Finishing Touches on My France Paintings

Vineyard Overlooking the Village of Saint Anselme
oil painting by Jane McElvany Coonce

During the heat wave, I finished up a few paintings that I had started in France, but they needed a few touch ups.  This is one of the paintings I did in France.  We painted in a vineyard with this tiny town just down the hill.  It was a beautiful day, and all of my students did a fantastic job.

Boats on the Aude River in Carcassone
oil painting by Jane McElvany Coonce



Another day we went to the new city of Carcassonne (instead of the medieval part) and painted along the Aude River.  It was a lovely spot.  Some boat owner had the nerve to move his boat in the middle of the painting session,. Luckily I had taken some photos.  Again, everyone did a fabulous job!  The only mishap we had on this day was one of my students was sitting very close to the river and somehow her little tray tipped over and all of her tubes of paint went into the river.  For an artist, that's one of the worst things that could happen to you  Maybe a thousand years from now, some archeologist will find the paints at the bottom of the Aude and write an ode about it.   

The Heat Wave and Art

Seagulls Playground
oil painting by Jane McElvany Coonce

The Washington DC area has been suffering from a heat wave for the past week.  It isn't pleasant being outside, so I've been staying indoors and getting a lot of painting done.  It's been really great painting all day.  No grocery store, no running to the bank.  Too hot to go out so I just paint, paint, paint!  

I'm working on a couple of commissions, but I'm also finishing up some demos I did in my class.  Last semester, we were painting rocks and water.  I did a small painting in each class, but never put the finishing touches on them.  So this week, I finished up several paintings that have been sitting in my studio,  waiting for attention.

I will have them at the Gallery Underground in August.  Put Friday, August 5th on your calendar for the opening reception at the Gallery. It will be from 5 to 8 pm.   I'll be there.  Stop by and say hi and see some of the work I did during the heat wave.

Sailing School Across the Bay
oil painting by Jane McElvany Coonce

Home Sales

Lunch Under the Umbrella
watercolor by Jane McElvany Coonce

Under the White Umbrellas

Recently, a friend of mine called and said she had redone 3 bathrooms and needed some art work.  I invited her over and showed her some pieces I had here at the house.  Many of my pieces are out at various shows, but I still had plenty for her to look at.  She took quite a few home to try out, and she's picked 6 paintings!
Her husband is Italian, so she picked 2 of my Italian scenes from when I went to Italy two years ago.  These will hang together in the same bathroom so there is definitely a theme there.  I was planning to enter one of these in The Art League's Landscape show in August.  So I better get busy thinking of another entry.