In case you are one of the three other people in the universe who has not heard that I just completed my 30 in 30 challenge….here is the proof.

Mark Twain said:

“Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.”

Mark Twain was a funny man…and very wise.

The truth is, I SHOULD be capable of doing a painting every day. But I manage to piddle away the time doing other things. If a publisher or an art school instructor or a college professor was waiting…..I could do it. Why is that?

Now, for the next two days I must get ready for my exhibit at the Kingwood Library. Be it known….for me painting is easy compared to selecting, purchasing, and doing all the things needed to frame my work. Framing is not fun!

Stop by the Library if you are in the neighborhood. The exhibit will be up for the month of April.

..in my 30 paintings in 30 days challenge!

My adventure is almost complete and it has been instructional, to say the least. My compliments go out to the many, many artists who regularly paint a painting each and every day. They are called “daily painters”. I don’t plan to follow their lead even though there is  much benefit in their routine.

I’M EXCITED!  I have been asked to be the Featured Artist at our local library, the Kingwood Branch of the Harris County Library. The exhibit will begin on Wednesday, April 2 and will last for a full month. I will exhibit ten paintings. I’m honored.

Meanwhile, the Lake Houston Area Artists Spring Art Sale and Competition will be held on Saturday, April 12 in the Pavilion of the Kingwood Country Club in Kingwood, Texas. It is a come and go event, from 12 noon until 4 PM. I will exhibit a few paintings at the show.

I’m grateful to again have two of my paintings exhibited at the lovely Cafe DuBois here in Kingwood. Thanks, Cafe DuBois for your support of our art group by inviting us to exhibit there.

When I complete this self-imposed 30-30 challenge, David and I plan a short trip to the beautiful Texas hill country to see the Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes…and of course, have lunch at Royers Cafe in Round Top, Texas. By the way, reservations are required!

Back to the paints and brushes,

“For You make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.”

Psalm 92:4

I like to do many styles of art, and use many different mediums. This makes me “just an illustrator.” Go ahead and call me that….I LOVE the title. More about this in an upcoming blog.

In art school the number one priority for each assignment was to meet the deadline. If we were even minutes late turning it in, we received a 0….regardless of the quality of the work we had just done. If you met the deadline, your work was graded the usual way. They were training us for the real world of commercial illustration and design where the artist must produce on schedule; the client is waiting.

Doing this 30 in 30 challenge reminds me of my days working in the real world of commercial art, in a studio or freelancing where discipline and determination are required. Of course, the work I’m doing now is labeled fine art not commercial illustration. You may not realize there is an ongoing debate about what is “fine art” and what is “commercial illustration”. I’ve come up with my own opinion and definition:

Commercial illustration is any art contracted with a client to meet their requirements. The client tells you what to paint.

Fine art is any art the artist chooses to do then  hopes someone buys it.

Just so you’ll understand the intensity of the debate “fine art vs. illustration”, Norman Rockwell is considered by many to have been “Just an illustrator.” Yikes!

WEEK THREE of my 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

March 2014

These paintings (originals or fine art reproductions) are for sale on my website, http://www.artbyadelebower.com.

 “Use what talents you possess-the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there

except those that sang best.” _____Henry Van Dyke

Back to work,

…or Why I Became An Artist!

Adele, age 10…U.S. Marshal!

I’m a dreamer. My parents taught me to dream. Their encouragement of my dreams and my “play-likes” will always be one of my fondest memories. My earliest dreams that I can remember were to be a:

1.  Lovely Indian Maiden: I loved my outfit: dress with fringe and a feather from our           chicken yard stuck in my head band. My teepee was ladder with a blanket thrown over it. I made pottery out of mud by our pond.  Slept outside……alone.

                        Problem: I would wake up on damp blankets and with frizzy hair and figured I                                              didn’t look like an Indian.  It ruined the image, which was no fun!

                        But my parents let me dream on!!

          2. U.S. Marshal: I loved my outfit: guns, badge, cowboy hat. I created play scenarios for my playmates, eventually arrested them all, put them in a play-like jail.                

Problem:  Soon there was no one left to play with me. My playmates got tired of  being arrested.                    

But my parents let me dream on!!

3.  Housewife and mother: They built me a playhouse and furnished it. I invited my girlfriends for sleepovers in the playhouse. I cooked over a wood-burning fire…minnows and French fries which turned out very soggy due to slow fire.

Problem:Too much work.

But my parents let me dream on!!

4.  Famous Broadway star: I heard “South Pacific” and was convinced I was a natural for the part of Nellie Forbush. My parents let me take dance class and took me to see touring Broadway musicals.

Problem: I would have to move to New York!

But my parents let me dream on!!

5.  Artist: Daddy was a professional illustrator and a fine art painter.  He gave me private     lessons and helped me get my first job in an art studio (at age 17). I thought this might stick and I guess it did.

                                    But I still dream.

Ephesians 3:20

“Now glory be to God who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we ever dare to ask or dream.”

In Dreams, Langston Hughes wrote:

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow.”

Dream On, Friends,

Week Two

For some reason I like to do count-downs……. count the days until we go on vacation, count the days until Christmas, count the days until I’ll reach my goal-weight (no doubts there). I’ve even been known to count exactly how many tenths of a pound I need to lose per day to lose 10 pounds before our Grandson’s wedding in April. I know, intense.

But real fun is counting down the days until I’ve finished my “30 PAINTINGS IN 30 DAYS CHALLENGE! So you’ll know…there are only 16 days left..i.e., 16 more painting subjects to select which is very hard to do; 16 more rough composition sketches, (change my mind on at least 7 of them and start over), and finally actually paint….16 more paintings.  Hmmmm! I’m not so sure how much fun it is to count those stats.

Now, it’s time to get back to the sketch pad, the easel, the paints and the blank panels. Ever onward!

“I don’t like work-no man [or woman] does-but I like what is in work-the chance to find yourself. Your own reality-for yourself, not for others – what no other man can ever know.”___Joseph Conrad

…Or Week One of my “30 PAINTINGS IN 30 DAYS CHALLENGE” !

In every artist’s life comes the day(s) when they paint a really bad painting(s). My most recent day came this week which called for immediate action, lest someone drift into my workroom and actually SEE it. Fortunately, very few people drift into my workroom; my cats do, but they usually just want to be fed.

For years I’ve had a workable system for destroying my bad art;

I scribble over it with a giant blue marker…sneak it into the trash out in the driveway….in a plain brown paper bag….tied with a twisty..at the bottom of the kitchen garbage…under the coffee grounds.

I have a special marker at the ready for just such a moment.

After my bad art had marinated out there in the garbage can for a few days, it occurred to me that I really like abstract art and maybe I acted hastily. The wide blue scribbles might win prizes with some art show judges. But the odor of old coffee grounds might break the mood.

So I started over on another painting. Of course, any artist who paints with acrylics knows you can scrub it off with ordinary alcohol. But I paint with an “Impasto” technique (art speak for “thickly”) and it takes a long time to clean the panel and lots of alcohol….raising the price of the future painting on that panel (Time is money!) to at least twice the usual price. So I gave up that method and turned to my marker.

I pressed on and managed to create 7 paintings in 7 days, so I’m on track.

For information and a closer look at my Week One paintings please visit my website:

http://www.artbyadelebower.com

Now, back to the paint and easel. After all, today is Day 8. Another day…….another painting!