Adele Goodman grew up in the picturesque farmland of North Carolina and currently lives on her family’s NC Century farm, “The Henry C. Corriher Homeplace”, surrounded by her honeybee hives, chickens, guineas, cats, alpacas, donkey and gardens. She is a self-professed “flower hoarder” who lives to garden. She has a deep love and respect for God’s creatures that can clearly be seen in her animal portraits, where she captures the personality and spirit of each subject. Adele understands that, “everything you need to know about an animal is in their eyes,” her favorite part.
She is in a constant state of visual “studying” seeing the world in the tiniest detail through a kaleidoscope of colors, always drawn to light. Preferring dry medium to wet, her realistic style involves painstaking detail and her pastel paintings are often mistaken for oils. Goodman’s portfolio showcases not only 4- legged animals but also the 2-legged kind - the miraculous human form. She studied advanced anatomy at length in high school and in figure drawing classes at the East Carolina University School of Art where accredited sculptor, Wesley V. Crawley, took her under his wing. A recurring theme in her nudes is to highlight a woman’s strength and beauty even in times of sadness. She enjoys showcasing the body for pure aesthetics; other times, she wants the subject to tell a story and the observer to decide what that story is. Goodman sees beauty in darkness which is the same way she views life - even in a sometimes harsh and ugly world, her focus is always on the beautiful things, which always outshine the negative.
In addition to Crawley, Adele has studied with many great artists including 2008 Western Artist of the Year, John Fawcett, at the Fredericksburg Artist’s School in Texas; Leslie Hudson-Tolles from the American Academy of Equine Art; Master Pastelist, George Thompson, and bronze Sculptor, Shelley Hunter, formerly from the Kentucky Horse Park. In 2009, Goodman was honored with permission by Roy and Gretchen Jackson to do an original portrait of their prized race horse, 2006 Kentucky Derby Champion, Barbaro, to raise funds for the Horse Protection Society. The portrait brought in a $5000 bid at HPS’s annual auction and the proceeds helped to support its 42 rescued equines. Her artwork has raised over $10K for non-profits over the years. In 2012, her nude, “Solitude”, was chosen for the first-ever collectible wine bottle label for Cauble Creek Vineyard and the Cabernet Sauvignon was named after her.
Goodman feels blessed to be able to immortalize God’s beautiful creatures for the ones who love them. She adds the letters ‘s.d.g.’ on each portrait as a sort of cosignature; a tradition started by Bach and copied by other artists over the years. It means “Soli deo Gloria” which translates to, “To God and God alone, goes all the glory.” Adele’s pet portraits become treasured family heirlooms that are passed down and become even more precious after the animal has passed. “When I look at an animal,” Goodman notes, “I don’t see flaws, illness, age or any imperfections…I only see God’s love and a perfect creation. And that’s what I want to capture.”