Elaine Adel Cummins

Artist Biography/Statement

Elaine Adel Cummins, was born in the city of New Orleans. As early as age four Elaine showed strong artistic talent. In the summers Elaine would sit and watch any one of 200 artist paint or draw on the Jackson Square in New Orleans. Her parents, also artist on the Jackson Square, were amazed when Elaine at age six started to collect the artists cast off pastels and charcoal and started to sketch views of the Jackson Square and sell them for five and ten cents. Part of their amazement was she was not told to do this. She just started to sketch and sell...

Artist Biography/Statement

Elaine Adel Cummins, was born in the city of New Orleans. As early as age four Elaine showed strong artistic talent. In the summers Elaine would sit and watch any one of 200 artist paint or draw on the Jackson Square in New Orleans. Her parents, also artist on the Jackson Square, were amazed when Elaine at age six started to collect the artists cast off pastels and charcoal and started to sketch views of the Jackson Square and sell them for five and ten cents. Part of their amazement was she was not told to do this. She just started to sketch and sell as if that’s what she was suppose to do.

At the age of sixteen she obtained her first city permit to paint on the Jackson Square. Elaine was severely dyslexic and dropped out of school at age fifteen. Dyslexia was not widely understood at that time. She resolved to find a way to teach herself. By age twenty one she was finally able to read well enough and taught herself art history, color theory and pigment chemistry. Even though the reading process was slow and hard she felt compelled to learn everything she could about art. Elaine said “I could paint very well before but when I was finally able to read it was like a universe had opened in front of me.”

When Elaine was twenty three she started painting clothing for a living. She estimates she painted some 17,000 shirts and some 5,000 dresses during her ownership of her small shop in the French Market, but the call to paint on canvas became overwhelming.

Elaine plunged herself into a deeper study and understanding of impressionism and all art forms. Elaine says "Doing art is a quest. I always tell myself, the most important painting I well ever paint is the next one! I find the intimacy the eye has with the painted surface indescribably. One of gods true gifts is to look at something beautiful and be amazed.”

Thinking about having a New Orleans scene painted? Elaine dose commissions. Just contact her and tell her your idea. She is always happy to paint a painting.