by Jane McElvany Coonce

I just got back from teaching on the cruise ship, the Azamara Quest.  It started in Sydney, Australia, sailed down the east coast of Australia to Tasmania and then up the east coast of New Zealand.  It was a great trip, and we were gone almost the whole month of January.  We missed the blizzard of Washington, DC, and my poor son, Nicholas, had to do all the snow shoveling as he was staying at our house taking care of the dog and the cat.  Thanks, Nicholas!  I know it wasn't easy.

I taught on sea days, and the first lesson was when we left Sydney.  I had 20 students the first day.  A few people had painted before, but most of them had never done any watercolor.  They figured this cruise was a good time to try their hand at it.  I had the nicest group of people on this ship, and I really loved teaching them.  They really made the trip fun, and I looked forward to sea days because I knew I would be spending my time with them.

The last day I taught, I asked them to bring back their paintings so I could photograph them.  Not everyone remembered, but I will share with you what some of them did.  It's amazing because most of them have never painted.  And besides that, we only had about an hour to an hour and a half to paint each creation.

I only have 2 examples from the first day.  Thanks Pam and Dolores for remembering!  But I will have more in my next entry.

by Pam Corbett
from Argentina

     

by Dolores Claeys
from Bonita Springs, Florida