Casa Adobe de San Rafael plein air style oil painting art

“Casa Adobe de San Rafael – Sanchez house”
9 x 12 inches, oil on plein air panel
Available

This past spring, looking for a little break from the isolation of the pandemic, we took a walk around this beautiful adobe in Glendale.
The jacaranda trees were blooming and it seemed to pull us back in time to a quieter moment. The building has been in continuous use since it was built in 1865 when it was the home of Tomas Avila Sanchez and Maria Sepulveda. Sr. Sanchez was the first sheriff of Los Angeles and a third-generation Californian.


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Tournament House Rose Garden Oil Painting Pasadena Wrigley Mansion commissioned painting

SOLD
Tournament House Rose Garden painting
(Home of the Tournament of Roses Association, Rose Parade organizer)
11 x 14 oil
Painted on commission

This new painting is intended as a Christmas gift from the lovely woman who commissioned it, for a very special gentleman. The rose garden was where they first met. Built in 1906, the Tournament House was purchased by chewing gum magnate Wm. Wrigley in 1914. The home was given to the city of Pasadena in 1958 for use by the Tournament Association. The centennial rose garden (seen here) is spectacular in full bloom. The painting represents it in early morning light.

Don’t you just love romantic stories? I know I do, and I get a special joy from making paintings that commemorate special events – like first dates, first meetings, places where proposals happened, and so forth.

If you’re considering giving a painting as a holiday gift, this is a very good time to get in touch as things get busier as the season draws closer.

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At the Hacienda – Mission San Antonio de Padua Plein air painting by Karen Winters

“Meanwhile, at the Hacienda”
9 x 12 oil on linen panel
plein air painting – painted at Mission San Antonio de Padua
California Central Coast area

During the California Art Club paint out at the mission, I came upon this small guest house which intrigued me as a painting subject. In the late afternoon light, I could imagine it as an old California adobe, cool inside in spite of the surrounding heat. Some early model chickens miraculously appeared where a late model car had been.

California Central Coast oil painting “The Kitchen Garden” – Los Osos – by Karen Winters

“The Kitchen Garden”
9 x 12 oil painting

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While I was in San Luis Obispo County for the Plein Air Festival this year, I saw this charming rural scene down a side road in Los Osos. The red barn style house provided a beautiful contrast to the vibrant green eucalyptus trees, and I liked the small vegetable garden growing nearby. It took me back to early California days, a bit of the past still thriving in the present.

Sweet Pea Cottage Garden Springtime Figurative Pasadena Oil Painting by Karen Winters

Sweet Pea Springtime
(Cottage garden, Pasadena, California)
14 x 11 inches
Oil painting on canvas

I’ve been thinking about painting this subject for several years, since my husband and I were out on a walk in Pasadena and we came upon a scene of a woman cutting sweet peas along the cottage garden path leading to her front door. The location is near S. El Molino Street, or S. Oak Knoll, near Cornell, but I neglected to write down the exact address. I told her I was a painter and asked her permission to take a picture and she pleasantly agreed. I changed the color of her dress from periwinkle blue to white because it contrasted better with the green of the sweet pea vines.

The picture was taken in March when everything was verdant green, and the flowers – snapdragons, pansies, poppies and more – were at peak bloom. I should try to walk the area again some time and see if I recognize the houses and the path.

Although I prefer to do plein air studies as preparation for studio paintings, there are some occasions when a composition just presents itself to you and there you are without an easel, and the light fading fast. This was one of those occasions when I was glad I had a camera with me.