Hydrangeas for Manet
by Jane McElvany Coonce

I sold a favorite still life of mine today.  Interestingly, it was bought by an old friend, Jan Cullen McDermott. Jan and I go way back.  I met her through a mutual friend, Chris Romanis Bury.  Jan bought a painting from me a few years ago.  Recently, she and her husband renovated their kitchen.  They have a beautiful empty gray wall that needed to be filled, so she contacted me.  I feel honored that out of all the wonderful artists in this area, she picked me.  I'm glad that a painting that I love found a good home.  It looks great in their "new" kitchen.

Opening Up a Can of Worms

Opening Up a Can of Worms
by Jane McElvany Coonce

My painting found a new home!  It was purchased at The Art League down at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia this week.  It's a fun but quirky painting of a plastic toy dinosaur getting ready to devour a can of gummy worms! Even the shadow adds to the drama of the painting.  This is a scene that a kid could have set up when playing with his toys.  The T-Rex was a meat eater, and these worms look juicy to him! And look at the fun colors in the reflections in the can!  I couldn't resist painting this scene.   It was fun to paint, and I always imagined it would end up in some kid's room.  I'm not sure where my piece will hang in its new home, but whoever bought it has to be a kid at heart!  My kind of person!

Akaroa, New Zealand

Light House at Akaroa, New Zealand
by Jane McElvany Coonce

by Pam Corbett
Argentina

by Raymonde Franchemontagne
Canada

Akaroa is a beautiful little beach town about an hour outside of Christ Church.  I had pulled the picture of the light house off of the internet and did the painting so I would have something to show the students what we were painting that day.  We painted it the day before we got to Akaroa.  So on the day we arrived, we took a tender into this beautiful little cove.  And there was the light house.  I walked around until I figured out exactly where the spot was that the photograph was taken.  When everyone came to class the next day, they were all excited because they had seen the light house that we had painted the day before.  I would love to go back some day and explore this area.  So beautiful!

by George Burch
Belfast, Ireland

by Sue Peters
Palm City, Florida

by Cheryl Lunde
Wells, Maine

by Billie Novak
Marathon, Florida

by Dolores Claeys
Bonita Springs, Florida

by Dagmar Zenses
Germany

Dunedin, New Zealand

Mt. Cook, New Zealand
by Jane McElvany Coonce

When we arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand (pronounced da- KNEE done) , Tom and I went on a bus ride to where they filmed Lord of the Rings.  It was located in a very desolate part of New Zealand.  Peter Jackson, the director of the movie, picked this spot specifically because it was so desolate and far from the flashing cameras of the media.  The day we went, it was overcast, so the clouds covered up any of the high peaks known as the "Southern Alps."

Rayonde Franchemontague
Canada

Pam Corbett
Argentina

However, on the ship, we used our artistic license and painted the mountains as they are on a clear day.

George Burch
Belfast , Ireland

Sue Peters
Palm City , Florida

Dolores Claeys
Bonita Springs, Florida

by Billie Novak
Marathon, Florida

Dagmar Zenses
Germany 

It is fun to see how each person interpreted the scene.  We always had fun.  On this day, while we painting, some dolphins started performing by the side of the ship.  It's as if they knew we were watching and having fun painting, and they wanted to cheer us on.  It was hard to believe that these wild creatures jumped and played just as you see at Sea World.  They were having a ball (as were we!)

Tasmania

Beach in Tasmania
by Jane McElvany Coonce

After we left Melbourne, we had a sea day before we got to Tasmania.  Tasmania is a beautiful island that is part of Australia.  The ship had arranged for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra to play for us the night we arrived.  Afterwards, the city shot off fireworks in our honor.  It was the first time the Azamara had come to Tasmania.  It was a very special night. (An Azamazing evening, as the ship called it, and it was!)

George Burch
Belfast, Ireland

Pam Corbett
Argentina

So in art class, we did a simple scene of a beach in Tasmania with a row boat on the shore.

by Sue Peters
 Palm City , Florida

Billie Novak
Marathon, Florida

by Dolores Claeys
Bonita Springs, Florida

Everyone did a fabulous job on this painting.  I showed them different ways to paint clouds, and it's interesting to look how each person interpreted the sky.  That's what makes painting so interesting.  They all used their artistic license before it was revoked!

by Raymonde Franchmonontagne
 Canada

Melbourne, Australia and Kangaroos

Kangaroo and her Joey
watercolor by Jane McElvany Coonce

One of the fun excursions we did in Australia was to visit the Featherdale Wildlife Park.  It was a fabulous place that had the native animals of Australia:  kangaroos, koalas, and Tasmanian devils, to name a few.  (Tom called it an adult petting zoo.)  I LOVED IT.

So of course, we had to paint a kangaroo.  After we left Melbourne, we had another sea day.  That day, I had 34 students!!!!  It was a bit much, and I had a hard time getting around and helping everyone.  Poor Tom was scrambling to get more tables set up.  None the less, the students did a fabulous job.  Take a look at the ones below.  I think you'll be impressed at my novice painters.
Pam, George, Dolores and Cheryl were my regulars!  I loved having them in the class because they were so enthusiastic.  Pam and George aren't novices; they have painted before.  I even saw George painting on the back deck of the ship one day.  Pam invited me to come home in her suitcase.
Gosh, I love my students!

What I think is interesting, it that everyone was given the same photograph, and yet we all interpreted it differently.  It's like your handwriting; it's uniquely different than the person next to you.

(By the way, I hope my students will email me if I spelled your name wrong so I can correct it.  We want the world to see your great paintings.)

Pam Corbett
Argentina 

George  Burcld
Belfast, Ireland

Dolores Claeys
Bonita Springs, Florida

Cheryl Lunde
Wells , Maine

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