January 2025

Gina on the Horizon

Circling the Pasadena Village conference room is a series of beautiful plein air landscapes by Gina Frierman-Hunt, a relatively new Village member. 

When I asked her how she felt about the show, her immediate response was “it’s fun!” She felt “excited” to be asked to show her work and she enjoyed her opening reception, which was very well-attended.

Gina spends her Fridays with a group of local plein air artists. As she explained to me, their biggest challenge is finding locations with great vistas … AND a bathroom nearby. Somehow, they always manage to do that. This group activity feeds her love of landscapes and the wonderful outdoors. Gina is always looking to the horizon for her next painting.

Gina is a natural artist but, like many artists, especially women, she spent many years raising kids, keeping a home and working. After the kids were a bit older, she began to take art classes. When she enrolled in a landscape painting class in Santa Monica, she began her love of landscape painting.

While most of her works currently displayed at Pasadena Village are digital prints, some are watercolor on synthetic, non-porous Yupo paper and some are acrylic on canvas. Gina’s digital work is produced in an iPad program called Procreate.

Gina recently offered a class at Pasadena Village for Villagers who wanted to learn how to use Procreate on their iPads. It was a great success and is making quite a buzz within the Village Art Group.

The Village Art Group was a concept introduced by Gina just this year. She wanted to create an art discussion group as stimulating and fun as her Friday plein air group. As an artist myself, it seemed like a great idea. Since artists work alone for the most part and the creative process is often a “solo” experience, we need the companionship of other artists. We need to connect with our creative ideas, experiences and challenges. We learn from each other and, in turn, this connection inspires and supports us. (You’ll learn more about this Small Gathering Group in our next issue.)

Gina has shared her creative spirit, joy of the outdoors and friendly manner with Pasadena Village. She has ignited good times and rich experiences for all of us. Recently she guided the Schmoozendoodle group in an effortless journey to produce landscapes of our own using Yupo paper and watercolor paints. Everyone was surprised and pleased at what they were able to paint!

As I write this article, Gina and her husband, Paul, are relaxing in Sedona, Arizona. This is a place they love and have visited before. She shared with me the breathtaking beauty she sees from her balcony: red rocks, deep dark trees and a vast sky. My guess is that a new, incredible landscape will be created while she is there.