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.

Eaton Canyon Hike – California impressionist oil painting by Karen Winters

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“Eaton Canyon Hike”
Eaton Canyon, Altadena – San Gabriel Mountains
9 x 12 oil painting on linen plein air panel

This painting is now sold, but I have more at Pasadenapaintings.com

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In fall, when the sycamores turn, Eaton Canyon reveals its dusky side. We’ve recently had some beautiful cloud formations – it’s an early harbinger of fall. Soon the chaparral will put on its own fall finery. This trailhead starts near the parking lot, skirts the west side of the canyon and continues northward for several miles.

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

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“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.

Sunrise in the Oaks – Tejon Ranch California plein air Landscape impressionist oil painting by Karen Winters


“Sunrise in the Oaks”
11 x 14 oil on linen plein air panel
Tejon Ranch, May 2012


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REMINDER – Artists reception for my show at Gale’s Restaurant, Sunday, May 20 – 4-6 pm, 452 S. Fairoaks Ave., Pasadena

Good morning, Tejon. A small band of intrepid California Art Club plein air painters woke at 4 am to get to the ranch and queue up in our vehicles to be on site before the sun rose. I had found my perfect spot – on Sycamore Creek, looking eastward just as the sun peeked over the hills and made the leaves of the old oak dazzle with the backlight. I had to bundle up and dress in layers, knowing that before long I’d be peeling them off as the day turned warm. This, like all of the Tejon Ranch, is absolutely beautiful – a real treat for plein air painters. We appreciate the invitation and the privilege to be there.

California landscape oil painting- Vineyard and Eucalyptus trees – Summer’s Splendid End by Karen Winters

“Summer’s Splendid End”
16 x 20
California impressionist oil painting

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Golden vineyards, eucalyptus trees, rural agriculture and warm golden light. What could be more perfectly “California.”

Interested in other vineyard paintings?
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See more of my vineyard paintings here

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New Beginnings – California Sunrise Landscape Oil Painting by Karen Winters

“New Beginnings”
11 x 14 oil on linen

This painting represents the way dawn light falls on an old oak tree, in a California coastal meadow. I painted it as a study perhaps in preparation for a larger painting, but I’m keeping this one.

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San Gabriel Springtime – California landscape impressionist oil painting San Gabriel Mountains

“San Gabriel Springtime”
18 x 24 oil painting on canvas
San Gabriel Mountains – near Claremont Wilderness Park, Padua Hills
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Although this painting is sold, I have other landscapes.
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Spring arrives with new growth in the chapparal. Clouds race across the sky, allowing shafts of sunlight to illuminate the blooming hills, bright with wildflowers. Trails wind through the landscape, offering new views at every turn.

Spring Pasture in the Western Sierra Foothills Oil Painting by California Landscape artist Karen Winters



“Spring Pasture in the Western Sierra”
8.75 x 4.75″ oil on linen on board

I had a leftover piece of linen from a plein air panel making project, so I decided to put it to use with this small horizontal study of a farm in the western Sierra foothills in California. Eucalyptus trees shelter the outbuildings.