Since his 2010 Artist-in-Residency in Everglades National Park, Joseph Weinzettle has been dedicated to making his art en plein air. Weinzettle believes that his art should respond to the surrounding environment.
Weinzettle’s plein-air paintings explore the surviving tracts of natural landscape in Pinellas County. Panels included in the Creative Pinellas Art Annual 2023 are part of his “Swamps of Northern Pinellas” series, a project begun with the support a Creative Pinellas Professional Artist Grant in 2020. Previous grants include the Gottlieb Foundation Grant (2015) and Pollock-Krasner Grant (2009).
His panels are built up from silverpoint underdrawing to stand oil painted layers over the course of months and sometimes years. Work sessions take place as seasonal conditions permit. Some swamp sites are not accessible in the wet season.
Weinzettle’s work has been exhibited at Brooker Creek Preserve, the Pasco Arts Center, Heartwood Preserve and the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art.