Friday, June 29, 2012

Painting in Easton, MD

3 Sailboats in Oxford by Jane McElvany Coonce

Last weekend I went up to Easton, MD to paint for four days with a group of artists.  It was one of the hottest weekends this year!  We went over to Oxford, Maryland, and I did some boats in the marina.  We couldn't paint for very long because it was so hot.  Plein air painting has it's share of problems: bugs, wind, heat, rain.  Yes, we even got sprinkled on one day.  The painting above is one I did with a limited palette.  I didn't take my standard array of colors.  I only took blue, red, yellow and white. It's much harder, I think, mixing the exact color you want, but it makes the load lighter than having to lug 20 different tubes to paint.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Artomatic


This evening, I will be participating in a "paint-in" at Artomatic.  Although I am not one of the artists in the big show "Artomatic", a group of us will be demonstrating painting on the 11th floor from 6 - 9 pm.  Come by and see us.  I will be working on a Key Bridge piece I started and need to finish. This has got a long way to go, but you can see how I've blocked in areas.  These Key Bridge/Georgetown paintings take a long time because of all the buildings and detail. I'll show you the finished project whenever that happens.  I don't know how much I'll get done tonight because a lot of people could stop and talk and distract the artist.  Oh well, it will be fun!  Come join me.  We'll have a glass of wine afterwards!

Artomatic is located in Crystal City of Arlington, 1851 S. Bell St.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Harry Potter's Bookshelf

Harry Potter's Bookshelf by Jane McElvany Coonce

Sorry I haven't blogged in over a week!  Last week was the week from hell!  I didn't have a moment to sit down and put my feet up.  The Arlington Artists Alliance is opening a new co-op gallery in Crystal City and I'm the Executive Director.  So things have been crazy.  More on that later.

I have a online store on Etsy. (not to be mistaken with Esty, an online dating site.)  Think of Etsy that rhymes with Betsy.  It's a site for all things that are handmade.  My store is calledFineArtStudios and you can find it at: www.etsy.com/shop/FineArtStudios
I haven't sold anything in a while on Etsy, but last Thursday, I sold a giclee of Harry Potter's Bookshelf.  This was a painting that I had done for Kevin, my middle son, when he was younger.  Kevin was a child who hated to read.  When the Harry Potter books came out, I read the first one to him.  He loved it.  He wanted me to read it to him again, but I told him he could read it himself.  That's when he became an avid reader.  So I did this painting for Kevin to honor his love of Harry Potter and how Harry changed his life. If you are a Harry Potter fan like I am, you'll recognize all the things that Harry Potter might have on his bookshelf.

The giclee I sold on Etsy is a very fine reproduction of the original painting.  I hope the new owner will get as much enjoyment out of it as Kevin does.