Home Studio Tour this Weekend

Saturday and Sunday this weekend will be nice and sunny. Come visit me at my house for the Visual Arts Studio tour of Arlington.  I have lots of my paintings displayed, and I would love for you to stop by.  It's from 11 am to 5 pm both days.  Visit the website to see all the 56 studios that are open this weekend.
www.arlingtonartstudiotour.org

2018 Arlington Visual Art Studio Tour this weekend

I am participating in the Arlington Visual Art Studio Tour this weekend.  I'm opening up my house and showcasing many of my paintings.  I hope you will be able to stop by and see me painting in my home work space.  The tour has 56 artists that you can pick and choose which artists you want to visit.

The show will be Saturday, Sept 29 and Sunday, Sept 30 from 11 am to 5 pm.  You can look at the website and download a map and a directory of all the studios that will be open.

Please visit to get the map and directory:
www.arlingtonartstudiotour.org

Hope to see you this weekend.

A Colorful Life

Pumpkin and Gourds

Sunflowers

Finished Mural at Preston's Pharmacy

Scenes of Arlington Mural at Preston's Pharmacy
by Jane McElvany Coonce

Today I finished painting the mural that I've been working on for a month.  I started exactly 1 month ago today! It's been lots of fun, painting and talking to the customers who come into the store. Everyone has been very supportive of the work.

Some people don't get it. It's a trompe L'oeil mural; it's supposed to look like photographs pinned up on a bulletin board.  I painted the cork, I painted the frame and did the woodgrain, I painted the pushpins, and I painted 8 scenes of Arlington. Some people ask if those are big photos up on the wall. When I tell them I painted them, they say they don't understand. Not sure why that's so hard to understand. They ask questions like, "What did you paint that on?" When I say, "The wall," they look at me like I didn't understand the question. When I point to the other green walls in the store and say it started out looking like this green wall, they look at me in disbelief.

I've met a lot of great people, customers and employees of Preston's. I thank everyone for your words of encouragement. It's been a long haul, but it's almost over. Tomorrow I will varnish the painting, let it dry and put a 2nd coat of varnish on. Then I can declare it completely finished! 

Stop by and see it next time you are close. Preston's Pharmacy is at 5101 Lee Highway (at the corner of North Edison St and Lee Highway) in Arlington. It's on the back wall of the store. You can't miss it.

5th Post on the Preston's Mural

Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup 

Sorry I haven't been posting as I work on this mural.  I have been putting in long hours every day, and by the time I get home, I'm exhausted.  It's really coming together, although there is still a lot to do.  The small details will make it really cool.  I have to put shadows under each photograph so that it really looks 3- dimensional.  I also am going to paint a wooden frame and do the woodgraining. I also need to paint push pins that will hold up the "photos."  But as you can see, I've made a lot of progress in the last week.

Working on the last " photograph"

The other views I've done since the last post are Rosslyn with Key Bridge, Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington House with the Cemetery, the Pentagon, and the Nat's stadium. (I know that is not in Arlington, but we love the Nat's.)

I've met a lot of people as I'm painting. A lot of friends have stopped by to see my progress. It's really been a lot of fun. 

I think of all the scenes I've done, I like the Iwo Jima the best.

Iwo Jima

4th Post on Mural at Preston's Pharmacy

Drawing of Present Day Preston's

Transferred Drawing on wall

 I started the 2nd drawing at home, put it on tracing paper, and transferred it to the wall at Preston's.

I had some finishing touches to do on "Old Preston's".  I had to do the lettering and the telephone wires.

Then I started painting the 2nd image, "Present Day Preston's."  The new Preston's is just down the street from where the old Preston's was. It's at Lee Highway and Edison St.

At the end of the day, I was almost finished. Again , I wanted to do the lettering on the awnings and the door and sign when I was fresh, so I will save that for tomorrow.

I've talked to so many interesting people.
Again a few friends stopped in: Rebecca Croft and Mary Misch.

Looking forward to the next "photograph."

Almost finished "Present Day Preston's"

3rd Post on the Mural at Preston's Pharmacy

White rectangles ready for the "photos" of Arlington

Drawing of Preston's from 1940

 Now that the background was done, I began to prepare the "photos".  I taped off the rectangles and painted them all white.  It took 2 coats so it took most of the day.

I went home and drew the image of Preston's Pharmacy from a photo from 1940. (Preston's was at Glebe Rd and Lee Highway back then. )It's easier to draw at home when I can do it on a piece of paper on the table and erase lines easily.  Once I was satisfied with the drawing, I traced my drawing. I took the tracing back to Preston's. Using transfer paper (carbon paper) I transferred my drawing onto the wall.

Transferred drawing on the wall with reference photo

 Then the fun begins. I begin to paint the scene. I finished it except for small details like the telephone wires and the lettering on the windows. I decide it would be better  to do it when I'm fresh the next day.

Lots of customers stop and comment about the mural. It's fun to meet new people. Even some of my friends have stopped by : Janet Tramonte, Patty Lynch and Robert Twining, all friends from high school ( although technically, Robert has been my friend since diapers.) I love having people stop by. It gives me a chance to take a break and step back and look at my work.

Almost finished "Old Preston's"

2nd Post on Preston's Pharmacy Mural

The next step of the mural is to create the cork board.  I used the warm tan base coat to set the tone. Then I began sponging a layer of dark brown. Next I sponged a layer was burnt sienna. The 3rd layer was yellow ochre. The forth layer was Naples and white. I still wasn't happy with the color so I ended up doing two more layers of sponging. The next part was the most tedious part of the cork board. It was painting the dark lines that separate each of the pieces of cork. Needless to say, I was exhausted after this day!

cork board developing

sponging layers

Close up of the Cork effect

Mural at Preston's Pharmacy

I have a new project. I've been asked to do a mural at Preston's Pharmacy on Lee Highway in Arlington.  I have a long history with Preston's. When we bought our house in the 80's in North Arlington, we started going to Preston's. They moved down the street to their new location at Edison St. and Lee Highway. Both Nicholas and Kevin had summer jobs there when they were in high school.  I've been selling my Key Bridge Cards and my Crabs on Newspaper Cards in their gift shop for years.

Recently, they approached me about doing a mural on their back wall. The idea is to do a "bulletin board" with scenes of Arlington "pinned up" to the bulletin board. The plan is for me to paint a cork bulletin board. We have picked out various images of Arlington that will be painted on the wall. I'll also paint "push pins" that will hold up the painted "photographs" of Arlington.

 So last week I started the project.  I thought it would be fun to keep you posted on my blog as to my progress. But please stop by the store any time and see my progression. 

Base coat , a warm tan
(spaces marked off for "photographs")

original wall color (dark green)