Hello Art Patrons,
Jollification is my new favorite word and I’m inviting you to enjoy some next Sunday afternoon for our class Holiday Party and Botanical Art Exhibit. I’ll bring the (on-loan) award winning wood nest sculpture and my (work-in-progress) painting of it, as well as some Pandemic era works you may have missed. We will still be masked to be safe. You can count on shopping for botanical cards, tote bags, gift wrap, books, and prints. You can also count on hosted wine, beer and bar bites, artists are good cooks too!
Next up will be the January NorCal Botanical Art exhibit at UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. I’m showing my Valley Oak branch with oak galls. I can’t attend the Jan 14 afternoon artists’ reception but there is a Jan 12 virtual evening tour for all. It bears repeating the Julia Morgan redwood building is spectacular, especially overlooking the garden on a rainy day with a fire in the massive stone fireplace. Ironic if raining, as the exhibition theme is Drought Tolerance.
Here’s something completely different. When an artist friend asked me to paint a kettle for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Auction, I assumed she meant paint a kettle with watercolor on paper. But she arrived with plain red enamel buckets from the SA and acrylic paint, not my medium. Already out of my comfort zone, I have a go at my first Trompe l’oeil which is by definition an optical illusion, to trick the eye. My easy solution (not counting the grueling hand-lettering) was to paint out much of the 2020’s style donation bucket leaving a red enamel 1950s style Salvation Army donation kettle in the negative space. Can you see it?
The bidding went high and we’re thankful for the overly generous Salvation Army donors raising $1,275 on 4 kettles and $138,000 overall that evening.
For holiday nibbles, sips and botanical gifts, text me (510) 604-6141 and bring your friends to my studio, order from my website or stop by Rocky’s Market off Park Blvd and choose signed gift cards to assemble your own packets. Happy Holidays everyone; remember to jollify and breathe—just not on anyone.
Yours,
Bonnie Bonner
a.k.a. Joanne Palamountain
(Search ‘Old Words—New Meaning’ on my blog for a Pandemic laugh)