel on board
SOLD
This week has been another week of preparation for a show – this Sunday, June 1 at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. So I haven’t had a lot of extra time for painting but I will try to make up for it, soon.
This is another favorite scene of mine from Malibu Creek State Park. The long lazy trail winds back through the spring grasses, which are beginning to turn golden here and there. Wildflowers decorate the hillsides with swaths of color, and the afternoon glow kisses the chapparal-covered mountainsides.
I was reading a website recently that was extolling the beauty of the Santa Monica Mountains. This area is so close to urban Los Angeles, yet it might as well be out in the wilderness. There is so much natural texture and beauty here – a painter’s delight.
The other day I was sitting in the car in the parking lot while my husband ran into OSH for a few hardware bits. Rather than wrap myself up in an art magazine, I just gazed for a long time at the Verdugo Hills and the clouds drifting above it. I challenged myself to see as many colors and values as I could. Art is not only made with brush or pastel in hand. Sometimes it gestates by just our attentive seeing.
Dreamy Drifting at Malibu Creek – new painting art by Karen Winters
“Dreamy Drifting at Malibu Creek” – 11 x 14 – pastel on board
SOLD
Today I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with master pastellist Bruce Trentham, and this was the result. I had missed a demo by him several months ago, so this was a good opportunity to see him at work.
It was surprisingly similar to working in oil – much more than watercolor. The pigment is formed into sticks rather than being applied with a brush, but the manner of working – from dark to light and using opaque layers in a series of refinements and corrections – felt very familiar.
I think that I will be exploring pastel more – not to the exclusion of oil and watercolor, of course – but as a way to treat a subject quickly and in a painterly way.
When it comes right down to it, most of painting is about composition, value, shape, color and so forth. Whether one uses a brush or a pastel stick is not the main thing – and the principles of painting are the same for all color media that I’ve experienced so far.
For this painting I used a variety of different brands of pastel – from hard square ones to extremely soft and buttery ones. Pastel pencils helped with ome of the fine line work of the branches.
And yes, a pastel work is generally called a painting, not a drawing!
