Coneflowers
“Coneflowers” 9 x 12 watercolor on paper
Tonight was the meeting of our local art association, and we were privileged to see a demonstration by Fealing Lin, a remarkably gifted watercolorist who came to the US from Taipei as a dentist and reinvented herself as a fine artist. Her style is loose and free but it’s wonderful to see what she does with color. Unlike some watercolorists whose looseness seems mannered and almost formulaic, Fealing’s paintings are spontaneous and each presents a unique solution to a creative problem. She emphasized the importance of saving the lights and really pouring on the color, wet in wet.
I was so inspired by the demo she gave that I came home and painted this quick sketch of coneflowers, trying to get into that spirit of controlled spontaneity. Oh, yeah, and it was after dinner and a glass of cabernet. Hmmm. I think that helped.
If you’re in the Southern California area and would like a picture postcard invite to my show starting next week at Descanso, drop me a line at karen@karenwinters.com
Gloriosas in Excelsis
“Gloriosas in Excelsis” – 11 x 15 watercolor on paper
Not for sale. Prints available.
Gloriosa daisies (aka Rudbeckias) are among my favorite casual flowers. I love roses, of course, and alstroemerias, and lilacs, Shasta daisies, penstemons – ah, so many flowers so little time. But gloriosas are wonderful workhorses in a garden setting, as in this center planter at Descanso Gardens. They are long lasting either growing in the ground or cut, and if there isn’t too much cold weather they can even be cut back and coaxed to bloom a second year. Gloriosas are related to black eyed susans and coneflowers and they are outstanding in bouquets. I am still painting like crazy in advance of the show, even though I have more than enough paintings to choose from. But I know I won’t get a great deal of painting done during the month that I’m gallery-sitting, so I’m sort of putting a few in the bank ahead of time.
Hot hot hot
Hot Cannas – 11 x 15 watercolor on paper
SOLD
As I get ready for the show in a few weeks, I’ve been painting numerous large florals which I might offer for sale matted, but unframed. This is one of them, which I think fits the climate pretty well right now. We’re having an extreme heat wave in LA at the moment, with high temperatures from 109-110 where I am. It feels even hotter with the humidity being served. The air is chewy, sort of. If you go outside at midnight it’s still in the 90s – it’s that hot. In that spirit, I painted some cannas that thrive here as long as they’re planted in a wet soggy area. I grow mine in a bucket – literally with their soil underwater. They like it that way – they’re bog plants.
First Flush
“First Flush” 9 x 12 oil on canvas on board
SOLD
When spring comes to Descanso Gardens, the first flush of roses is a sight to behold. In fact, it’s pretty darn spectacular any time of year, even now when the hot summer colors radiate from every corner.
Yesterday I spent some time up at the gallery with fellow artists Belinda del Pesco, and Trish Kertes – two of the most gifted artists and nicest people you’d ever want to meet. They were so very helpful in teaching me the ropes of running the gallery when it’s our turn in a few weeks. Their expertise was so very welcome.
Prints coming soon
I’m making my master list of things to do to get ready, and among them is making prints available for sale as well as original works. So if you’ve been interested in getting prints of some of the things I’ve posted here, I will soon be offering those in a variety of sizes. More details on that as I get further along. At the moment I need to focus on the imminent deadline.
Daisies and Crystal by Karen Winters
Daisies and Crystal 9 x 12 – watercolor
I’m working on a rather large watercolor for a special project, but in the meantime, to have something to post, I did this quick sketch of some flowers in one of my cut glass vases. As it turned out I became more interested in the facets of the cut glass than the flowers. This is 9 x 12, painted freehand with a #14 round brush and a 1″ flat, nothing smaller than that. I didn’t do any pencil underdrawing because I was using this as an exercise to draw with the brush and do some negative painting.
The grays and neutrals in this were composed of the primaries used in the flowers. In other words, palette mud.
But mud can be a very nice thing when it’s used to harmonize and serve as a background to brighter colors.
Sunflower – Karen Winters Daily Painting
Solo Sunflower 8 x 10 oil on canvas board
SOLD
When we were driving on a back road off Highway 1, not far from Paso Robles, we came across a row of sunflowers that had been planted along the roadside. These beauties were 7-8 feet tall and each one had a unique character and form. I must have spent 20 minutes there, shooting them from every angle. I selected this one for my first sunflower portrait – a memory of a bright sunny day with an amazing sky that really was that turquoise.
This one I painted in two sessions … one for the underpainting and a second go for some glazing and highlights. Probably the most challenging part was mixing the colors for the shadowed areas. There were so many colors bouncing around in there – reflected russets from the center of the flower, greens from the abundant leaves nearby, plus ochres and even violets – complements of the yellow.
Rosarium Sunset
“Rosarium Sunset” 8 x 10 oil on canvasboard
On the heels of yesterday’s plein air outing at the arroyo, we went to Descanso Gardens at sunset today for some more painting and photographing. Descanso is open Thursday nights for the months of July and August. I wait all year for this opportunity to see the beautiful gardens at “golden hour” – the loveliest time (other than dawn.)
This represents one of the paths lined with rose bushes. Roughing in the painting took about an hour, from 615 t0 715, and I added finishing touches (such as the sky) after I got home. At that time of day the light was changing so rapidly there was not much point in painting after an hour had elapsed. I finished it off at home, refinining edges, adjusting things. The above painting represents the colors as they really are under room light conditions. The photographs below are more bluish, representing shady daylight conditions.
I promised some people that the very next time I went out painting with my lightweight easel that I would take pictures of the shelf in closeup, so here they are. I made a cardboard mock-up to work out the dimensions, then gave it to my husband who cut it out of 1/4″ masonite. There are no supports underneath the shelf other than two little L brackets to reinforce the holes. It sits on the easel by a friction-fit.
Descanso Camellia
“Descanso Camellia” – Approx 15 x 11″ – watercolor on paper
SOLD
This is probably the largest floral piece I’ve done so far – and I enjoyed the process very much. Essentially it’s no different from working small except I have to stand back more frequently and use larger brushes to avoid getting too many picky details.
Busy, busy. I don’t have time to write much right now – I’m up to my ears in framing and gathering materials for a new class I’ll be attending tomorrow. Plus, our son is graduating from UCLA on Saturday and we’re co-hosting a grad party for him and some of his roommates.
OK, back to work for me …
Gloriosas and Delphiniums
9 x 12 – watercolor on Canson cold pressed paper – Gloriosas and delphiniums
Well, here it is 1:50 am again. I was drifting off to sleep when Ripley (who sleeps at the foot of our bed) suddenly barked once and woke me up. If I am awakened as I am making that first descent into sleep, it seems to take the edge off my sleepiness and I might as well get up and do something. Which I did (exhibit A, above.) I think these yellow gloriosa daisies are called “Irish Eyes” because the centers are as green as the emerald isle.
I got a pretty cool new brush the other day and I was eager to try it out. So I clipped a piece of paper to my easel, vertically, did a quick sketch and painted this as only a half-awake, half-asleep person can do. This Davinci Cosmotop is just dreamy – it holds a lot of paint and releases it smoothly.
Now that this is done I feel a little sleepier – I hope.
Peonies Plein Air
Plein Air Peonies – 11″ x 15″ (quarter sheet) Arches 140# watercolor paper
SOLD
Well, the show was a success in every way and I have lived to tell the tale. Kudos to Lori and her family for not only organizing the event but offering their home as our gallery and creating an atmosphere of conviviality and creativity. We all arrived an hour before the studio tour began to set up our easels and help with last minute details … but everything was in perfect order so there was little we needed to do. Tour guests began arriving promptly at 1 and continued throughout the afternoon with only a few lulls and many surges. The organizing committee asked if artists might have some sort of demo set up at their studios, and several of were happy to oblige, setting up our easels around a beautiful still life arrangement artfully presented by painter Carolyn Jean. I haven’t done very many floral still lives but I loved the challenge of these peonies – which we cannot grow in Southern California. These buxom blooms came from Whole Foods market, and I understand from my artpal Nan that Trader Joes is carrying them as well.
The light changed quite radically during the hour or so that I was painting these, but I tried to keep the memory of the glow even while they slipped into the shade of the umbrella and grapefruit tree. I invoked the muse that speaks to Charles Reid to please give me a hand with the looseness – that is to say, to please stay my hand if I should try to get too fussy. Because I paint landscapes more than arranged flowers, this experience has given me the incentive to do more painting out on my back patio this summer.
All in all, we had a good day. I sold this painting of the garden at Casita Del Arroyo
to a lovely collector, and Robin, Ginny, Carolyn, Louisa and others in our group had sales as well. It was an auspicious beginning. But the best part was being in the company of good painting friends, family and art lovers on a perfect late spring day. Assuming the stars all align correctly, I can hardly wait until we do it next year.
