California landscape – Summertime Oak tree oil painting

Summertime Oak
(near Willits, CA, along the Redwood Highway, northern California)
8 x 10 oil

The summer fields are fully golden, the perfect complement to the violet distant hills. The leaves of live oaks rustle in the breeze, waiting the coming of fall. It’s been a cool summer in So. Cal, maybe in Northern California, too.

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A Day in the Vineyard – California landscape oil painting

A Day in the Vineyard
California vineyard landscape oil painting
9 x 12 inches, oil on wood panel

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A sunny day and an old oak tree reigns over a peaceful vineyard scene, from California’s rich wine country. This plein air style painting invites the viewer to linger and hear the birdsong as the breeze ruffles the ripening vines.

Vineyard country road – California landscape oil painting

Vineyard Country Road
8 x 10 oil painting

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Fresh from last week’s trip to California’s Central Coast, this oil painting features one of California’s indigenous live oak trees towering over rolling vineyard hills. The vines are all leafed out, now, and look beautiful in the late afternoon light.

Marin Spring Morning oil painting

SOLD
Marin Spring Morning
6 x 8 inch miniature oil painting
Oil on stretched canvas

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Song of Still Waters – Santa Barbara lagoon sunset oil painting

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Song of Still Waters
Devereux Slough, near UC Santa Barbara
16 x 20 oil painting on canvas

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Inspired by a slough in Santa Barbara, at sunset, as seen in spring. There was a lot of moisture in the air, creating a warm sunset glow.
If you’re in town this Saturday, come see me at the Montrose Artwalk, where I will be showing my work in front of the Chase Bank, near the corner of Honolulu and Ocean View in Montrose. On Sunday you’ll find me at the Pasadena Society of Artists Art Fair, at the Pasadena Museum of History, corner of Orange Grove and Walnut in Pasadena. I’ll be in booth 13, east side of the Fenyes mansion.

Pear tree with fruit – oil painting by Karen Winters

Pear Tree at the Old Mill
12 x 9 oil painting on linen

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El Molino Viejo, in San Marino, California is an old adobe building where historically there was a grist mill. Growing around the far side of the building is a wonderful pear tree which continues to bear fruit in season. I’m guessing it’s a dwarf variety, and probably does not date back to the age of the building. But I think it adds a bit of old California charm to the location, along with the pomegranate trees. It suggests the kinds of trees that were abundant in California missions.

San Luis Obispo Creek Oil Painting

San Luis Obispo Creek
9 x 12 inch oil painting
Available.

(this view features a bridge over the creek. I chose an angle that did not show the cement walkways, as I prefer the natural look.)

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San Luis Obispo Creek winds through the Central California city of San Luis Obispo, before emptying into the Pacific Ocean near Avila Beach. Numerous restaurants line the banks of the creek, and if you eat on one of their patios during the summer, you’ll be treated to the sounds of a chorus of frogs. Occasionally steelhead trout can be seen in the waters. An annual cleanup day keeps the creek in good condition, a source of pride for the community.

Chasing Clouds – Carmel Valley Road landscape oil painting

“Chasing Clouds”
8 x 10 oil
Carmel Valley Road landscape,
Monterey Peninsula
Available


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On our way back from the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival this year, we drove up highway 1 through Big Sur, spent a night in Carmel, then returned via Carmel Valley Road. This beautiful “back road” features wonderful hills covered with oaks. The day we passed through, the clouds were spectacular, so I decided to focus on them in this painting.

If you look to the left side of the blog, you’ll see I’ve gotten around to updating my sold painting list. I haven’t put my new sold paintings there since January, and this year’s almost 50 sold works are now featured. I sort of wish that I could see a pattern in what appeals to my wonderful collectors, but it appears that their tastes and interests are as broad as mine. Some paintings are large, some very small. There are seascapes, animals, genre paintings, flowers, fruit, landscapes … and the subject matter is from every part of California.

Rancho Camulos Orange Grove Heritage Valley oil painting

Rancho Camulos Orange Grove
14 x 18 inches
oil on canvas

More Heritage Valley Highway 126 paintings here

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In the Santa Clara River Valley just northwest of Los Angeles (also known as Heritage Valley), there are numerous reminders that the old California of orange groves and agricultural fields is still very much with us. This scene was inspired by an orange grove growing near Rancho Camulos, along the highway 126 corridor.

I grew up in a house near orange groves, and I walked by them every morning on the way to the bus stop. There is something intoxicating about the scent of orange blossoms. I’m fortunate that our neighbor has numerous citrus trees in her back yard, and I still benefit from that wonderful smell whenever they are in bloom.

Sweet Springs Oil Painting – The Sweet Spot – Los Osos, California


SOLD

The Sweet Spot
Sweet Springs, Los Osos
14 x 11 oil painting on linen plein air panel

This painting is now in a private collection but I have other Central Coast paintings.
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See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
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More painting at the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival. This lovely spot is Sweet Springs, a 24 acre nature sanctuary in Los Osos, California. Towering eucalyptus groves shelter a quiet pond where flocks of birds feed and rest from their migratory flights. I understand the grove is sometimes a shelter for Monarch butterflies, too.