Welcome to the California plein air and California landscape paintings of Diane Weintraub!

Here you'll find my blog (web log) tracking the latest work from my easel as I paint the beautiful and constantly changing vistas of southern California, from the Pacific Ocean all the way to San Diego's back country.

Contact me by email at justpleinair@hotmail.com.

To see a gallery of my paintings click here.
To read my Biography click here.

Represented by:
The Liffey Art House
Grand opening August 16th!

Some of my favorite links

Been working in the studio on canvases I started earlier in the year. It's hot out and this landscape painter could melt out there! OK, maybe not actually melt;) I am more that a little concerned about the West Nile Virus that's hitting our area and for that reason alone I'm inclined to spend some quality time with brushes and paint in my studio. My painting buddy just loads up with a thick layer of Deep Woods Off bug repellent but that's not my style. Did plenty of that when we lived on the west coast of Florida on the edge of the Everglades... and the mosquitoes were "that big"!

Meanwhile I have plenty of not-quite-finished paintings to keep me busy for a while. Here's one that's in a loosely painted variation of my personal style. It's that big view from the first pull-off as you drive out of Santa Ysabel to Julian. If it's a little hazy, and it was that day, it's just a whole lot of fun to let the paint slip and slide and forget about tight details in pursuit of an "impression" of the scene. After all, that's what the old California Impressionists were all about!

"View Over the Oaks", 9 by 12 inches, oil on canvas. Available: $375

It's always something! It's really hot these days so I'm inclined to do some studio painting for a while. And so the news that West Nile virus has been found in San Diego county is not rocking my world as much as it might have otherwise.

Yes, it's true: West Nile virus has been found in a large number of dead crows here, some less than two blocks form where I live! West Nile is carried by mosquitoes that hatch in stagnant pools of water. The large number of forclosures in the area, many with derelict swimming pools, make an excellent environment for those mosquitoes. So I'm very happy to stay in the studio right now.

Nothing new to show you at the moment, although I am working on about four paintings of various sizes. Hope they get finished up this week:)

Monday morning always rolls around regularly, coming right after Sunday evening, if you're ready or not. This weekend was very relaxing, and I hope that yours was too. Now it's back to work and for me that's painting so it seems more like "play" than "work". Ya gotta love what you do... and this landscape painter sure does!

The collector base for landscape paintings is always changing. Seems like people get into it for a while, fill up all available wall space, and have to stop. It's a sad day when the realization sinks in that they simply can't add one other painting to the wall because if they do either the wall will give out... or the spouse will;) One collector I know had to open a gallery so that he could continue to buy art!

Right now on eBay I'm offering various small studies. I sometimes paint them before I get going on a larger work in order to work out the composition or the color palette. At a scant 5 inches by 7 inches, they might fit even the most avid of collector's walls space. Each is painted with the usual top-of-the-line paint I use on my larger paintings. They are painted on canvas mounted to panel... you see them in art stores ready-made and called "canvas boards". Here's one below on eBay right now for $45. If you want to check it out just click on the link to that auction below the painting.

"Study 374", 5 by 7 inches, oil on canvas board. Available: $45

Link to the Auction on eBay