The Next Crab Painting in the Series

The Copper Poacher
by Jane McElvany Coonce

As many of you are well aware of, I'm on a crab jag.  This is my sixth painting in my series.  My friend, Jean, had the most beautiful fish poacher.  It's copper and has brass handles and a brass fish on top.  Although you probably wouldn't just cook two crabs in a fish poacher, ( "I bet you couldn't eat just two!")  I couldn't resist the color of the copper against the color of the steamed crabs.  I started painting this when the sun was out.  The colors in the copper were magnificent.  The next two days were overcast, and although I worked on the painting, the copper wasn't as vivid.  On the forth day, it was still over cast, but as I worked on the painting, the sun burst through the clouds.  I immediately went back into the copper and started painting madly.  Then the sun would go behind the clouds and I would  feel my spirits drop.  Five minutes later, the sun came back out, and I again painted like a mad man trying to capture the colors before the sun disappeared.  It was a like a contest between me and the sun.  I've never experienced that before with a still life; it was crazy!