Here's my painting for this year's Brush with the Blues plein air event for the Blueberry Festival in Brooksville.  I called it "View from City Hall" because I painted it in the parking lot there.  I won Third Place!    Below you can see it framed and hanging inside for the exhibit. The lighting there isn't great but you get the idea.  

Brush with the Blues - Brooksville FL - Plein Air Competition 2014

Here are my best plein air painting buddies after a delectable lunch at Mallie Kyla's cafe in Brooksville, FL.  I'm the one in the middle. Last week we were all  painting out in different locations around Brooksville for the annual Brush with the Blues Plein Air competition (except for Rhonda - at top of stairs - who was in charge of organizing the event and had to work during it )  In order starting from the top of the stairs are: Rhonda, Jana, Jenna (me), Anneke, and Phoebe.   The awards were presented at the Blueberry Festival at a Sunday morning breakfast for the painters, judged by Tom Jones -the well-known watercolor artist.  Anneke  won First Place this year!  I won Third Place!  Everyone did beautiful work!  I will post my painting soon.  

Morris the Cat

Here's an oil painting of my daughter's cat, Morris.  This cat has one of the greatest personalities of any cat I've ever known!  He's friendly to everyone and especially wonderful with my almost-one-year-old granddaughter Esme!  Sleepy time Morris, Oil, 16x20 "  .  

More watercolors ......

Violet Rose

Wood's Edge

Another Rose

Here are two of my favorite watercolors painted this year:

Lilies

Vase of Roses

And of course, if you are interested in buying any of these, or any other paintings you see on my blog,  please contact me and I will get the relevant information to you.  Thanks for visiting.  Paint on!

Time to Get Back on Track

Vase of Roses

Blue Jay's World    

I thought I'd put up some watercolors for a change.  Some are done during class demos and some during my own time, but most of them have not been named or sized or matted and so are not ready to be put on my website --
www.jennastarfriedman.com   --

                    

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted.  I'm always painting -- I have to! --but I'm not great at keeping up with the stuff that needs to be done to get my paintings out there.  Like photographing, filing, naming, sizing, signing, matting, framing, organizing, posting etc etc -- the stuff that's not actually painting.  I don't like to do the business side of art. I don't know many artists that do. Enough excuses. Here goes, I'm making another resolution to get consistent and organized.

First Place Winner in Brush With the Blues Plein Air Competition

 Brooksville Palms - I painted this during the Brooksville "Brush with the Blues" plein air competition,an event that is part of the Blueberry Festival in Brooksville, Florida. I was very happy to be awarded FIRST PLACE for this painting!!!  A little background story:  We had Wednesday, Thursday and half of Friday to paint on location anywhere in Brooksville.  The paintings were judged and the reception held on Saturday, May 4.   It rained both days that I went there to paint, but luckily there were  periods of just drizzle and I was using acrylics this time so I was able to paint anyway. I set up on the street, looking at a back view of the courthouse. I was drawn by the composition of the magnificent palms that were in the parking area there, with the old courthouse in the background. I tried to capture the drizzly gray weather contrasted with the colorful foreground palm leaves. As I was painting on Friday morning before the noon deadline, some landscapers came with their cherry-pickers and cut off all the bottom leaves and seeds of the palms -- leaving them looking vastly different with just a few of the top leaves left!  Luckily I had already gotten most of it painted.  Plein air painting has many challenges: difficult weather and energetic landscapers are two of them!
BROOKSVILLE PALMS, Acrylic, 11x14"

 


A writer for the Tampa Bay Times, Logan Neil, took a picture of me as I was finishing up before the deadline on Friday.  Below is a clip from the newspaper:

Two recent  six inch square paintings:  Gulf Harbors II (oil) and Green Key Beach (acrylic)

Both were painted en plein air.  They are on the very wide edge stretched canvases and look great when hung without using frames!

Floral III

This was one of my star paintings at the Artists Market show at the Leepa Rattner Museum in Tarpon Spriungs last weekend - Oct. 13 and 14. It got a lot of interest and I told a few people it would be up on my website so they could look at it later.  Unfortunately I couldn't get it to post until today for some reason. This fairly large painting is a lively still life of lilies in shades of pinks and golds.  Looks especially good in the wide gold fame I showed it in. FLORAL III, Acrylic, 16x12", $325, add $100 for the frame.

Storm Approaching, Oil, 11x14 - This is one of the original paintings I sold on Saturday Oct. 20, during Studio Waltz in Dunedin, FL.  Unfortunately I don't have photos of the other two originals I sold- or at least I can't find them on my computer right now.  I also sold several matted prints and handmade cards during the day.  The weather was beautiful - in the low 80s with a fresh breeze all day - I had a great time!! As I have for the past few years, I was set up by the lake in front of Blake White and Carol Sackman's amazing Mozaic House - studio #9 on the Open Studio tour.  So I got to paint en plein air in between talking to all the visitors.  A wonderful day!

Great Publicity for Plein Air

Recently I was contacted by a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times who wanted to do a piece about plein air  painters in the area. After a few conversations, she came out one day while our group, West Coast Plein Air - Florida, was painting at Orange Lake in downtown New Port Richey. Click on the link below to see a great newspaper article about it.  (Unfortunately, I haven't yet been able to figure out how to post the actual article here without all kinds of ads and other extra bits.)

http://soc.li/2jEmNXI

Three from Honeymoon Island

Our plein air group, West Coast Plein Air - Florida, painted out for a couple of months during the summer at Honeymoon Island.  We were comfortable despite the Florida heat because we were invited to paint in the shade of the South Beach Cafe.  Of course we followed our tough mornings of painting the surrounding beauty with delicious lobster rolls for lunch from the Cafe. Good times!  These three paintings are all done in oil. From the top: Honeymoon View, 8x10; Secluded Beach, 11x14; Storm Approaching, 11x14.

Swamp Spring Morning

This oil painting was painted, mostly en plein air, in May. Our plein air group was painting in downtown New Port Richey near Orange Lake.  So it's actually not  in a swamp, but the vegetation, Spanish moss, heat and humidity made me feel like I was.
Swamp Spring Morning, Oil, 11x14

First Prize in Plein Air Competition-FL Blueberry Festival

Here is my winning painting, "Red Door" which won First Place in the Plein Air competition at the Florida Blueberry Festival in Brooksville, May 5 and 6, 2012.  I painted this view of the old Christmas House in Brooksville.  It's 14x11" and done in acrylic. 

I thought I'd include some of my preliminary steps to the final painting. Above you can see a couple of pages from my sketchbook, with thumbnail sketches to work out the composition -- my students groan when I tell them they must do thumbnails first, but putting in the time to do it really helps me work out the focal point and plan my composition to get what I want to achieve.  Under the sketches, is the oil under-painting I started on Wednesday afternoon, the first day I went out painting. Because this was a plein air competition, all canvases had to be stamped before starting out and turned in at the end of each day, so that people don't go home and use photos and other technological means to enhance their paintings. When I went back out on Friday to finish up, I realized I didn't want to use this first version of the painting because it emphasized the tree and not the red door, which was my focal point.  So I started completely over, this time with acrylics since I knew I only had an hour and a half until I had to turn it in at noon.  I raced and slapped the paint on to get it done in time.  At the top of this post you can see the final painting that I submitted for judging. I was quite surprised (very happily!) when I found out I won first place.

NOTICE ---  I have just published my new website!   I'm going to be adding more paintings and information to it for a while, but I wanted it to be available now.  Please check it out!

http://jennastarfriedman.com

Pond Reflections

This is a pastel painting I did as a demo during the Landscape/Still Life class I teach at the Pasco Art Center. I'd previously done an oil sketch in plein air at the site. This little pond is actually behind a parking lot in the Trinity area. I like the colorful reflections in the pond and on the foreground tree.
Pond Reflections, Pastel, 8x10

Beach Day; Lifeguard

I thought I had posted these pictures previously, but I just noticed the images did not upload. These are six inch square oil paintings which are described more below.

Anclote River

This is a painting I did in the studio of a view along the Anclote River. I've got several versions of this scene in varying states of completion. I've entered this one in the current show for the Pastel Society of Tampa Bay, which is being held this year in Tampa at the Carrolwood Cultural Center. The opening reception will be next Friday, Feb 10, 2012 from 6 - 9:00 pm. Everyone is welcome so I hope to see you there!
Anclote River, Pastel, 12x18" $425-

Lifeguard; Beach Day

Here are a couple of oil paintings from a
beach series I've been working on lately. These are 6 inch squares which is an interesting compositional challenge, plus they sell well at the gallery I'm in. (Artist's Faire Gallery in Tarpon Springs FL) If you're longing for summer at this cold time of year, why not pick out a couple of beach paintings to hold you over til then? Two for $100, shipping and handling included. No need to frame -- these have a very wide edge that is painted too. Wired and ready to go. Thanks for visiting!

Gulf View, Alla prima 6x8" Oil painting

I painted this during the Tarpon Springs Plein Air Paintout last week. The location of this scene is in Howard Park before you cross over the causeway to the beach. Because of all my teaching commitments, I could only paint during one day of the three day event. I was worried I wouldn't have enough time to come up with a painting I liked enough to enter, but I was pleased when I finished this. I like the way I got a lot of color in it and used atmospheric perspective to get a sense of depth. Contact me at jennastarfriedman@gmail.com if you're interested in purchasing this piece and I will set up a Paypal page for secure payment. Thanks for viewing my work!
Gulf View, 6x8" $250, framed in a beautiful wide gold wood frame.

Morning Stroll, Sand Hill Cranes

I saw these two sand hill cranes strolling the PHCC campus one day and luckily - for once - had my camera with me. The sand hill cranes are not afraid of people it seems, and they calmly walk around, usually in pairs and sometimes with a couple of chicks. I painted this in pastel recently.
Morning Stroll, Pastel, 8x10, matted and framed.
Thanks for looking!

Tern and Gull

I paint with watercolors all the time but rarely post the images here. Here's one I just finished. I was playing with different textures when I painted this. I like the way the birds are looking in opposite directions.
Tern and Gull, Watercolor, 5x7"

Key Vista

I recently completed this painting which I had started en plein air at Key Vista Park. I really like the colors I got into this one, which you can see more clearly by clicking on the picture. I got it mostly finished that day in the park, but I usually like to look at my work a few days or more later, before completely finishing it off. I feel I need to look at it away from the actual scene with some objectivity to judge whether it's a good painting. In the heat of the moment (literally and figuratively), and after a couple of hours of observing the subject intensely, it's often hard for me to see whether I've said what I wanted to with the painting. Of course the trick is knowing when to stop -- I've ruined very many pieces by adding "just this one more thing!"
Key Vista, Oil, 14x11"
Thanks for looking -- and paint on!

Here's our plein air group (West Coast Plein Air - Florida) ready for lunch. We're painting at Anclote River Park this month. We have to find places near the water during the summer months because of the heat. Last Friday was delightful - there was a steady cool breeze coming off the Gulf that kept the 90+ temperature bearable. This is one of our favorite places to eat after a morning of plein air painting - Miss Vicky's on the River - the food is great and you can't beat the location!

Brackish Pond

I painted this little painting of a pond area on Honeymoon Island. It's right near the beach but inland a bit from the water. There's not a lot of shade on the beach and this was one of the few places that had some large bushes I could crouch behind. Even with my large plein air umbrella, it's so hot that I need to be in a shaded place also.
Brackish Pond, 6x8, Oil. Thanks for visiting!

Palmy Day

Here's a little plein air of a path in Port Richey Waterfront Park, which is a few blocks from where I live. I just finished it recently. I'm going to try to get a few things posted to catch up a bit with this blog. I love to paint and just want to spend my time doing that! I'm always way behind with the photographing and posting of my work. Palmy Day, 5x7, Oil
Thanks for visiting!

Sunday Drive

Another one from Hernando County along Bayou Drive. This is definitely one of my favorite painting places. We go there a lot because it's so beautiful and there's lots of shady areas and usually a nice breeze blowing off the Gulf.
Sunday Drive, 5x7 Oil.

Country Road

Our plein air group painted at this farm/ranch for a few weeks during strawberry season and then were asked back for a day event during blueberry season. It's a "pick your own" operation and the fruit is top quality - very nice ranch owners who appreciate art also! The JG Ranch is located near Brooksville FL. and well worth checking out during harvest times. I painted this on the road that leads into the farming area and it turned out to be one of my favorite paintings yet. I think it's even more colorful and lush than my camera seems to be able to pick up.
Country Road, 14x11, Oil
Thanks for visiting!