Working in oils with a muted palette, Coffee strives to capture people moving through their daily lives, gathering in restaurants, wandering through museums or galleries, shopping in markets, even riding the subway. "I like capturing the gestures, the body language that visually reveals a person's state of mind," she says. "In urban areas where people are living close together all the time, there is an attempt to maintain anonymity. But the body still communicates."

Although Elaine Coffee lives in Cave Creek, Arizona, a rural suburb north of Scottsdale, her New Jersey roots are evident in her urban subject matter. She studied art in New York City at the School of Visual Arts and still visits frequently to gather material for her paintings.

Trips throughout the US and Europe have provided additional inspiration for what she terms her contemporary 'genre painting.' Elaine has won awards for her paintings at exhibits throughout the country.

She is a member of the National League of American Pen Women, the Arizona Artists Guild and the Sonoran Arts League. Her paintings hang in collections in the United States and Europe.