California Vineyard Painting – Morning at the Vineyard – Karen Winters
“Morning at the Vineyard
Plein Air Oil Painting
9 x 12 oil on linen panel”
SOLD
See more of my vineyard paintings here
Last Saturday we spent an enjoyable but busy day at the Falkner Vineyard 2010 invitational paint out hosted by Segil Fine Art. The weather was fine, starting with a stunning pink clouded dawn (painting to follow in a few days), a hot air balloon launch, and the glory of vines turning golden.
I will be taking this painting – along with many others – to the Montrose Artwalk this Saturday, November 13 – corner of Ocean View and Honolulu. Look for me by the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
South Pasadena Arroyo Seco Eucalptus Oil Painting – Karen Winters – KWinters
“Arroyo Guardian”
9 x 12 inches
Pasadena Arroyo Seco oil painting
SOLD
This one is sold but you can see more Pasadena area paintings here
A stately old eucalyptus grows along Arroyo Drive in South Pasadena, standing guard at the edge of the Arroyo Seco.
October 2010 – exhibited in a California Art Club show at the South Pasadena Gallery, S. Pasadena, CA. The judge was the esteemed CAC Signature artist, Junn Roca.
Link to the So Pas Gallery
I have been painting like crazy here, and traveling to paint on location, but I always seem to run out of time to post what I’m doing. Some of the paintings are commissioned works which are surprise gifts for people, so I have to be a little careful about what I put where in this day of social networking and transparency.
We’ve made one recent trip to the eastern Sierra and hope to get a few more trips in soon. Southern California weather has been marked by the same June gloom/grayness that typified our summer. I’m looking forward to making a trip to Santa Barbara to see the Clyde Aspevig show before it closes in February 2011 – he’s among my favorite landscape artists – a list that is growing quite lengthy.
Huntington Gardens Tea Room and Rose Garden – San Marino
Huntington Gardens
Tea Room and Rose Garden
Oil Painting
11 x 14 inches – oil on canvas
This is a plein air painting that I did a few years ago, and somehow it escaped being photographed and posted to my blog. A recent conversation prompted me to revisit it and I discovered that it was missing from my site.
Not too long ago we renewed our Huntington membership and I’m looking forward to visiting again when the camellias are in bloom. On a trip a few weeks ago, they had a California landscape exhibit which I enjoyed, along with other permanent collection work in the Paul and Heather Sturt Haaga gallery. If you live in Southern California and you’re not a member of the Huntington, what are you waiting for?
California Landscape Painting – Cambria Farm – Central Coast California small format oil painting
Cambria Farm
6 x 8 oil painting on linen panel
Plein air field study
See more California Central Coast paintings here
An old farm building is surrounded by lofty eucalyptuses in Cambria. The marine layer had started to roll in, softening the contours of the landscape that day. Another quick study from our Central Coast California trip, with the California Art Club.
Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me. Or write karen at karenwinters.com See more of my paintings on my website
California Wildflower Landscape Cambria Lupine Flowers Plein Air Field Study
Cambria Lupine Flowers
8 x 6″ oil
Last spring, when we were in Central California with the California Art Club, we wandered through the countryside in search of wildflowers to paint. We came upon this beautiful hillside just covered with lupine and small orange flowers. The scent of the lupine was heady and I think the bees must have been drunk with it. As I painted this small study there was a constant buzzing sound around me. This study will provide information for a larger painting.
-Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me. See more of my paintings on my website
A Garden Wedding – Live Event Painting
Garden Wedding
9 x 12 oil
SOLD
Not too long ago I was at a botanical garden for an art show and a wedding was about to take place. It seemed like a beautiful romantic scene to paint, so we asked the wedding party if they would allow me to paint discreetly from the side. They graciously said yes and this was the result. The framed painting was delivered today to family members who are giving it as a gift. (You’ll notice I’m not mentioning the name of the garden or the family. Shhh, it’s a surprise.)
Usually when I do a plein air painting I try to portray an exact moment as it is – a shadow pattern at a specific time, a certain quality of light. Wedding paintings are somewhat different in that they are idealized renditions of an entire event. In this painting, by the time the bride and groom arrived after taking their pictures, there was little light left on plaza. Some of the guests said they were sorry that the wildflowers in the background were not blooming as they had been a month before. I told them – in my painting they’ll be blooming. Milford Zornes, the watercolorist, once said “paint it the way it could be.” When it comes to event painting, that is very good advice.
Wedding paintings make treasured heirloom gifts. To ask about live painting at a wedding (or a studio painting from a wedding photo),
click this link to write me.
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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.
La Canada Landscape Oil Painting – Memorial Day Concert – California impressionist genre painting
Memorial Day Concert, 2010
(La Canada Flintridge, featuring Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries)
8 x 10
plein air oil painting
This painting is now SOLD but I have many others for sale…..
Write Me
Ah, the beginning of summer, and the summer Music in the Park series in my hometown, La Canada Flintridge. I enjoyed painting this scene while visiting with picnickers and others who were out savoring the warm day. The first act, Misplaced Priorities, energized the audience and set the stage for the second act, Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries. Both 50s-60s rock bands were enthusiastically received. In front of the gazebo/bandshell, dancers of all ages found their groove.
When I was growing up, I couldn’t imagine having fun dancing to the same music my grandparents liked. But old time rock and roll was appreciated that day by 70-somethings and 5 year olds alike.
It was good to see so many friends and neighbors out relaxing. Thanks to the LCF Chamber of Commerce for making Fiesta Days a wonderful event once again.
Moonstone Beach Sunset Cambria Plein Air Oil Painting Seascape by Karen Winters
Moonstone Beach Sunset
6 x 8″ plein air study
oil on linen panel
April 2010
This past week I was up in Central California for a California Art Club paintout on San Luis Obispo Land Conservancy lands. The locations were beautiful, but we got rained out inland several days in a row. One day we headed for the coastline where the weather was very cold and windy but clear. At sunset I painted this small study.
How windy was it? Check out the front of my broad-brimmed hat, below. It doesn’t normally flip up in the air like that. It was also too windy to use my easel on a tripod so I held my EasyL easel on my lap. A furniture pad provided some padding and protection from the cold. Brrrrr. We finished off the evening with a dinner at a nearby Moonstone Beach restaurant, then headed back to our motel in SLO, to rest up for another day.
Pasadena Arroyo Bridges – Colorado Street Bridge Oil Painting
“Pasadena Arroyo Bridges – featuring the Colorado Street Bridge”
9 x 12 oil
This plein air painting was done about a month ago and I thought I had posted it to my blog but just realized that I had not. So, here it is. It was painted as part of a paint out for the California Art Club.
The viewpoint is from the east side of the arroyo, near the Casita del Arroyo, looking westward.
And speaking of the CAC, we had a fantastic time last night at the 100th anniversary celebration party of the California Art Club, held at the California Club in downtown LA. The champagne flowed freely and it was fun to see so many early California impressionist paintings decorating the walls of the club, as well as some paintings by some new California masters. It was a pleasure seeing so many old friends and making some new ones, too. No other organization does so much to preserve and promote the beauty of California as portrayed through traditional fine art, and I am always pleased to take part in their many activities. If you’re a traditional fine artist, you really should join.
These are bittersweet times for us, with many mixed emotions. On one hand I’m blessed with so many new opportunities related to art, including my show at the Bowers Museum which will hang this Friday the 16th. On the other hand our almost 12 year old American bulldog Ripley has suddenly become seriously ill and we will probably need to say goodbye in a few days. Feeling intense joy and grief is part of life, and as the wise man said … “this too shall pass …” both the very good and the very sad. I pray for equanimity during these times, savoring good memories of the past and holding optimistic expectations for the future.
