Newport Back Bay California Estuary Landscape Painting

“Back Bay Afternoon”
12 x 16 oil painting on canvas
Back Bay, Orange County(Upper Newport Beach Preserve)

See more of my Newport Beach paintings here

I’ll be bringing this painting with me this weekend to SoCal PAPA’s annual “Paint the Parks” show at the Katie Wheeler Library Gardens, 13042 Old Myford Rd, Irvine, 92602. I’ll have about 19 other paintings as well – featuring Orange County scenes as well as other landscapes and seascapes around California.

Back Bay Sunset – Newport Beach impressionist oil painting on plein air panel – by Karen Winters


SOLD “Golden Moments – Back Bay Sunset”
6 x 6 inches
Oil on linen plein air panel

At the end of the day, the sun glistens on the water in Newport’s Back Bay. This miniature painting captures the feeling of the radiant light, shining on the wetlands.

See more of my Newport Beach paintings here

See more of my seascapes here

Morning at the Cove – Baywood Park, Morro Bay California Impressionist Plein Air Painting by Karen Winters

“Morning at the Cove”
8 x 10 plein air oil painting on linen panel
Cuesta Cove, Baywood Park (near Morro Bay, Los Osos area)
California Central Coast
SOLD

This plein air painting was done last weekend while I was up in San Luis Obispo attending the opening of the California Art Club “Gems of the Central Coast” show at the San Luis Obispo Art Museum. The morning after the reception, some of my painting friends and I went over to this picturesque area. When I began to paint, the tide was in and the water was very still, allowing a beautiful reflection of the eucalyptus grove. By the time an hour had passed, the wind came up and the reflection was gone. Such is the plein air life!

Tomales Bay, Marin County Plein Air Landscape Painting by Karen Winters

Tomales Bay Twilight
Plein Air Oil Painting
8 x 10 inches
Oil on linen panel

The Monday after Thanksgiving, we drove up into Marin County to enjoy the landscape, seascapes and the vineyards. As the day was drawing to a close, we drove around Tomales Bay and I was captured by the serene beauty of the fading light on the water. Small birds floated by and it was a magical sight. My husband knows when I get that “call me crazy” look in my eye – so we quickly set up my easel and I tried to capture as much of the scene as I could before the color was completely gone from the sky.

Avalon Harbor Catalina Painting – Taking the High Road

“Avalon Harbor – Taking the High Road”
9 x 12 pastel painting
Avalon Harbor, Catalina Island

(Available at Segil Fine Art beginning August 28 for the “Colors of Catalina” Group Show)

A high road winds up, up, up around Avalon Harbor. At every turn, stately eucalyptus trees provide foreground interest for the tranquil scene below. I have been enjoying doing some pastel paintings along with my usual oils. This one was painted on archival museum board and framed like an oil painting using anti-reflective museum glass. I used to mat my pastels, but I haven’t done that for my most recent projects.

Avalon at Night – Catalina Island Oil Painting

“Avalon at Night”
Catalina Island Oil Painting
12 x 24 inches
Oil on Canvas


See more Catalina Island paintings here

This painting will be included in a group show at Segil Fine Art, themed “Colors of Catalina.” The artists’ reception will be September 11 from 5 to 7 pm. At night the lights of Avalon Harbor gleam against the deep blue ocean. Catalina has been a popular getaway spot for Southern Californians (and many others) for a century. We’ve enjoyed visiting from before our kids were born. Camp Fox provided other reasons for family getaways. Now it beckons again – its own unique charm is wonderful for painters.

Newport Back Bay Twilight – Newport Beach California estuary marine oil painting

Back Bay Twilight
(Upper Newport Bay – “Back Bay,” California)
9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
Plein air oil painting
SOLD

This is sold, but you can see more of my Newport Beach paintings here

This was one of the paintings that I took to the Newport Back Bay show last weekend, one of several which went home with new collectors. What a great weekend it was meeting so many new people and sharing my love of art with them. The weather was beautiful. Good times all around.

Now I’m painting for several upcoming shows but my outdoor show schedule will settle down until early September when I do the Montrose Artwalk again, followed by the Bowers Museum Invitational show. It’s good to have a few weeks off to regroup, get out and paint some new work for fall exhibitions.

Silvery Streams – Newport Back Bay Oil Painting

“Silvery Streams”
8 x 10 oil on canvas panel

Juried into SoCal PAPA’s Newport Back Bay Show – July 23-25, Muth Interpretive Center, Newport Beach

This was painted in Rigel Park in Newport, about a month or so ago, for the SoCal Plein Air Painters Assn. biennial show and sale which will be taking place this weekend. The artists reception is 6-9 pm Friday evening. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll attend.

This small painting was challenging to do not only because of the changing light at sunset but also because the tide was coming in and the patterns of water among the estuary sand bars didn’t stay the same for long.

Kayaking on Back Bay – Newport Back Bay Oil Painting

Kayaking on Back Bay
acrylic
11 x 14

When I was painting this, I liked the scene, but I liked it even better when some kayakers glided through the bay. There was a good place for them so I put them in.

This is one of two paintings that I painted for the upcoming SoCal Plein Air Painters Association Juried Show at the Muth Center, in the Upper Newport Bay next Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25. In addition I will be exhibiting about 18 other paintings of Southern California in this 50 artist outdoor group exhibition and sale.

I’ve decided that in addition to getting around the state and exploring different areas, I should also explore some places closer to home. Orange County, and the areas around Laguna, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Dana Point are among the locations that I’ve been painting at, and will continue to appreciate in paint.

Through the Bowers Museum show and various California Art Club events, as well as through the San Clemente Plein Air paint out and studio painting opportunities at Randy Higbee’s store and gallery… I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a number of SoCal PAPA artists. It was the right time to join the group and have fun participating in some of their shows, too.

Here’s one thing that’s tricky about classifying a painting like this. It’s an estuary, so technically it’s a marine painting. But is it a seascape? A landscape? A sea-landscape? I’m going to list it in both categories, just to be contrary.

Malibu Lagoon – California seascape oil painting

Malibu Lagoon
11 x 14
oil on canvas

This is one of the paintings I’ll be bringing to the Allied Artists Art Show and Sale this Sunday, October 18 at the Malibu Nature Preserve, 33905 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu.

It will probably be one of the last big outdoor shows of the season, so I hope that you’ll have a chance to come out and enjoy the weather at the coast. I was up in the Sierra last week, but we got rained out, so I hope to return again in a week or two, as we did last year.