Howard Chandler Christy was a great illustrator. At one point in his legendary career he illustrated the poem, “An Old Sweetheart of Mine”, by James Whitcomb Riley. The poem with the illustrations was published as a book in 1902.  James Whitcomb Riley was an  accomplished and famous poet. I don’t know which of these two creative geniuses would have been the most honored to be paired with the other in a book.

This beautiful book was in our library at home when I was a child and I looked at the illustrations very often, dreaming about what it must be like to have the kind of talent and ability as Mr. Christy. It is now one of my prized possessions. You may go online to see more of Christy’s art; I’m very cautious about posting someone else’s artwork in my blogs, considering the copyright laws. The book is still available on Amazon.

A few years back I was thinking about Christy’s ethereal style and tried my hand at it. I chose to use pastels and my imagination and produced “The Necklace”. Maybe I should write a poem, too.

“The Necklace” A pastel painting by Adele Bower

I learned a long time ago how easily influenced I am by great art. If I see a great painting or sketch I immediately want to try doing it myself……and I spend lots of time doing just that. My guess is it is helpful, but I always came away more impressed than ever with the skill of the one I currently admired the most.

Who knows? Maybe someone day I’ll decide the style I like the most and stick with it.