The Month of May

May brings more lush green, wild roses streaming in bunches in pinks, whites, and delicious shades and the iris bloom. This photo is one of my pet rhododendrons that I planted over 23 years ago here. Naturally, when things bloom, I 'borrow' a stem or two for the front porch studio. Call it inspiration! Everything serves as inspiration to an artist: even the bad stuff. Recently, I had to deal with a few things that brought me to a low period. And I decided I was over and done with working in gray-scale landscapes: I would only do them if I felt like it, not because a gallery demanded it endlessly. I picked the brush up, hauled out a blank canvas to the porch and let the day take me wherever it would. One painting became two. Two became three. And, who knows where it'll end. Another new series has been born out of angst. By doing something a bit different and freeing the mind (or what's left of it these days!) I found hope and delight in paint and canvas. The series hasn't yet been named, but I've had a ball coming up with snarky titles. Stay tuned....

"Drown the Choos", Bonnie Joy Bardos

Spring: Paintings & Butterflies

Detail of "Flight" by Bonnie Joy Bardos

The old saying is true: you can't stop spring. Green leaves unfurl amid showers of apple blossoms...pink dogwood ballet, birds singing at lavender dawn. Today, I hauled baskets of painting supplies out to the front porch studio (as I like to call it) and painted. Azaleas, blue sky, breeze, fish pond trickling--my graceful orange friends weaving along the surface. River Dog has a new friend as studio assistant: Pikachu the cat lazes nearby as River snores. You just can't get good help these days! Jokes aside, I love my little helpers. Just having their peaceful companionship adds to the pleasures of life. And painting. This one is a detail of "Flight": I've been working on a series of smaller butterfly paintings as well as others to celebrate the season.

The Art of Painting & Sunset

(detail of larger painting 24" x 48", Bonnie Joy Bardos)

“Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.” ~ Rumi

This painting with pink magnolias hung in a couple of exhibits over past months until I brought it home from the last one a week ago. I liked having it come back to me, as if the time apart had given me new eyes and a new way of looking at the piece. I still liked it, but....there were new adventures to be found. A few days ago I picked it up and made some changes with oil paint. It's not like I really needed to do it either: commission paintings need to be worked on and finished around here! However, sometimes the little voice nags on my shoulder, and it frees my spirit to be brave enough to jump off the edge and take the unknown path. February is the month of love. Artists must be in love with what they do, to create and breathe their art. As ever, a painting or sculpture will take me on a long journey: it's a story. Mine. Yours. Layers build up, disappear, new images and colors bloom. Sometimes inertia sits there forever, until the day comes: I pick up a brush, paint, and reconnect the heart and soul without fear. The twists, turns, pitfalls become something of beauty, of light, of truth. There it is: life unfolding.

Winter in February brings buds emerging. I picked two daffodils last evening, walking River dog along the street. Climbing over dry grass and brambles in a long-abandoned lot, I picked yellow sunshine to bring back home, holding them in my hand the whole way home, sniffing the light scent of spring. Joy in those little things! Those promises that life does go on all around: the robins coming in, forsythia dancing along branches. An emergence of this world.

New Beginnings On The Road of Art

"Every morning, even before I open my eyes, I know I am in my bedroom and my bed. But if I go to sleep after lunch in the room where I work, sometimes I wake up with a feeling of childish amazement — why am I myself? What astonishes me, just as it astonishes a child when he becomes aware of his own identity, is the fact of finding myself here, and at this moment, deep in this life and not in any other. What stroke of chance has brought this about? What astonishes me, just as it astonishes a child when he becomes aware of his own identity, is the fact of finding myself here, and at this moment, deep in this life and not in any other." ~ Simone de Beauvoir

Every year, I write a New Year entry to this blog, although I find myself a few days behind on catching up this time around. Years do that, you know. Winter in this old house slows me down to: every winter I fuss and vow to never suffer through another one in the starving artist fashion of hand-warmers, wool socks, layers and layers of clothing. Is it the slower I go, the behinder I get? I remind myself it's OK. Just OK to be here, maybe slower than usual, but grateful to have gotten up one more day, and like Simone de Beauvoir, am astonished at being deep in this life and not in any other. Martha Graham said that there is no one else like you. That's pretty powerful stuff to us creative types. I can't imagine being any other way. Perhaps it's living in between worlds, aware of this physical one, aware of a metaphysical layer. Yesterday as snow covered the earth, branches and light came in the windows, I took a picture of the moment with my smart phone that is smarter than me. Blue winter sky, sparkles, white on dark, ripples. Layers of things to watch, learn, ponder. Life goes on...