Jacqueline E. Coudray is a native Californian and of French decent. At 8 years old she began painting with her grandmother who exhibited at the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts. Coudray has been privileged to have studied and learned from accomplished Master Artists of our times: Philip J. Journeay at Journeay Studios and Watts Atelier. The Great masters that influence Jacqueline’s work are: John Singer Sergeant for his brilliance in capturing the figure and his costumes, Guy Rose for his beautiful variety of color palete and composition, Joaquin Sorolla for his ocean reflective light and bathers, Paul Cezanne for his French Impressions and contemporary master, Richard MacDonald for his exquisite figurative work.

In 2000, Jacqueline became an avid painter inspired by her French heritage creating true French impressions of the Pacific West Coast and her love of people. She works primarily in oil paint on linen and is a true “artist’s artist” in that she works from scratch preparing her linen boards using old master techniques and raw materials in their purest form and from the highest quality resources available. Endlessly inspired by light, motion and color, Jacqueline will paint anything in water and emphasizes the abstraction of life in reflected light, motion from the wind and mother nature. She thoroughly enjoys capturing the candor of people enjoying their life and the curious adventures of children. Her work embraces action, often vibrant color with thick impasto paint and a calligraphic lyrical brush stroke. Jacqueline has been an avid sailboat racer along the Pacific West Coast so she has an affinity for boats on water. Coming from a family of French gardeners, she often paints gardens, flowers, the farmers market place. She enjoys the California mountains painting the beauty of California’s diverse terrain, snow, water and en plein air.

She paints En plein air and within her indoor-outdoor garden studio in Newport Beach - Laguna Beach Coastline. When she is not along the Pacific West Coast or California mountains, she is in France painting and is establishing a studio in France.