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.

Painting in Southern France

The Blue Door of Camon
watercolor by Jane McElvany Coonce

 I just got back from taking a group of artists to southern France.  There were 14 of us (3 were non painters.)  Our home base was in Limoux, a lovely little town on the Aude River.  Montfaucon, the place where we stayed, was similar to what we would call a bed and breakfast.  It was beautifully furnished, and I felt like I was living like the rich and famous.  Gourmet meals were provided with a chef that came in 4 times during our stay, and the other dinners were at Castles and 5 star restaurants.  We were treated royally.

Every day, we would journey to a nearby town to paint a variety of scenes:  vineyards, doorways and windows, gardens, canals with boats and barges, old medieval towns, cafes, and plazas.  I had to pinch myself every day to make sure it wasn't a dream.

We also lucked out on the weather.  The weather app showed that it was supposed to rain every day, but we really only had one day of rain. That was truly a blessing.

 Everyone really did nice paintings.  We will have a show of the France paintings in October at Cassatt's Kiwi Cafe in Arlington.  Put Sunday, October  30 on your calendar from
5-8 pm for the opening reception.

Trompe L'oeil "Trash Night" sold on Etsy

"Trash Night"
by Jane McElvany Coonce

I sold a painting that was near and dear to my heart.  Artists all have favorite paintings that are hard to part with, and "Trash night " is one of them for me.  But a woman on Etsy wrote me and told me she was really obsessed with it.  So I decided that if someone loved it that much, I would let it go.  

"Trash Night" is a painting done in the trompe l'oeil fashion.  Trompe L'oeil means "fool the eye."  Done in a realistic fashion, trompe l'oeil paintings are very labor intensive and take months to create.  That is why there are not many trompe l'oeil artists. 

This piece is painted to look like a bulletin board.  The wood frame is painted on the canvas.  The corkboard is painted to simulate a bulletin board.  Then various items were added: tickets to a Harry Potter movie (my family members are Harry Potter freaks), a photograph (of my 3 boys when they were younger), playing cards( Queen of diamonds is me- I was born in April my birthstone is the diamond and being the only female in the house, I am the Queen), matches and a firecracker (with 3 boys, there were plenty of firecrackers going off), and 2 notes.  One note is "Trash Night" which reminds the 3 boys to take out the trash. (This is my weekly "Nag" call that I make at the top of my lungs) , A key hangs from the wooden frame with the number 5 ( the number of people in my family)and a pencil dangles from a string held by a push pin.  All of these items are painted. The painting is a autobiographical painting of my family.

The painting is done in acrylics.  It is 11 inches by 14 inches and the sides of the canvas are painted to look like wood, so a frame is not necessary.  In fact, a frame would ruin the trompe l'oeil effect since the purpose of the genre is to fool the eye.

June's Featured Artists for Potomac Valley Watercolorists

Patiently Waiting
By Jane McElvany Coonce

This month, I have been selected as the featured artist for the Potomac Valley Watercolorists.  This is an organization that comprised of the best watercolorists in the area.  I feel honored that I was juried into this organization.  It is a group that promotes the art of watercolor.  Nowadays, art can be so many different things- glueing trash to a canvas, running string and rope from wall to wall - so it's nice to see that good composition and technique is still in existence.

I hope you'll look at the PVW website: http://www.potomacvalleywatercolorists.org
You will see my work under featured artist, but you can also look at all the other wonderful artists that make up this organization.  PVW also has art shows throughout the year, and every show is as beautiful as the last one.  I'm always amazed!

Portrait of Judge Esther Wiggins

Judge Esther Wiggins

I have been working on a commission since December 2015 on a project for Arlington County. It was to do a portrait of a retiring judge from the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court for the 17th Judicial District.  I wasn't able to put photos up as I worked on it because they were going to have an unveiling of it in May.

Yesterday was the day that the portrait was presented at the courthouse of Arlington County, and it will hang in the courtroom that Judge Wiggins presided over for the last 18 years. It was a lovely ceremony honoring Judge Wiggins.

It was an honor to be selected as the portrait artist to paint Judge Wiggins.  It was also an honor to get to know her as I painted this portrait.  I know that Arlington County has lost a caring judge, and she will be missed.