Peppertree Hill – California Landscape Oil Painting
This California landscape oil painting was inspired by a pepper tree I saw leaning into the wind on a golden hill.
Peppertree Hill
9 x 12
oil on wood panel
Interested in this painting? Please write.
The spring green grass has turned to gold, now, and even though we are experiencing more than a usual amount of “June gloom,” the sun occasionally breaks through. When it does, it’s wonderful.
Over the weekend we had the opportunity to see the new California Art Club associates show at the Women’s City Club in Pasadena. After that, we went to the opening at Segil Fine Art in Monrovia. An art-filled weekend in the very best way. Now, I’m getting ready for next week’s plein air paint out in San Clemente. I have 25 paintings framed and ready to take with me for the final sale June 27-28.
Rancho Santa Ana Garden Path – California Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting
Garden Path
(Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden)
11 x 14
oil on canvas
We had a great weekend at the Art in the Garden sale at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, in spite of the ever-present threat of rain. In spite of the light turnout, some of my paintings found new homes and I had a chance to set up my easel and paint a nearby path in the beautiful California native plant gardens.
This scene features a blooming California buckeye (in the background, a spreading pine, several clumps of sages and a variety of oak trees. Most of the day was gray, but occasionally the sun would break through.
Now I have a break until the San Clemente paintout and sale, ending on June 27-28 (details to come.) If you live in the coastal OC, I hope you can come.
California plein air landscape painting – Wildflower Hills
SOLD
California Wildflower Hills
9 x 12 plein air painting
oil on linen panel
See more of my landscapes here
A few months ago, after keeping an eye on the wildflower reporting sites, we took a trip up into the foothills of the western Sierras. The online sources were right – they really were really spectacular this year. I started this painting on site, and have been waiting for the opportunity to touch it up in studio before posting here. Among the challenges at this location was a storm system that cast ever-changing shadows over the golden hills. One minute the foreground was in light and the background in darkness. Five minutes later it was the reverse. At the point of laying in my darks I decided to go with the cloud shapes on the distant hills and leave the foreground hill bright, and then to paint it that way no matter what nature was doing.
Next week, after my show is hung this Saturday at Gale’s Restaurant in Pasadena, I should be back to painting and posting regularly. There are just too many details to take care of right now.
The Meadow Wakes – California landscape painting – Karen Winters
“The meadow wakes”
(Sierra foothills, east of Visalia)
6 x 8 oil on canvas
SOLD
When the first strong rays of light hit a meadow filled with fiddlehead flowers, the mist was still rising from the nearby hills, providing an interesting contrast of saturated and desaturated colors. The statuesque valley oak was just starting to put out its new foliage, creating that lacy effect that is only characteristic of earliest spring. I wonder what it would be like to live on a farm like this, with so much beauty to see in every season.
California Poppy Landscape with Oak Trees – Karen Winters
Poppies on the Hill
11 x 14
oil on canvas
SOLD, but I have more poppy paintings
Interested in a poppy painting?
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See more of my wildflower paintings here
I can’t think of a landscape more quintessentially Californian than spring’s poppy covered hillsides – and when you add oak trees it’s downright iconic. In this painting my objective was to capture the feeling of the radiant hillside, crowned by sprawling oaks. The Fresno Bee reports that this is one of the best years for wildflowers in a long time. I don’t know why – we haven’t had an abundance of rain, but whatever conditions brought about this abundance, I’m glad.
More California spring landscapes to come …
California Desert Landscape Oil Painting – Anza Borrego Yucca
Yucca at Anza Borrego
(San Diego County)
9 x 12 oil on canvas
A visit to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park inspired this painting of yucca and desert wildflowers. When the rainfall is sufficient and in the right quantity and at the right time, the color is breathtaking, even though short-lived.
Tomorrow is the spring group show and sale of Allied Artists of the Santa Monica Mountains and Seashore, and I’ll be showing about 15 paintings including many that have not been exhibited before. The show starts at 11 and goes through 5 pm at Headwaters Corners, at the intersection of Topanga and Mulholland Drive in the Santa Monica Mtns. If you get a chance come on out. I’m going to be finishing up my framing and packing for the rest of today. Come on out if you’re in the area. Art, beautiful weather, friendly artists and refreshments.
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Arroyo Seco Trail – Pasadena California Landscape Oil Painting
Arroyo Seco Trail
16 x 20 inches
Oil on Canvas
SOLD to a collector from Pasadena
See more Pasadena area paintings are here
This painting of the Arroyo Seco, featuring the Colorado Street Bridge, will be available starting May 17 at Gale’s Restaurant in Pasadena, where I will be having a solo show from mid May until early July. I will likely be using it on my postcard, so I need to hold it for the show.
Spring and fall are my favorite seasons in California, and I’d have a hard time deciding which I prefer. Fall is great for the foliage in the Sierras, but spring is wonderful for wildflowers and just the feeling of lush abundance.
I’m not sure about the name of the plant that has purple flowers. I’m guessing that it’s a ceanothus but I can’t be sure. If there’s a botanist in the house and you happen to take a walk down by the bridge, maybe you could ID it and let me know. (It’s not a garden lilac because they’re not in bloom yet and it didn’t have a lilac scent.) Maybe a native lilac species?
Once a month the California Art Club comes to the arroyo to paint. I’m usually busy on those days but this month I think I’ll try to join in the paint out with my CAC friends. It’s just the most beautiful time of the year, I think.
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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.
Matilija Poppies – California Impressionist Botanical Flower Oil Painting
Matilija Poppies Trio
11 x 14 oil on canvas
These papery white beauties were growing near the Serra Center in Malibu one blustery summer day. The exciting thing about painting white flowers is enjoying all the colors they pick up from their environment.
This painting blurs the line between abstraction and realism and I hope that it is successful in that effort. I was impressed by something I read recently by Marilyn Simandle (watercolorist and oil painter.) In her book “Contagious Enthusiasm” she says ““If a painting has too much detail it is as if someone is dominating a conversation and if a painting is too abstract it is like someone speaking in a foreign language.†I thought that was such an interesting metaphor for finding the “sweet spot” between realism and abstraction. The thought inspired me as I worked on this painting.
