Solstice Canyon Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting
Solstice Canyon, Malibu (on the bridge up the trail)
9 x 12
oil on canvas
Click image to see a larger, higher quality picture
Saturday I had the pleasure of going with a group of painting friends to Solstice Canyon, a park in Malibu in the Santa Monica Mountains. When we woke up in the morning (early) it was very dark outside and I came to realize that it wasn’t just our daylight saving time change – the sky was heavily overcast. I debated going or not going, because I generally prefer to paint spring scenes under beautiful clear skies. But I decided to go paint anyway, thinking that maybe it would be a 2-panel day. One before the burnoff and one later.
As it turned out, the overcast skies never really cleared, but there was something about the silvery look and cool blue light that really appealed to me. And it’s a look that I might not have gotten on a typical sunny Malibu day.
In the earliest spring, only a few of the trees had put on their new foliage so a great deal of light came through to illuminate the ground. I can imagine that with a full summer canopy only patches of warm, brilliant light would appear. This is what I love about plein air painting. Even when you have painted a scene before, it’s never the same twice. The weather is different, or the time of day, or the season, and each of those factors interact to create different looks and moods.
Here’s a work in progress shot
California Sycamore Springtime Landscape Painting
Sycamore Spring
11 x 14
oil on canvas
For a few brief weeks in the spring, sycamore trees rapidly put out new growth and are quickly covered with a veil of palest green. This beautiful transformation doesn’t last long, and the leaves quickly turn deep green and expand to the size of a hand.
If you’ve noticed that I’m painting the Santa Monica mountains a lot lately, it’s because spring in this wildflower covered area is truly glorious, and … I’m getting ready for a spring show with the Allied Artists of the Santa Monica mountains and seashore. The date is March 29, a Sunday, from 11 to 4 at Headwaters Corner, which is the intersection of Old Mulholland Drive and Topanga Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. If you’re in So Cal, come say hello.
California Mountain Landscape – San Gabriels – Arroyo Seco Oil Painting
San Gabriel Vista
(from the Arroyo Seco)
14 x 18 oil on canvas
This painting is now SOLD, but I have more at karenwinters.com
This view of the San Gabriel Mountains is from a familiar viewpoint along a trail in the Hahamongna watershed area, formerly known as Oak Grove Park. These days it’s the home of a frisbee golf course, and I have to stay heads up when walking through the zone to get to a painting location. The golfers are pretty tolerant of us hikers and painters, and I try to stay out of their fairways. In the summer my husband and I call this area Snaky Acres and tread carefully among the high grass. Bobcats, mountain lions and other wildlife have been seen here, along with deer, rabbits and abundant bird life.
I started on this painting last fall, when the willlows were starting to turn yellow and the summer grasses were dusty and dun-colored. But the storm clouds rolling in promised the first rains that would germinate the mustard seeds for their spring surge. Now, the whole area is lush and green.
If you’re a walker who likes doing the loop from the Rose Bowl up through the upper Arroyo Seco, or are a Rose Bowl rider who frequently takes your horse for an outing, then I’ll bet you know this view well.
Idyllwild Memories Oil Painting – California Mountain Landscape by Daily Painter Karen Winters
Idyllwild Memories
9 x 12 oil on canvas
SOLD
For information about other Idyllwild paintings, please write.
Idyllwild, California, has always been one of our favorite places to retreat. We began visiting when we were first married, and always loved the beautiful mountain sunsets. Once we stopped our car and watched in awe, while classical music played from a nearby cabin. This is a recreation of that spectacular scene, when the sky was awash with color and all was right with the world. I still like to return, in memory, to that golden time.
Thousand Oaks Conejo Valley Sunset Oil Painting – Karen Winters
Sunset Splendor
Thousand Oaks at Satwiwa Park
9 x 12 oil on linen panel painting
SOLD
Last weekend we enjoyed a beautiful sunset out in Thousand Oaks, in the Santa Monica Mountains near the Satwiwa Village Cultural Center and Boney Mountain. Slight rainfall has made the landscape green with a down of annual rye grass, but the wildflowers have not yet emerged. The sycamores (not seen here) are already pushing out small green leaves. The color was just stunning in the Conejo Valley as twilight came.
Today my dear husband and I are celebrating 35 years of marriage. What a wonderful adventure it has been, and will continue to be. He is my best friend and love, outstanding father to our two grown kids, supporter of all my wild dreams and ambitions, and romantic sharer of sunsets (like this one.)
Cabo San Lucas – Los Arcos Oil Painting Seascape
Cabo San Lucas Seascape Oil Painting
16 x 20 oil on canvas
I’ve been working on a large commission of this same scene (in a 24 x 30 inch size) for a lovely client … and still have a few areas that I’m finishing up. In order to have something to paint over this past weekend at the bookstore, and to experiment with a few things, I painted the same scene in this 16 x 20 size. I don’t usually paint the same painting back to back, but this was a very useful experiment, and it also provided a little “performance art” for the people who came to the show.
So, for those folks who stopped by and picked up business cards during the show, thank you for visiting the show and now, my blog … and here’s how the painting turned out.
I have been tagged numerous times by different people in the 25 things game, and I’ve been so busy I haven’t gotten around to making the list. So instead I’m going to list a few things a day until the list is complete. I hope that counts!
1. I really don’t like heights. I don’t mind airplanes or tall buildings or big wide mountaintops but I feel very uncomfortable on tall stepladders or walking along trails with sheer cliffs or driving along ravines. Maybe I just don’t like heights when there’s the opportunity for falling.
2. I never owned a dog until 10 years ago, and I’m sorry we waited so long! I’ve turned into a real dog lover ( as well as a cat lover) and will happily pet and greet every friendly dog I encounter.
Peaceful stream – California impressionist oil painting
Peaceful Stream
6 x 8 inches
oil on canvas
This small painting evolved as a study as I experimented with some ways to work with texture and color in clouds and reflected water using a springtime color palette. Although I do most of my paintings of specific places, sometimes I work with the landscape in a more abstract way. This is not a painting of a specific place but is inspired by landscapes and skies I’ve seen all over our state. The challenge is to unify the colors in sky and land in a convincing way.
Newport Back Bay Sunset – California Landscape Painting
Newport Back Bay Sunset
5 x 7 inch
Oil on canvas panel
This small study was painted to make some design decisions about a larger painting of Newport’s Back Bay, where we visited last week. At sunset the colors of the sky are reflected in the marshy area. The trees probably weren’t this close together (the opening to the sea is larger) but I reserve the right to tinker with the composition whenever I choose.
The rain has mostly stopped here in LA, and that means that later this afternoon we should see some dramatic skies with the clouds breaking up and leaving. If it’s not too cold I might try to get ut and paint a bit.
OK, away from they keyboard and back to the easel for me! I’m working on a large (24 x 30) commission and I need to keep on-task.
California snow landscape oil painting – Red Cabin – Mt Pinos
“Red Cabin at Mt. Pinos”
12 x 16 oil on canvas
Available
We had another good rainstorm here in Los Angeles, which translates to snow in our higher mountains. I had been saving this painting for the next snowy occasion , so here it is. It’s a new one, of a cabin in the woods on Highway 95, through Fort Tejon National Park, northwest of L.A. on the slopes of Mt. Pinos.
I hear there’s another storm coming in a day or two. After that one passes we’ll probably make another snow trip, perhaps closer to home into the Angeles Crest National Forest.
Snow is interesting to paint because, being white, it picks up all the colors of the environment. When you look at this painting, there’s actually very little pure white in it. But it’s unmistakably snow, right?
Laguna Beach Oil Painting – Laguna Romance – Daily Painting
Laguna Romance
8 x 10
oil on canvas on board
SOLD
Several of my friends have been incorporating palette knife techniques into their work, or painting entirely with the knife. I thought it sounded like fun to experiment with, so I took one of my photos with a lot of clouds that I thought would lend itself to that expression, and this is the result. The location is Heisler park in Laguna Beach, a little north of the art museum. Clusters of fan and sago palms decorate the promenade and make interesting shapes against one of Laguna’s radiant sunsets. Everytime we visit we see lovers gazing at the sea. On one occasion a wedding was being held in a small gazebo along the walkway.
So this is my tribute to Valentine’s Day – a little romance along the seashore, as wild and tempestuous as love itself.
