Hello it's Antries and welcome to the savvy painter podcast.

Bilio O'Donnell is my guest today.

Bilio has an interesting story.

Like so many artists he struggled with a decision to pursue art as a vacation.

But standing in his boss's office at a Missouri sawmill, Billio came to a life-changing realization.

And that realization was that there are no safe paths,

so he may as well take his own chances.

So Billyo carved take his own chances.

So Billio carved out his own path in the world of corporate illustration,

negotiating a brilliant deal with his employer that got his paintings into corporate collections across the United States.

And later on, after being rejected from multiple galleries in his home state, the painting

trip to California inspired Billy O' to start his own painting ventures.

We talk about the uncertainty and dedication in multi-year projects, how the National

Endowment of the Arts contacted Billyo and expanded on one of his projects.

Plus the book that followed, Painting Missouri.

We also talk about the Plain Air events and what Bilio looks for when judging painting

competition and how he sees the art world changing in the next couple of years.

So without further ado here is Bilio O'Donnell. Hello Billio and thank you so much

for joining the Savvy Painter I appreciate you spending the time with me.

Well hi entries thank you so much for this opportunity. I appreciate it.

Can you tell me a little bit about when you first decided to become kind of a

professional artist when you decided that you were going to jump in on this and do it for real?

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