Teaching on a Cruise Ship: Ireland

Cliffs of Ireland
 watercolor by Jane McElvany Coonce

I just got back from a two week teaching cruise.  It was a fabulous trip on the Queen Elizabeth of the Cunard fleet.  We flew to London and took a bus down to Southampton. The ship left the next day, and we sailed to Ireland.  We visited Dublin and rode the Hop On Hop Off bus to try and see as much as we could in one day.  We did visit the Guinness Factory and had a beer at the top of the building where we could see a panoramic view of the city.  Although we were supposed to go to Belfast the next day, that port stop was cancelled due to high gale winds.  The captain was afraid he would never be able to get the ship out of the small port of Belfast.

The first class I taught, we did the cliffs of Ireland.  Each day that I taught, I had a morning class and and afternoon class.  Some people came to both!  I had such nice students that it made the trip that much more enjoyable.  Some people had painted before, but most had not painted or hadn't done it in a long time.

Julie Micallef
Buckinghamshire, UK

So here are a few of the paintings that my students did on the ship. Most of these students came twice a day!  Wait to see how they improve as the week went on.

I did have one person in the class, Gavin Rendall, who is also a watercolor teacher who teaches on the cruise boats, too.  He wanted to do this cruise, but even though he didn't get assigned this trip, he decided to come along anyway. It was fun to compare notes about what we teach on cruise ships when you have such a short amount of time.

If I have spelled anyone's name wrong, please let me know and I will correct it immediately.

Gavin Rendall
Eastbourne, England

Barbara Corfe
Potters Bar, England

Ryuji Kato
London, UK

Rebecca Strong
Bristol, England

David Butterworth