California high desert Valyermo oil painting “High Desert Color”
“High Desert Color”
9 x 12 inches, oil painting on plein air panel
Valyermo, California
Antelope Valley High Desert area
After our welcome rains that came a few days ago, my husband and I saw the sky was still filled with beautiful cumulus clouds – the kind we see around here too infrequently. So we decided to take a drive up to the high desert to see the wide open spaces. It was a picture perfect day and we found ourselves in the small community of Valyermo. Although the wind and rain may have taken away some of the glory of the cottonwoods, there was still some color left, and the paint brush took care of the bare spots.
This is a view of one of those cottonwood groves. I liked the contrast of the yellow golds against the blue violet mountains in the background. Those happen to be the San Gabriels, the closest range to our home. So now I’ve painted them from ‘both sides, now’.
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Bluebonnets and Oak Trees California landscape oil painting
Bluebonnets and Oak Trees
9 x 12 inches
oil on linen plein air panel
Another springtime painting, from my plein air travels in past years. I think the blues and violets of the bluebonnets (lupine) go well with the yellows and greens of fresh spring leaves.
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Here’s how it might look in a nice dark walnut stained frame:
Moonstone Mist – Cambria beach seascape oil painting miniature
Moonstone Mist
Moonstone Beach, Cambria
6 x 8 inch miniature oil painting
Seasons come and go, but Moonstone Beach seems to look pretty much the same through the year (with the exception of some of the dune foliage, that is.) This is a place that I love to paint often. The first time I came here was during a paintout with the California Art Club, and I’ve returned many times through the years.
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Vintage oak – vineyard oak tree oil painting – California landscape
Vintage Oak – Vineyard oil painting
12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas
SOLD
I never tire of painting oak trees, or vineyards, for that matter. So here’s a new painting that combines both in one composition. From a California hilltop, the vines stretch in all directions, resting after the “crush.” The late afternoon sun gives the vines and hillside a warm glow. Inspired by vineyards in Temecula and the California Central Coast.
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Gold Rush Country Ranch California landscape oil painting
Gold Rush Country Ranch
20 x 24 inches
oil on canvas
SOLD, but I have more paintings of California’s rolling hills at karenwinters.com
This new painting depicts a ranch on highway 49, not far from Murphys, California. There was something about the sculptural mass of the big oak tree that really spoke to me. Although I most commonly paint eucalyptus, I find live oak trees irresistible as well. I haven’t spent as much time painting Gold Rush country as I have the eastern Sierra and California’s Central Coast, but it’s really starting to grow on me. Maybe it’s all that gold?
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Yosemite Falls California landscape oil painting
Yosemite Falls in Summer
18 x 24 inches, vertical
Oil on canvas
At more than 2400 feet high, from the top of the upper falls to the base of the lower falls, Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in the continental United States. Peak water flow comes in late spring to early summer, the time that this was painted. The falls are fed by Yosemite Creek, and after the water leaves the falls, it joins the Merced River on its course out of the valley.
The challenge in painting a waterfall is to capture the soft edges of mist that perpetually rise from the thundering flow. Paint the edge too hard and the falls look like a cutout. Paint the edge too softly, and it looks like a big cottonball.
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California eucalyptus sunset lagoon oil painting – Golden Master
“Golden Master” (study)
8 x 10 inches, oil in plein air panel
A stately eucalyptus tree towers over a quiet lagoon in San Diego County (Batiquitos Lagoon)
The master of all it surveys. Golden sunset colors are reflected in sky and distant waters.
This painting is available for sale.
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Eaton Canyon Stream – California landscape painting
SOLD
“Eaton Canyon Stream”
9 x 12 oil painting
In the years when we have heavy rain, the stream coming out of Eaton Canyon is full and fast-flowing. Other years, not so much. At the headwaters there are several waterfalls, some of which are quite risky to get to.
This view of the stream is looking south, from the east side of the canyon.
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Azaleas in bloom at Descanso Gardens oil painting
SOLD
Azaleas in Bloom – Descanso Gardens
8 x 10 inch oil painting
The azalea bushes are in full bloom now at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge. A true sign that spring has arrived in all its glory.
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© 2014 Karen Winters Fine Art, all rights reserved.
Hillside Sycamores California landscape oil painting
“Hillside Sycamores”
9 x 12 inches
California impressionist plein air oil painting
In the springtime, the warmer weather invites me to do more plein air painting, and to visit areas where the trees and flowers are bursting with life. And nowhere is that more apparent than in California’s Central Coast, in San Luis Obispo County. These sycamores were growing in a little clump on the side of a hill, with last year’s sage at their feet. It was late in the day, and within a half an hour the trees were starting to be covered with shadows.
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