No School Today!

 

No School Today!  oil 10x10 inches  

Purchase info here.

I still remember the freedom of having a no school day and taking off into the neighborhood on my bicycle.   These Balboa Island kids have a pretty cool neighborhood!  Mom, young friends and even baby in the baby seat were headed out for a little adventure.  This photo is a bit blurry.  On the contrary, the painting is full of crisp brushwork and happy color.  

Sand & Sun

oil 9x12 inches Purchase info here. Temperatures are dropping, three days of rain are coming along with snow in our local mountains. Boy, does this scene look inviting!!! Here's what happens when painting figures in plein air: The chosen subject was two adults in chairs and their little girl standing with a BIG bow in her hair. I took a pic of the figures, because I knew thay'd move. The girl went down to the water of course. I drew the two chairs. The third adult arrived! Drew in the third chair. Took more pics. Drew the two women. They ALL got up and left for about an hour. Drew the man from my pic. Started painting the chairs, then figures from memory. They came back and put up the umbrella. Added the umbrella, changed the skin tones under the umbrella to tones in shade. Painted the umbrella, shadows under the chairs, sunlit sand and water. Whew! It was a lot of fun to paint such a fluid situation and I was really lucky that the subject kept getting better!

Umbrellas On The Beach -SOLD

oil 9x12 inches Purchase info here. I painted this one quickly one afternoon during paint San Clemente. Artists can only submit two paintings, and this one didn't make the cut. The couple sitting in the chair packed up to leave and then discovered I'd put them in my painting. That was a fun moment! I have this one priced low since it's just a quick sketch.

The Old Cleaners -a plein air painting from Claremont, CA

oil 9x12 inches Closer look and purchase info here. This piece is included in "Local Color", scenes of Claremont at Studio C Gallery, 260 W. Bonita Ave, Claremont, CA. Available for viewing and purchase at the gallery through the month of December. Studio C offers fine art and handcrafted items perfect for gift giving. For more info contact Elizabeth 909-289-9401. IN OTHER NEWS: A few spots have opened up in my JANUARY 12-14 WORKSHOP located in the Thousand Oaks area. This is a three day workshop "PAINTING THE LIVELY STILL LIFE." For more information or to register please email Wendy Gordin ASAP at wgordin@gmail.com

Sit A Spell

oil 8x8 inches For a closer look and purchase info click here. We visited artsy Cannon Beach, Oregon a few years ago. This great old house was a studio gallery. Once in a while I like to use a completely different type of brush just to keep things fresh. I normally use flats or filberts, but this was done with synthetic brights. I really enjoyed the resulting geometric marks. IN OTHER NEWS: NEWPORT BEACH ART IN THE PARK is this Saturday. Come for the perfect weather and great art! 10-4 On the Civic Center Green, 100 Civic Center Drive. Artists for this event are carefully juried in for the quality of their work. You'll see many different art forms. Definitely worth the visit! I'll have framed and loose paintings, over 100 in total to browse through. Come sit and visit with me a while. I hope to see you there!

Beach Stroll

oil 9x12 inches For a closer look and purchase info click here. In May we camped for a few days at Moro Campground in Crystal Cove State Beach. I squeezed in a couple of paintings, this being the first. That wet sand color can be very illusive, but I'm happy with my color here. We'll have a high of 104 degrees here today. This beach scene looks pretty good!

New Shoes For Charlie

oil 9x12 inches For a closer look and purchase info click here. In June some of my painting buddies and I painted out at a horse ranch in Rancho Cucamonga called Baker Scudder Farms. Charlie is my friend, Martha's horse and he happened to be getting new shoes that day, so he was reasonably stationary for our painting session. I used shots on my iPhone to paint the human who moved a LOT! Thanks to Martha, Baker Scudder Farms and Charlie too. It was a great morning painting with my buddies. IN OTHER NEWS: I have two spaces available in my September 9&10 Workshop here at my studio in Upland, CA. For more info email me: karenwernerart@gmail.com

Fountain Rest -a plein air painting from the Orange Circle, City of Orange, CA

oil 9x12 inches magnify/purchase info Seldom do I go back into a dried painting, but on this one I did. My aim was to bring more attention to the figure. Below is the painting before reworking it.

Morning -a plein air painting from historic Bumann Ranch SOLD

oil 9x12 inches magnify/purchase info On a Monday in March I had the unique opportunity to paint on historic Bumann Ranch in Encinitas. Fabulous plein air artist, Rita Pacheco invited me to join her, for which I'm very grateful. I drove south the night before to a cheap hotel in Carlsbad, then met up with Rita early in the morning. Mr. Richard Bumann was very welcoming, informative and proud of his family's homestead ranch. We had stepped back in time. Structures and equipment dated back to the 1800's. When we arrived the sun was shining through an early morning mist. It was this atmosphere that I set out to capture. I added Mr. Bumann using shots from my camera phone. I'm very happy with the feel of this painting. Sincere thank you's to Rita Pacheco and the Bumanns.