California Landscape Spring Oil Painting – Eaton Canyon Pasadena
“Gentle Springtime”
11 x 14 oil painting on hardboard panel
Eaton Canyon, near Pasadena, California
See more Pasadena paintings here
I started this plein air painting a few years ago and got distracted with other things and didn’t finish it up. Now that it’s almost springtime again, it seemed like a good time to revisit it and complete it. Since then, I’ve bought an artworks essentials EasyL which is much easier to transport, and doesn’t require a separate easelmate to hold things, like this Yarka did. I like the fact that I can raise the tripod with the Easy L so I’m not looking down at the painting. I’m tall and I always ended up with a backache at the end of the day from slightly bending over at the waist. A good friend of mine said that the Yarka is great for carrying pastels outdoors, however, so I might set it up with that. Almost every plein air painter I know has a collection of easels that they try, in search of the perfect one. The biggest advantage of this old Russian Yarka is that it’s light and sets up in about 1 minute. The down side is its height and lack of adaptability to carry wet panels of all sizes.
Garden at the Ranch – San Luis Obispo – California Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by Karen Winters
“Garden at the Ranch”
11 x 14 oil on linen panel
San Luis Obispo Central California Coast area
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me. See more of my paintings on my website
I’m still catching up on posting a year’s worth of plein air paintings that didn’t get photographed when they were created. This one is from last May, 2010 at a California Art Club paint out at a friend’s ranch in the San Luis Obispo area. Although it was a gray day, the poppies and other California natives really shone through. In fact, maybe the grayness accented their colors. Our friend has a wonderful native plant garden that would rival any garden planted with cultivated non-natives. It’s drought tolerant and seems perfectly adapted to the environment – because it is!
An almost finished work in progress photo is below – thanks to my hubby for taking it. Yep, there’s that hat again.
California Landscape Wildflower Stream – Eucalyptus and Poppies impressionist original art
Wildflower Stream
6 x 8 inches
oil
Two California icons – eucalyptuses and California poppies, gathered together around a quiet stream. One historical account recalls that in the springtime the hills of Altadena (above Pasadena) were covered with soft green grass and poppies. Streams flowed out of the hills to merge with the San Gabriel River at its confluence.
California Landscape Oak Painting – Oaks by a Country Road – Southern California
“Oaks By a Country Road”
9 x 12 oil on canvas laid on panel
Late afternoon sunshine touches the soft foliage of California live oaks, growing by a country road. There are many parts of the state that still have rural charm, not far from the city. When I was growing up, my father liked to take us for a ride in “the country” on weekends. I think he missed where he grew up, in the Southeast US. Sometimes we’d go up small roads surrounding the San Fernando Valley. When I was a child I couldn’t understand the appeal of Sunday drives. But when you’ve been cooped up in a workplace all week, I now understand how it must have restored him. Plein air painters are fortunate folk. Our workplace is along the byways and backroads. We are blessed to be here.
California Landscape Plein Air Painting San Luis Obispo County – Nipomo
SOLD
Golden Hillside
(near Nipomo San Luis Obispo County)
9 x 12 plein air oil painting on linen panel
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
This is a plein air painting that I did last springtime with the California Art Club in San Luis Obispo. We were at a historical location, the Dana Adobe, in Nipomo, and the weather was perfect. I got three paintings done that day. The next day a rainstorm moved in from the north. The fields of mustard liked it, but it wasn’t hospitable to painters. The day after this was painted we went to Moonstone Beach in Cambria (see earlier posts for those paintings.)
Moonstone Beach Surf – Central Coast Cambria Oil Painting – with video – Karen Winters, artist
Moonstone Beach Surf
Cambria, California
11 x 14 oil on linen panel
SOLD
This was painted last April (2010) during a California Art Club paintout. The rain came down where we were painting at San Luis Obispo Land Conservancy sites, so some of us headed for the coast nearby. It was incredibly cold and windy, but I had a really good time
This is a video my husband shot and edited – some highlights of me painting there. Please let me know if for any reason it doesn’t play for you. It is hosted on the Facebook server, not YouTube.
Cambria Ranch – California Central Coast Plein Air Oil Painting by Karen Winters
“Cambria Ranch”
12 x 16″ oil painting
Oil on linen panel
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
Eucalyptuses, how I love them, with their multicolored patchy bark like a coat of many colors. When I saw this stately old tree I knew I wanted to take some time with it, to appreciate the many grays along its flanks. The transparent underlayers of burnt sienna and red peek through here and there, just as underlayers of color are visible as outer bark layers peel off. I think that I will never tire of painting these majestic trees that seem to glow when side lit. We have a lot of them around LA but they are at their best when given a setting like a spring field, bathed in light. I want to paint another really large one, soon. My to-do-list grows daily …
Some of my other favorite eucs:
Sunset Walk – Los Osos Central Coast California Oil Painting by Karen Winters KWinters
Sunset Walk
Los Osos, Central California
Oil Painting
9″ x 12″
oil on canvas on hardboard
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
When we were in the Central Coast area of California last spring, this scene suddenly caught my eye as we were driving back from Montana de Oro. The towering eucalyptus trees (a favorite of mine) framed a long walkway into the sunset. Although it’s a simple composition, it puts me back in that place with the dusty road, the sweet smell of gum trees, the haze in the air and the sun lowering and glowing through it all.
Last Sunday, we had the rare opportunity to watch a demonstration by noted painter Mian Situ for the California Art Club. It’s one of the many things that I really appreciate about being a member – there are so many occasions to learn something new and to be inspired by the “greats.” In addition to doing a masterful portrait in a very short period of time, Mian’s endearing personality and generous sharing of information made the occasion all the more special.
Cambria Pines Oil Painting – Santa Rosa Creek Trail, Central Coast, California
“Cambria Pines Sunset”
(on the Santa Rosa Creek Trail)
Oil Painting
16 x 12 inches
Oil on Canvas
Among the places we painted in Central Coast was the Santa Rosa Creek Trail, which goes inland from Cambria.
The trail is a part of the land cared for by the San Luis Obispo Land Conservancy, which hosted us on our paint out.
Santa Rosa Creek winds through beautiful hills and valleys until it finds its outlet.
Bishop Peak Oil Painting, San Luis Obispo, Central Coast California Art
“Farm at Bishop Peak”
San Luis Obispo, Central Coast
oil painting
14 x 18 inches
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
When I was painting in San Luis Obispo County earlier this spring with the California Art Club, I was especially attracted to the numerous large peaks that rise from the city of San Luis Obispo out to the sea, the last of which is Morro Rock. Bishop Peak (sometimes called Bishop’s Peak) is one of the Nine Sisters. Technically they are “volcanic plugs,” and the volcanoes that rose above them are long gone. Bishop Peak is the tallest of the formations, and it was noted in the diary of John Muir who wrote:
“The trail brings the traveler suddenly in sight of
Bishop Peak … The town is fairly encircled with beautiful hills…
the one just named being most conspicuous.”
The soft afternoon light and atmospheric mist from the sea made this a picture of rural tranquility that held great appeal for me.
