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.
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.
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.
Huntington Beach California Seascape Painting
SOLD
Stormy Day at Huntington Beach
8 x 10 oil on panel
For price and more info about this painting, please write.
When stormy weather churns up the ocean, the results can be dramatic, and the sunsets are glorious. This is a view of Huntington Beach, with Catalina, cloud-shrouded, on the horizon.
And here’s how it might look in a nice plein air frame:
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Timothy Clark paint a demonstration watercolor for a local art club. Since Timothy doesn’t demo publicly, only for his own workshops, this was a rare treat. What made the evening even more special was when one of my watercolor portraits got the blue ribbon for Artist of the Month, which puts me in the running for artist of the year. The perfect ending to a perfect day, even if it was dark and rainy.
Tuscany Oil Painting – “Tuscan Sunshine” – Karen Winters
“Tuscan sunshine”
6 x 8 oil on canvas
Clicking the image will enlarge it.
SOLD. But I have more paintings on my website
If you’re interested in this painting, please write.
On a cold rainy February day, this small study of Tuscany warms me to the core. The vineyards below may be growing the grapes for a fine Chianti. Cypress trees gently sway in the breeze. I want to walk down that hill and rest in the shade of a small orchard. Someday soon, I hope.
Eaton Canyon Landscape Oil Painting – Eaton Canyon Springtime
Eaton Canyon Springtime
16 x 20 oil on canvas
SOLD to a collector from Pasadena
Interested in this painting? Please write.
This spring, be sure to mark your calendar to visit Eaton Canyon in Altadena when the wildflowers are in bloom. There has been enough rain that we should probably have a good show again.
Eaton Canyon is one of my favorite painting spots within an easy drive of my home. Sometimes if I see that there are interesting clouds in the sky I try to get over there to have a look or paint a little.
Yesterday I enjoyed visiting the LA Art Show, sponsored by FADA (Fine Art Dealers Association.) Several of the dealers featured paintings by Edgar Payne and William Wendt, both of whom are icons of California impressionism. If I had a spare 80 or 90 thousand dollars maybe I’d buy a small one. But since I don’t, I contented myself with gazing at them longingly, and making mental notes about the painting. At home, I’ve been reading Nature’s Temple, a catalog of Wendt’s work and Edgar Payne’s classic book on composition. It’s a good thing I enjoy being a perpetual student of art in all its manifestations. There is always something new to see and to learn from.
Pomegranate Orchard, impressionist oil painting
Pomegranate Orchard
11 x 14 oil on linen
SOLD (commission)
This was a very interesting project to do, and one which I thoroughly enjoyed. A woman wanted a painting of a pomegranate orchard to give to a loved one for a Christmas present. The man had grown up in a middle eastern country where such groves were common, and he had childhood memories of playing there. I had never painted in that country, nor did I have any usable reference material, but I did a little research and realized that the area had a mediterranean climate and that the geography looked much like parts of California. So, I used a late afternoon photograph of a grove in California and used local reference photos of pomegranate trees to create an imaginary composite, which I showed her for her approval. So, this was the result, and I understand that her friend was very happy with the result.
We all love to paint from real life whenever we can. But this is one of the occasions when it’s just not possible. That’s when we, as artists, draw upon our memory and study of nature, and from having painted so much outdoors that we can craft as scene as it might have been.
If you’d like to give a special painting to someone commemorating a place or an event, but you don’t have a picture to work from, we can probably come up with a solution, just like this orchard from long ago and far away.
Owens River Fishing Spot – California impressionist oil painting
“Owens River – A good day for fishing”
14 x 18 oil on canvas
SOLD to a lovely couple relocating to Montana
This new panting features what I’ve been told is one of the best fishing spots on the Lower Owens River. It’s near Highway 168 close to a place known to the locals as “Black Rock.” In the background you can see the Eastern Sierras and the Alabama Hllls, the choclatey brown lower range, still glowing in afternoon light. For many years, the water in the Owens River was diverted for Los Angeles. Now, some of the water flows again through local steams in the Owens Valley, and the landscape is recovering. I understand that some of the best bass fishing in California can be had in this spot. The day we were there a fisherwoman was doing well. I don’t have much experience with freshwater fishing, but this place looks like a little bit of heaven.
Because the painting is wet, it’s hard to get the look of the clouds without excessive reflection. There is detail in them; it’s just hard to see. I’ll try shooting this again when it dries.
Here’s a detail of just some of the native grasses:
