Trees on Oat Hill

1/26/2014

Trees on Oat Hill is a painting of the view from the front of my Franz Valley studio. I just this week completed it — a reworking of a piece I originally painted a few years ago. I always liked the composition (and, of course, I love the view), but the colors were a little subtler than those in most of my paintings.

When I paint on location, I generally feel tied to a more literal vision of the landscape in front of me — and that was the case here. It's when I get in the studio that I can use my photographs, my memory, and my imagination, and see where the painting wants to take me.

Now that it's completed, dry, and framed, it's on its way to Rutherford Ranch Winery's new art gallery space, where you might be able to find it a little later this week. Rutherford Ranch Winery is located at 1680 Silverado Trail South, in St. Helena, and is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.

Also going to Rutherford Ranch Winery's gallery are Autumn Celebration, Sunset on Oat Hill, and Across the Meadow II, where they'll join a number of my other paintings.

4 Comments

Stephen Sossaman link

9/11/2014 12:38:16 pm

These paintings are marvelous even in little computer-screen thumbnails. How "translatable" is this style, Karen, if the painter were interested, into larger paintings? Small paintings, even world-class great small paintings, often seem to me to be decorative, diffident, lost. At what sizendo you think that a typical painting declares "Look at me! Attention must be paid!" I would guess that bright, colorist, semi-abstract paintings like yours draw attention to themselves at relatively small sizes. Unfortunately, my own interest in large paintings is at odds with my loose cash, but there is something marvelous about large paintings.

Karen Lynn link

9/13/2014 04:34:20 am

Thank you so much! And what a great question.

I think these paintings are very definitely translatable into larger paintings. And the point about people seeing smaller images as simply decorative is well made. It’s funny how size commands attention, even though that which is small and well-made deserves the same attention. (I’m thinking Vermeer, for instance.) Often there is not much difference in time spent on a small and a medium-sized painting — the difference is just in the size of the brushes.

And cost is definitely an issue for people when it comes to larger paintings — as well as wall space. Not everyone has lots of wall space in their homes; it depends on the home and what art they already have.

Personally, I love working large. I’ve got a larger (40” x 30”) commission piece sitting on my easel right now that’s in process. But it hadn’t occurred to me to work with some of these same images I’ve already painted on a larger scale. Hmmmm…. I’m liking that idea! Perhaps those could be the basis for the long-delayed show that had been planned for the Grand Hand Gallery in Napa…. Thank you for the idea!

Stephen Sossaman link

9/13/2014 06:48:01 am

Indian or Mughal miniatures come to mind: when I see on a gallery wall or in a good art book some much-enlarged detail I often marvel at how well the small scale translates into larger images. Naturally, I am baffled by the question of how any artist can actually paint such small works with such clarity that even enlargements look fabulous. All this before modern optical devices.

Karen Lynn link

2/1/2015 02:32:21 am

How did I miss this comment? I just discovered my notification, looking through old emails — my apologies for not replying sooner!

I am amazed by that kind of miniature work, too. The smallest I have worked is 5"x7", and there is a sweetness and intimacy about working that size. I can't work on canvas then; the texture interrupts the brush strokes too significantly. I have to work on panels. But I can’t keep working at that size indefinitely.

I am now working much larger, having taken your advice, and listening to the request of someone who is re-opening his gallery in Calistoga. I’ve been working on a series of 36”x48” paintings. Two are done, two are in process, and I am hoping all will be done before next weekend’s opening.

We open at 7 PM at ECHO Gallery, in the Station House at the Depot in Calistoga (the building next door to the antique railroad cars), on Saturday, February 7th. If you happen to be in an upvalley direction, I hope you’ll consider joining us!

Trees on Oat Hill

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Karen Lynn Ingalls

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