Time To Do A Little Bragging About A Friend

Hey folks, I just have to take a moment on this blog to do a bit of bragging about my good friend, Adele Beals, in Owatonna, MN.   This past weekend she entered a statewide professional art competition here in Minnesota and won BEST OF SHOW with a painting I think you will like.

First, let me give you a little background on this.   Back during the spring of 2012 my daughter, Elsie, who was almost 4–y/o at the time, wanted to go turkey hunting with me sitting in the blind.   Well, as most preschoolers are not very patient, I promised to take her out to the blind to hunt for about an hour.   As things were winding up and I soon had to take her to school, my friend, Todd Rost, snapped a quick photo of the two of us as I was explaining to Elsie where the turkeys would likely have come from that morning if we had see any action.

I had posted the picture on my Facebook wall and it was there for over a year.   Then, this summer, Adele contacted me and asked if I would grant her permission to use the photo to paint it for a local art competition.   Well, to be perfectly honest with you I was quite flattered and granted her full use of the image as you will see it here:

But, Adele wanted to put her artistic touches to it and so she solicited my advice how it could be improved.   Well, I told her that in real-world turkey hunting I would not be so inclined to let Elsie where pink camo and pink Hello Kitty boots to the blind.   I also told her that her toy gun with the pink camo likely had to go.   As you will she, Adele did all of that as well as put a turkey hunting vest on Elsie that even shows some turkey calls sticking out of the pockets.

One final touch that I did not ask for, but that I certainly appreciated, is Adele took some of the gray out of my beard and made me look at least a few years younger.

Well, enough on all of that.   Here is the painting that won 2013 BEST OF SHOW from the Artists of Minnesota competition held in Duluth, MN this past weekend.   Don’t you agree Adele did a wonderful job painting this image?

And you know, the best part about this is the award was given by the members who voted, not just a panel of judges.   Think about the back story here.   Many of the artsy type folks, and I make that reference with no disrespect intended, are not the usual profile of folks who typically are big hunting supporters.   I think that’s another of the positives that comes from this win.

A subject that some in our society might find offensive of an adult showing a young child how to hunt or to be using a gun (albeit a toy gun in this instance) apparently did not distract from the talent that was on display in the painting.

Kudos again to Adele!   For her to win using a painting that contains my image speaks a lot on its own.

©2013 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.