Arroyo Seco Trail, Colorado Street Bridge painting, revisited
“Arroyo Seco Trail”
9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas
SOLD (commission)
I like to paint new things, as a rule, because it’s fun to interpret new subject matter and challenge myself – but from time to time I get a request from a client to paint a new version of a previous painting. In this case, a gentleman saw the painting I used on my postcard of my solo show this spring (sold during the show) and asked it I would paint another version for his daughter as a Christmas present. The family used to live in Pasadena and had fond memories of the Arroyo Seco and their walks together. I was happy to do this for him. Of course, no two paintings are ever exact copies, due to different shapes of the canvas as well as differences in creative interpretation. He was delighted with this treatment and I hope that his daughter will be, too.
Saturday I had a great time with the California Art Club during a paint out at Randy Higbee’s gallery in Costa Mesa. We were painting models dressed as gods and goddesses from Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
The Red Barn – California Landscape Oil Painting
“The Red Barn” – near Visalia, Calif
9 x 12 inches, oil on linen panel
This painting was an experiment using a very limited palette of primarily viridian and burnt sienna. A little yellow ochre was used in the sky, and a dash of cadmium red highlighted the top of the barn, but all of the rest was done with those two complimentary colors (viridian and burnt sienna)
The barn is on a ranch near Visalia, California, a Sierra foothill area known for cattle ranching as well as fruit orchards.
I have a busy reception weekend coming up and I hope you can join me at one of three new shows where my work will be displayed.
Friday night – reception 7 pm – Carter Sexton Art Gallery –
5308 Laurel Canyon blvd.
North Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA 91607
(818) 763-5050
This is a group show featuring California landscapes.
Saturday evening reception 5 – 7 pm Segil Fine Art Source gallery
Holiday Small Works Show
110 West Lime Avenue
Old Town Monrovia CA 91016
(626) 358-5563
Sunday evening reception 5 – 7 pm – dinner following with reservation
California Art Club Associates Show “Precious Gifts”
Pasadena Womens City Club – Historic Blinn House
160 North Oakland Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101-1714
(626) 796-0560
Oh, and Sunday from 11 – 1 I’ll be painting at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena on Oak Knoll Road (S. Lake turns into Oak Knoll) – if you’re in the area.
Pasadena Skyline Oil Painting – Pasadena California City Hall complex
Pasadena Skyline
11 x 14 oil on hardboard panel
SOLD
Although this painting is sold, I have more Pasadena area paintings at this link:
See more Pasadena paintings here
I am also happy to paint on commission.
Click this link to write me.
Malibu Meadow Plein Air California Landscape Oil Painting
Malibu Meadow
8 x 10 oil on canvas on hardboard
(Click image to enlarge)
More of my malibu creek paintings at this link
I painted this in the spring, when the meadows of the Santa Monica Mtns were still green, but never got around to finishing it up. Now that the summer/fall show season is starting to wind down, I have time to revisit some of my field studies and bring them to completion, like this one. This is a meadow near one of the grassland trail entrances to Malibu Creek State Park
Mark your calendars for the annual Pasadena Art Walk, Saturday, October 10.
Sierra Madre Wistaria painting – California mountain landscape painting
Sierra Madre Wistaria
5 x 7 inches, acrylic
Interested in this painting? Please write.
Sierra Madre is home of the world’s largest wistaria vine. I’ve visited the phenomenon several times when it’s in bloom in the spring, and the color and scent are breathtakng.
This painting is one of 30 San Gabriel Valley paintings that I’ll be showing today at Royal Oaks Manor in BradburyFor show details, visit my events page
There will be music, refreshments, a very nice reception – and I’ll be working on a new painting.
Reminder for tomorrow:
This weekend, Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th, I’ll be showing a large number of California impressionist landscape and seascape paintings at the Eagle Rock Plein Air Art Sale at 2222 Laverna Ave. in Eagle Rock.
Here’s a google map to the location
Show hours are 9 to 3 daily, and I will be there most of the time and probably painting. A significant percentage of the proceeds go to support the Collaborative Eagle Rock Beautiful and its projects. Come learn about drought tolerant landscaping, buy some art, support a great cause and have a good time.
It’s on the grounds of the GLAD center – Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness. Plenty of free parking!
Santa Anita Racetrack – Arcadia equine
Before the Race
12 x 16 inches
acrylic on panel
I don’t paint in acrylic too often and I’m thinking that I have overlooked a very versatile medium. I painted this scene recently of the Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia because I needed another painting for a show featuring the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Gabriel Valley area.
I didn’t have time to do an oil painting – because it needs to be shown this Friday afternoon in Bradbury, near Duarte. For show details, visit my events page
But acrylic gives a more opaque look than watercolor, and allows the same sort of brushwork that I’m used to with oil.
The Bowers Museum show was rewarding in every way. One of my paintings got an Honorable Mention award and sold to a new collector who also took one of my Falllbrook landscapes. One of my spring wildflowers went home with another couple. It was fun to meet new artists and enjoy the company of some of my regular painting buddies.
This weekend, Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th, I’ll be showing a large number of California impressionist landscape and seascape paintings at the Eagle Rock Plein Air Art Sale at 2222 Laverna Ave. in Eagle Rock.
Here’s a google map to the location
Show hours are 9 to 3 daily, and I will be there most of the time and probably painting. A significant percentage of the proceeds go to support the Collaborative Eagle Rock Beautiful and its projects. Come learn about drought tolerant landscaping, buy some art, support a great cause and have a good time.
It’s on the grounds of the GLAD center – Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness. Plenty of free parking!
California impressionist landscape oil painting – Spring poppies – Hillside Bouquet
Hillside Bouquet
9 x 12 oil
SOLD
I have other California wildflower paintings. Please write
See more of my wildflower paintings here
On a central coast hillside, California poppies and lupines make a dazzling display. I started working on this painting over the weekend at the Redondo Beach pier art show. Thanks to everyone who came out, it was a pleasure meeting new collectors and getting acquainted with old friends. If you stopped by and wondered how the painting turned out, here it is.
This coming weekend I will be showing more than 20 paintings at the Bowers Museum Invitational Show in Santa Ana. It’s a two day show, Saturday and Sunday the 19th and 20th, from 10 am to 4 pm. The address is 2002 N. Main Street, Santa Ana. There is a meet the artists reception on Saturday the 20th from 2-4, but you can also see me in my area at any time. A portion of all painting sales goes to the California Arts Council and helps the conservation and exhibition of paintings in the Bowers Museum collection.
Fallbrook Ranch Afternoon
“Meanwhile, back at the ranch”
10 x 12 oil
plein air painting of a ranch in Fallbrook, California
Late afternoon light casts long shadows across the pasture of this peaceful ranch in Fallbrook, California. When I was there painting, the peepers had already started their songs in the nearby irrigation canals. Spring grasses have turned to summer gold, perfect for grazing.
This weekend, June 27-28, I’ll be at the San Clemente Art Association Annual Show and Sale on the lawn by the community center. Dozens and dozens of plein air painters will be there, so I hope you can stop by if you live in that vicinity.
California Art Oak Landscape Oil Painting
Evening Peace
12 x 16 oil on canvas
(Central California, Sierra Foothills oil painting)
This painting is SOLD, but I have more oak paintings:
See more of my oak tree paintings here
This California oil painting celebrates the end of the day in Central California as valley oaks are silhouetted by the fading sun. The warm glow of sunset still lingers in the sky. Mist is already starting to form in the distant Sierra foothills, creating a sense of mystery.
Last weekend’s opening of the California Art Club “On Location in Malibu” show at the Weisman Museum at Pepperdine University was really outstanding. Although I paint frequently in Malibu it is always interesting to see other artists’ interpretations of the same subjects. I hope to return to the exhibit to see more of the paintings when there is no crowd. It was really elbow to elbow in the galleries.
Pasadena bridge landscape oil painting – Arroyo Springtime
Arroyo Springtime
Pasadena’s Colorado Street Bridge painting
16 x 20 oil on canvas
SOLD
This painting has been sold but I have others. Please write.
See more Pasadena paintings here
This painting, of Pasadena’s Colorado Street Bridge in the setting of the Arroyo Seco, is one of my favorite renditions of the area so far. Because it is so close to my home, I can visit frequently and observe the changing foliage through the seasons. In the springtime the wide meadow leading down to the river is covered with wild mustard. The mustard is an invasive imported species, not a native, so it tends to crowd out the indigenous plants. But it does lend a beautiful color to these open areas when the light strikes it just so.
Every time we go down there we see something different and interesting. One time it was ranger on horseback patrolling to make sure that dogs were on-leash. Another time it was a group of people with a flock of (leashed) goats. Never a dull moment in the arroyo!
My show at Gale’s has been going very well. So far three paintings have been sold, and I’ve replaced them with new ones. You can see some of the sold paintings in the left hand column at http://www.karensblog.com
This weekend we’re going to the reception of the On Location in Malibu show, presented by the California Art Club. I’m sure it will be a wonderful event as all of their shows are. Art, Malibu, hanging out with painters … what could be better?
