This one was painted recently along Bayou Drive, one of my favorite painting locations. It's so hot now - August in Florida of course! - but there's almost always a breeze along here which makes it bearable for a couple of hours. In this painting, I like the trees back along the horizon line with their distant muted colors. 
This piece is a pastel I did for a show at Brooker Creek Preserve's Art Gallery, where it is currently on display until the end of August. If you have the opportunity, this is a beautiful show of pastel works well worth going to. 
This is actually a reworking of a painting I did quite a while ago. I liked parts of it before but always felt I could have done better on some of it. So now I'm happier with the piece (at least for now). The view is of Tampa Bay, looking south from Phillipe Park in Safety Harbor. As always, you can purchase this by emailing me at jennastarfriedman@gmail.com. Thanks for looking!
This is the winning painting, "Kayaks at the Causeway", which you can also see in an earlier post in this blog. Not only did I win 1st place, but the painting is sold! Double-happiness!
Here I am, the proud winner of 1st place(!) at the PAVA show at the Leepa Rattner Museum in Tarpon Springs.
I sat right on the beach (under my umbrella) when I painted this scene. There were some people walking around, but I didn't include them -- I usually don't want to put people in my landscapes. Not that I don't like people, but I want the focus to be on the natural setting, and once you have people in a painting, the eye immediately goes to them as the focal point. Anyway I first did this painting on the beach, but it got so hot and the sand was blowing around in my eyes and sticking on the canvas, so I finished it up later in the studio. I put the painting away for a while, as I often do when I'm not sure if I'm finished, so that when I take it out again I can see it with fresh eyes. I worked on this one some more and at last feel it's done. Does this count as plein air? Not in the plein air ultra-purist's eyes it wouldn't. This is something my fellow plein air painters and I discuss sometimes: to what extent does something have to be painted totally at the scene to be considered plein air? I understand when competitions need to have strict guidelines and specify what percentage of a painting has to be done outside to qualify for being defined as plein air in order to level the playing field. I have been in some plein air paintout events where I was pretty certain some of the painters were submitting studio work instead. That's deceptive and not fair to others who are painting by the rules. But when it's not a competition or judged event, and simply a matter of how to define a style of painting? For me then, plein air paintings would include artwork that is conceived, started, and mostly worked out in the field. Not that any of this matters much to most people at all! If you'd like to purchase this, or anything else you see here, contact me at jennastarfriedman@gmail.com for availability and prices. Thanks for visiting! 
Another in the series of paintings done at a local nursery, Earthscapes, in Palm Harbor. The settings and plantings in the garden are exquisite -- the hard part is eliminating what's not essential to the painting. I've done so many here that just didn't work, but I like this painting a lot. It's currently hanging, along with some others, in their shop. Email me if you're interested in this painting at jennastarfriedman@gmail.com and you can pay with Visa/Mastercard through Paypal. Thanks for visiting!
I wanted to paint in watercolor there so I could capture with immediacy the vibrant plants. These small paintings are available for $20 each unframed, or $30 with a frame. Thanks for visiting! 
As you travel west on the Dunedin Causeway to Honeymoon Island, there is a beach rental stand where they have kayaks among other things. I've always noticed the brightly colored kayaks on my way to Honeymoon, and last month went there to paint with my plein air group. This was one of those paintings that just kind of flowed out happily from my brush -- doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's an amazing feeling.
. He is a terrific painter and teacher - and very good at demonstrating how he works through a painting. The workshop lasted for three days and I'd gladly take another one from him. I always go through somewhat of a burnout after an intense learning experience like that, and I have to work through what I want to incorporate into my own work. 
Ok, here is the last (I think) of the Brooker Creek series of paintings that I'm going to post. This one shows a path to a picnic pavilion, and again I painted it because I loved all the colors of the flora there. You can see the Muhly Grass on the right, which is the common name for the pinkish-mauve fluffy plant, that I referred to in my previous post. I have added a link there also that will give you more scientific information about it. Now that I have most of these Brooker Creek paintings posted (finally), I'm going to have to get busy and get out my camera to shoot some of the more recent work I've been doing. I admit that I'm pretty lazy about keeping up with photographing and writing about my paintings for this blog. I'd just rather be painting all the time! I'm happy to report that I've sold a few paintings recently, which is always a thrill, not only for the bit of financial gain I get from it. If you're interested in purchasing this, or any other of my paintings, email me at Jennastarfriedman@gmailcom and we can arrange it with any credit card through Paypal. Prices are extremely reasonable. Thanks for looking!
An oil painting exploring the colors found in the natural plant life in Brooker Creek Preserve. This is another in the series of paintings done at this location. I've been trying to look up the name of the pinkish plant in the foreground here, but haven't found it yet. I used to know what it's called, but can't remember right now (this is happening more and more lately, unfortunately!)
Here's the view from the other side of the bridge in Brooker Creek. Water Under the Bridge - West, Oil, 11x14". Thanks for looking!
environment - later when I completed the picture. I had fun with this, because I got to be as colorful as I wanted. Thanks for looking!
. This was a gray day in fall, and I tried to capture the muted tones of the landscape. Also I tried to paint it in an abstract/impressionistic sort of way.
Our show in the Gallery at the Preserve is still going on until March 3. 
- because I wasn't thinking about the outcome, just enjoying the process.
While at Brooker Creek Nature Preserve, I painted an 8x10 study for this larger painting. This one is 18 x 24 inches - much larger than what I usually paint in plein air. It shows an area in the preserve where the trees grow up and over the pathway making a tunnel-like covering, which is why I named it as I did. 
This is another in my series of plein air paintings done at Brooker Creek Preserve. It's currently on exhibit at the gallery and will be there from Jan. 2 through March 1, 2009. This little painting shows an old tree by the side of the creek just past one of the bridges on the trail. Brooker Creek Preserve is a huge natural area that has been set aside by Pinellas County FL to allow flora and fauna to survive the constant development that goes on around here.
This plein air painting is one in my series of paintings done for the show at Brooker Creek Preserve in Tarpon Springs, FL. The exhibit will run from January 2 through March 1, 2009 at the Gallery in the Preserve. This painting was done with pastels on site. It took two days for me to complete. All paintings in the exhibit were done in plein air over several months at Brooker Creek Preserve, located off Keystone Rd. in Tarpon Springs. We are very proud to be able to put on this exhibit as the paintings demonstrate our love of natural Florida. The show is titled: VANISHING FLORIDA - PRESERVATION THROUGH ART, BROOKER CREEK by the WEST COAST PLEIN AIR PAINTERS. If you are in the area, please stop by to see the work by me and fellow artists of West Coast Plein Air.
Click on the picture for an announcement about upcoming plein air show at Brooker Creek Nature Preserve in Tarpon Springs, FL.
I painted this picture off the side of the road in Tarpon Springs FL. Tarpon Springs is known for its natural sponge trade and authentic Greek fishing village. This sponge building is located near but not on the main road of the village. Unfortunately it is no longer in use.
The Hacienda Hotel is located on Main Street in New Port Richey, FL along the Cotee River. The Hacienda was built in the 1920's and has an interesting history which I'll insert in my next post. There have been various rumors about the next incarnation for the building but the hotel is not currently in use.
Painted recently en plein air at Green Key Beach, New Port Richey, FL. Our painting group, West Coast Plein Air (a chapter of Plein Air Florida) goes out weekly to paint the landscape. I painted this during our stint at Green Key in New Port Richey. This oil painting is richly textured and colored and reflects the lighting and my impressions of that hot day.
I painted this tropical pathway near a kayak trail in Howard Park, Tarpon Springs, in July and recently finished it up in the studio. The paint is highly textured and glazed. If you'd like to purchase this painting through Paypal, contact me at Jennastarfriedman@gmailcom. Thanks for visiting! 
