Good Morning, La Canada Flintridge
“Good Morning, La Canada”
9″ x 12″ oil on canvas on board
For more information about this painting, please write
In our small town, the streets aren’t usually this deserted in the morning, but during the holidays and early weekend mornings there’s definitely less traffic. I decided to leave out the random cars for the sake of reducing clutter.
La Canada Flintridge is a “bedroom” community of Los Angeles. Just 20 minutes or so from downtown, Foothill Blvd. is our main street. This is a view of the corner of Foothill and Oakwood, quite near the Vons market on the left, and La Canada Presbyterian Church on the right (that’s the spire that’s visible.)
After all the paintings I’ve done of Pasadena, the Arroyo Seco, Eaton Canyon, Hahamongna Park, Glendale, Descanso Gardens and other local sites, it’s really about time I got around to painting more of LC itself.
The last time I painted a vertical cityscape it was El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, near the Pasadena Playhouse. This one. So maybe it’s about time for another one.
California Sycamore – Tranquility – Ink Brush Painting
“California Sycamore – Tranquility”
18″ x 18″
SOLD (commission)
This is the matching painting which pairs with the California Live Oak which I posted yesterday. Together, the two frame the dining room door of gentle lady who commissioned their creation. There is always some serendipity with painting. You never know exactly what is going to happen when you put brush to paper, and this is no exception. I knew that I was going to do an ink brush drawing with wash, but when the ink separated on this particular type of paper, the component elements of the black ink separated into shades of gray and taupe … and the taupe is the exact shade of the paint under the wainscoting in her room. I took advantage of this characteristic of the ink to simulate the gray, white and taupe patches which are so characteristic of the California sycamore, but maintaining the feeling of an ink drawing.
Conceptually, the oak tree (seen yesterday) represents strength, stability, fortitude, structure, endurance. I painted the sycamore to represent shelter, grace, resilience and flexibility.
This Saturday night I’m looking forward to going to her Christmas party and seeing them hung in the room, all decked out and lit by candlelight.
Langham Huntington Hotel Wedding reception – plein air painting – Karen Winters
Courtyard Wedding Reception, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 at the Huntington Langham Hotel
Original plein air painting, 9 x 12 oil on linen on board
SOLD
This past Saturday I had the pleasure of painting at the Huntington Langham Hotel in San Marino as a participant in an “artist in residence” program. I was the participant sponsored by the Segil Fine Art gallery in Monrovia. Because a wedding reception was planned for the early evening, I passed the afternoon painting indoors and brought a photo reference to work from. As night fell, wedding guests filtered in from the ceremony which was held in the garden. Although my painting time was up, I couldn’t leave, transfixed by the beautiful party. Within a short period of time it became very difficult to see the guests, so I used a little imagination to fill in the spaces and to make up for my myopia.
I don’t know the happy couple but perhaps some day they will google their wedding date and the name of the Huntington Hotel and find this memory of a very special occasion, and I hope it will bring them a smile. I think I heard someone say that the bride grew up in Shanghai, but that was only a snippet of a conversation overheard in passing.
And yes, I would love to do this again. So if you’re planning a wedding and want a plein air painter to create a unique fine art memory of your event – in a garden, a meadow, a beach or any special place, please feel free to ask.
Brighter Tomorrows – Batiquitos Lagoon Path, near Carlsbad, California – California impressionist oil painting by Karen Winters
Brighter Tomorrows
20 x 24 inches – oil on canvas
Batiquitos Lagoon, near Carlsbad, California, San Diego County
SOLD
This is the largest oil painting I’ve painted so far, and I got a great deal of enjoyment from the process. I’ll likely be doing more larger size works, some in anticipation of my first solo show next May. This one is going to Descanso Gardens for our Encore Holiday show, hanging Friday and continuing at least through January 6 (maybe longer.)
Batiquitos Lagoon is a beautiful wetlands area popular with birders and hikers. We spent the later part of an afternoon there, and can hardly wait to get back for more. Because the light was changing so quickly, this large painting was not painted on site but was done in studio from my own photo references, on-site observations and field notes.
When it came time to name this painting, I first thought of simply entitling it “Batiquitos Lagoon Trail,” but it occurred to me that in these very stressful times something more hopeful and optimistic might better represent the feeling I tried to capture. So it is Brighter Tomorrows, and may yours be brighter with each passing day, too.
California Oak Trail – Impressionist Landscape Oil Painting
Morning on the Trail – Hall Canyon Oaks
Oil on hardboard panel
11 x 14 inches
This is a painting that I began last year, put aside and then worked on again recently with a fresh outlook. I think that all painters have paintings like these. Either we were too busy at the time working on other paintings, or somehow lost interest along the way, or otherwise decided that the time was not right to bring it to finish.
It’s been hanging where I see it whenever I pass by. Enough repetitive glances and I start thinking … what if I tried this, or that? What if I corrected this challenging passage? What if I tried a different color here or there? Or added some different shaped branches?
The fact is, until the time that a painting is signed sold and on its way to a new home, any one may be a “work in progress” and as our experience and vision changes, so does the way we express ourselves. And just as the natural world changes and morphs with time and the seasons, so do we.
California Art Club – Women’s City Club Show
“As the Parade Passed By”
12 x 15 watercolor on paper
Yesterday I was very happy to learn that this painting has been juried into the upcoming California Art Club exhibition, “Concertos in Color” at the historic Blinn House in Pasadena. The opening reception will be December 7, from 5-7 pm and it is free to all to attend. I hope that you will join me there to see wonderful works of art from painters all over California. I am thrilled and honored that this is the third time my work has been included in the biannual show.
I am also posting this as a reminder that the holidays are coming and I am delighted to paint portraits (and other subject matter) on commission. So if you’ve been thinking of a very special gift for a friend, family member or business associate, please write me. (karen@karenwinters.com) … and put commission in the subject line.
California Fall Landscape Oil Painting – Autumn Joy – Karen Winters
Autumn Joy
11 x 14 oil on canvas
(It was cloudy and rainy today so I couldn’t take the painting outdoors into natural light to photograph it, so there is some blurring that is not in the painting. I cant use a flash when the painting is wet, either. I’ll shoot it again when the weather is better. But it does look good in reality.)
In this typical California landscape, sycamore trees blaze with color on a local trail in Southern California. This scene is close to home in La Canada Flintridge, and I may be taking this painting next weekend to the Montrose Artwalk. If you’re a local person, look for me near the bowling alley on Honolulu Avenue in Montrose, zip code 91020.
If you’d like to purchase the painting before I take it to the artwalk, email me … karen@karenwinters.com
I came across a 1985 copy of Southwest Art the other day that had an article about artist Randall Lake, and some advice he had given to a student. Here are a few of the suggestions made:
“There are no short-cuts in this profession. For most of us, creativity has more to do with daily work than momentary inspiration. Don’t wait for the grand vision; work and re-work. When inspiration does come, your skills will be up to the task of using it effectively.”
“Painting is not a nine to five profession. It is a life’s work, whch demands that your schedule will vary.”
“Try many art forms and take risks. By that I mean go beyond what you are comfortable doing. If what you are doing doesn’t have the possiblity of failure, neither will it be brilliant. Exceptional accomplishment in any of the arts has always been the result of risk taking.”
“Always remain a student: learn through research, refinement and experimentation while remaining flexible. To paraphrase Henri Matisse: one should never become a prisoner of one’s style or reputation.”
Good words to live by as an artist!
San Gabriel View – California Impressionist Landscape
San Gabriel View
9 x 12 oil on linen
This painting is the first I’ve painted on linen, inspired by a workshop I took last weekend. The scene is of my own imagination/memory – a view of the San Gabriels in the northern part of the Arroyo Seco, AKA Hahamongna Park. I’ve painted there so many times that it feels like my own back yard.
Elizabeth Tolley, the instructor and gifted plein air painter, teaches a way of using transparent paints along with sheer opaques to get subtle layering effects. I tried out what I learned here, and I like the effect.
I told a friend of mine how much I loved working with the linen surface and she warned me that now that I’ve tried it I’ll be spoiled for painting on anything else. It’s pricey but oh so silky. Sigh …..
Ladyface Mountain Agoura Painting by California Impressionist Karen Winters
“Lovely Ladyface”
5 x 7 inch oil on canvas on board.
SOLD
Write me for more information about this special little painting in the plein air style.
I’m working on some larger paintings at the moment, so here is one from my archives that I haven’t posted before. It’s a spring view of Lady Face (or Ladyface) Mountain near Agoura and Thousand Oaks, California. Dressed in fresh spring garb, the mountain is a beautiful part of the Santa Monica Mountain range.
Although this painting is sold, I’m happy to paint something like it again as a commission.
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See more of my paintings on <a href=”http://www.karenwinters.com”>my website</a>.
Laguna Beach Shores – Oil Painting Seascape by California Impressionist Karen Winters
Laguna Beach Shores
12 x 16 inches, oil painting on canvas
See all of my Laguna Beach paintings here
This painting is for sale. If you are interested in it please write: karen@karenwinters.com and use Laguna Beach Shores in the subject line. This is also on the seascape page of my website, see the link on the right under “Other Places on this Site”
For the past two summers we’ve enjoyed visiting Laguna not only to see the art festival but the sparkling beauty of the landscape, the golden shores and deep turquoise water. This new painting is a result of that inspiration.
What I especially like about this one: I like the contrast of the warm cliffs and sand against the complimentary cool blues and greens of the sea and landscaping of Heisler Park, which overlooks this serene scene.
