501 Orindawoods Drive and Kite Hill Road, Orinda 2023
Featuring the Students of Catherine Watters
Hello Art Patrons,
Thanksgiving seems quickly past and I’ve three back-to-back exhibits to share. This Sunday Dec 3, you and guests are invited to enjoy bites, sips, botanical gifts and art at our Botanical Class Holiday Party at Woodhall in Orinda. Come to see (pictured above) the lavender bouquet I painted in France this summer, and come especially to see my 5 foot Aspen tree printed on canvas, after my Fine Art printer seamlessly Photoshops the original 2018 upper tree image file to the 2023 lower tree image file. Hope the trunk color matches up. See for yourself on Sunday.
Since my last newsletter I’ve been to the de Young Open Exhibit twice, to pinch myself and peruse the art. I strongly advise you to see this stunning exhibit and experience immediate on-topic art created here and now. See mediums and techniques that 887 local artists are using today. It’s approachable and impressive, described in the press as “… a love letter to our incredible Bay Area artist community”. Some of you even sent me selfies with my art in the background. That warms my heart. You have until Jan 7. Free Saturdays for locals. My Japanese Cedar bonsai botanical is #381 titled, Singed by Wildfire, symbolizing hope for our tenacious CA wildfire survivors.
The third exhibit is the January NorCal chapter of ASBA’s Annual Plants Illustrated Exhibition, at the Julia Morgan Hall in the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. The theme is Native California edible plants, a narrow category, so I am showing my only artwork that qualifies, Jeffrey Pinecone. Here’s a chance to see the Pinus jeffreyi original, as it’s my best selling signed and numbered print to date. One reviewer said it “bristles with energy”. Check the UCBG website for upcoming details, reception and hours.
Don’t forget my large signed botanical art cards can always be found at Rocky’s Market in the Leimert District of Oakland. Great for making card packs as hostess and last minute gifts.
BOTANICAL ART EXHIBITION
and Holiday Party
501 Orindawoods Drive and Kite Hill Road, Orinda CA
Sunday, December 3, 2023, 2 – 5 pm
The de Young Open 2023
de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park
50 Hagiwara Dr, SF CA
September through January 7, 2024
Tuesday – Sunday, 9:30-5:15 pm
Bay Area residents free every Saturday.
www.famsf.org/de-young-open-2023
NCalSBA 15th ANNUAL PLANTS ILLUSTRATED EXHIBITION Edible Native Plants
Julia Morgan Bldg
UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens
200 Centennial Dr. Berkeley, CA
Jan 17 – Feb 4, 2024, 10 -4 pm. Closed Tuesdays
www.botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu
www.ncalsba.org
My New Year’s resolution is to jump at chances in 2024. Did I write you that maybe 2023 was my year to win the Harvest Festival Cakewalk? Yes, I landed on lucky square #16. You can’t win unless you hop on. As well, you remember that, on a chance, I submitted my first ever pen-and-ink artwork to the juried de Young Open exhibit, timed entry at 8 am SF time, from an erratic internet connection in Florence on Italian time. Free and nothing to lose. Now I’m de Young artist #381. Do I feel lucky? I certainly am lucky to have such supportive Art Patrons as you. Thank you all and Happy Holidays. Jump at chances in 2024.
With gratitude,
Bonnie Bonner
aka Joanne Palamountain
www.BonniesBotanicalArt.com
A shocking email arrived last week and truthfully my jaw fell open. “Congratulations. Your work has been selected by the jury to be featured in the de Young Open 2023.” The de Young Museum is a top US museum destination! I’m convinced my scrawny pen-and-ink illustration of a Japanese Cedar made the cut because of the topical title, Singed by Wildfire. A fellow botanical artist lost all of her original artwork in a California wildfire and I created this piece in her honor. I imagine her finding this tiny tenacious tree in the ashes, symbolizing hope for survivors. You’ll have three months to peruse 887 local artworks hung salon style in the Herbst Exhibition Galleries for this newly established Triennial. They take 0% of sales. This is the Museum’s generous way of supporting local artists. I’m number #7,388 out of 12,000 entries—filled up within 2 hours. Only 11% were juried in. Pretty cool. Come see.
The last week of September I’ve a trifecta of hometown exhibits. The Piedmont Harvest FestivalArt Show in Piedmont Park paired with an exhibit down the block at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, showcasing artists in the upcoming Piedmont Art Walk to benefit art in Piedmont schools. I’ll have one piece in each exhibit and all the rest at the Art Walk on my porch Sunday Oct 1.
Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Ave Piedmont CA 94611
Sept 23 through Oct 1, 11-2 pm
Saturdays and Sundays only.
Artists’ reception, Sept. 29, 5-7 pm, Art Walk Sunday Oct.1, 12-5 pm
For patrons who like art and travel, read on. I had some art fun in France and Italy this Spring. Chateau Clos Mirabel in the French Pyrenees was ideal for a weeklong botanical art class and the sumptuous fresh produce was Chateau sourced—to paint and to eat. The desserts and cheeses ohh-la-la, merveilleux, formidable, incroyable! Surrounded by vineyards we wanted for nothing. The bonus? Our teacher is my art teacher at home and French born. During my initial 36 hour airport debacle, I dreamed about lavender so chose that as my botanical subject. Arriving 24 hours late, I was relieved to see it growing in the expansive Chateau gardens. See my take on a farmer’s market lavender bouquet at the Piedmont Art Walk Oct 1.
Next was a visit with my nursing student Granddaughter at summer/fun college in Florence Italy and to pay my respects to Michelangelo’s David. On my birthday, I snagged a lucky no-show ticket to climb into the Brancacci Chapel cupola, up restoration scaffolding, arms length from 14th century frescoes. Then I wandered the Oltrarno district of Florence visiting artists’ working studios. The copper etchings are exquisite. One artist finished watercoloring his etching for me while I lunched nearby on Gorgonzola gnocchi, caprese salad and panna cotta. Look what I bought!
Venice was a first for me. I rambled through labyrinthian passageways and footbridges, hot and lost in crowds until I mastered canal travel and the outer islands. On my first evening I came across a Campanile in a big square with only a ten minute wait to go up, so I took the last elevator of the day to find myself atop THE Campanile in St. Mark’s Square with breathtaking 360 degree sunset views. There’s the Bascillica, Rialto Bridge and the islands and now I see how the canals are laid out. On my final day in Venice, I missed last call for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum because I followed iphone directions until it dropped down a stone stairway right into canal water. In twenty minutes somehow I’d circled back to where I’d begun? Parli Inglese, anyone?
And finally Paris—always Paris where I can speak, somewhat. My art teacher recommended the small Musee Marmottan Monet near the Eiffel Tower. It’s a preserved furnished Edwardian townhouse showcasing the world’s leading collection of works by Monet, as well as works by Manet, Degas, Gauguin, Rodin, Pizarro, Chagall. Finding a basement stairway in the gift shop, I went down and was stunned to stand alone in a room encircled by twelve HUGE Monet waterlily paintings. You can even rent the room for a dinner party. Imagine! Hidden gem-must see-nobody there.
To have a triennial and trifecta at once is thrilling. Last year’s Harvest Festival was rained out so, again THIS might be my year for the Cakewalk win, which coincidentally falls on my wedding anniversary. So I have to ask myself one question, Do I feel lucky? My late husband, Clint Eastwood fan, would respond . . . “Well do ya, punk?” I do.
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.
I was surprised and honored to find a Jurors Award on my Valley Oak sculpture, ‘Nest of its Own’ at the Bedford Gallery exhibit. I’m grateful for the validation. The piece was sold but my Art Patron graciously offered to leave it with me until I paint it in watercolor. This is my way of keeping the sculpture because we know I can make a three hundred twenty-five year-old piece of wood look realistic in watercolor. Right? I hope so—you just never know.
This extra large Bug Hotel, made from the same Valley Oak (also juried into the Bedford exhibit), will be shown at the Piedmont Harvest Festival Sept 18, as will my completed Valley Oak gall painting. This free hometown outdoor festival has my all-time favorite farmers’ market, kids carnival, jazz fest, scarecrow auction, edibles contest, food trucks, plus the shoji screened Japanese Tea House shades our local art exhibit. Scouts always grill burgers and dogs. See you, hot dog in hand, on the Cake Walk . . . I think this is my year.
The 150th Anniversary of Golden Gate Park came and went in online isolation. We are finally celebrating the exhibit, ‘From Sand Dunes to Forest’ in person—two years late. The paintings and photography focuses on the early days of the park, when blowing sand dunes threatened to overtake the parkland. Did you know the canopy of trees, depicted in the exhibit, were planted to protect the “Outside Lands” from erosion and it has worked for 150 years? Without them there would be no park. Artists’ Reception Sept 24, 2-4 pm in the S.F. Botanical Gardens. Look for my Coast Redwood painting in the Helen Crocker Russell Library through January 23.
Stay cool. Drink water. Save water. Save power. Stay safe. Boost. Good grief! Like the blowing park sand our landscape evolves and we adjust, but the healing power of art is constant. Use that.
The 3rd annual Piedmont ART WALK is up next Saturday, the day before Mother’s Day. We have over 40 artists selling art on their porches; net proceeds support art in schools. Scan the site and map on bit.ly/PiedmontArtWalk2022.
My botanical special for Mom includes a small framed botanical print of your choice, a signed art card, and a botanical gift wrap for $45. Or maybe Mom’s a Bug Hotel type of girl? Hanging garden art shelters native pollinators right in your own backyard. Check them out in my gallery www.BonniesBotanicalArt.com. We’re still waiting to hear from the city about masking but will keep the porch uncrowded regardless.
I have a variation on the theme. I transformed a fallen Valley Oak limb into a wood sculptured nest. It’s my first woodworking attempt and, if nothing else, you should come see the nest. Not cheap however because I really love the nest.
I’ve currently completed a Valley Oak limb with oak galls.
Through a newfound website remove.bg.com I can print the white background in black. Like it better? Check out the original (NFS yet), buy a signed and numbered Giclee print, or a card. Lots of choices along with botanical books, tea towels, bags, and aprons.
This is a pen and ink Japanese Cedar bonsai. I took an all-day outdoor class and we were not allowed to bring pencils which, if you think about it, means no erasing. Omg! But the mistakes just turn into more branches and I got to watercolor the gray pot later. I’m hooked. Come see it Saturday.
Welcome back, everyone. The Covid canceled exhibits are still on hold. I will surely LYK.
I veered off a bit during the Pandemic. I received the always thrilling “Congratulations you have been juried into The Bedford Gallery exhibit, If a Tree Falls” e-mail, but not for botanical watercolors—for woodworking?! It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. An iconic 325 year-old Valley Oak had fallen and artists were invited to choose pieces of wood to give the old tree new life. I pointed out a protrusion along the trunk, the arborist sawed it off and once in my hands, it felt like a nest. Generous fellow artist, Marc Weidech, dug out an off-center core with his lathe and I went to work. Sanding, scraping out bug frass (petrified poop) and cambium, finer sanding, oiling to reveal the natural wood grain, then vigorous buffing. Three spotted oak galls in the nest suggest rebirth. The surrounding oak bough is embalmed in glycerine giving this iconic Boundary Oak “A Nest of Its Own.”
This was an exciting way to spend a lockdown. Also accepted was my largest yet Bug Hotel #50 made of Valley Oak and forest floor organic detritus. The rebirth theme continues as this shelter fosters habitats that encourage biodiversity and remind the public that insects need our help. They also call attention to the simple beauty of nature. Parking in their Lesher Center lot in back is free for the first hour and there are parklet restaurants spanning blocks. The exhibit runs into February and has 64 artists and 96 pieces that are fascinating, beautiful, imaginative and weird! Check ahead for hours of operation.
Due to Covid, I participated in a low-keyed open-air Piedmont Harvest Festival exhibit this Fall and was recently notified that the 150th Anniversary of Golden Gate Park exhibit, Canopy Trees of GG Park, is again delayed until Sept – Dec 2022. Until then it’s online. https://www.sfbg.org/ggp150artexhibit. Click the image of the redwood slice to see my artist’s page.
Upcoming in January we are back at Berkeley Botanical Garden’s Julia Morgan building for our NorCal ASBA exhibit. I plan to show my rarely exhibited work of Dichondra leaves cascading down a wall.
Painting class has resumed with masks, distancing, and foggy magnifier glasses. Continuing the theme, I’m painting a Valley Oak bough heavy with fall leaves and oak galls, the birthplace of harmless tiny native wasp larvae. If you collect oak galls for your table decoration, consider temporarily keeping them in a bag—it can be like a maternity ward in there—remember open bag outdoors.
Happy Holidays everyone. Email if you’d like to shop for last minute botanical gifts, books, cards or prints in my studio. See my 2021 Spring Newsletter for a photo of botanical gift offerings. Bring friends, enjoy Grandma’s fudge, cookies, tea or wine. You bring the people, I’ll have the party.
Otherwise, Rocky’s Market in Oakland’s Leimert District carries my art cards. You can make your own last-minute gift pack. I also highly recommend their nonprofit www.nourishthepeople.org for donations and volunteer opportunities to fight hunger locally. Hunker down folks and take care.
Welcome back. Are you back? I’m working on it. I’m having an art show on my front porch, along with 40 other Piedmont artists throughout town to benefit art in our schools. We’ll be spaced and masked; I’m vaccinated and ready to GET OUT! Right? Bring your dogs, your family, your people. We’ve got this down.
I finished painting the lemon/orange/avocado triptych on vellum and it was chosen and artfully rearranged for the cover of Limoneira’s 2020 Annual Report. My first!
I’m still astonished and humbled that Piedmont Living Magazine featured me (under my married name Joanne Palamountain) for their March cover profile story. I was lucky to work with a well-known travel writer and a photographer with nowhere to travel at this point. The attached article focuses on my Piedmont family history and career. The cover photo in the park showcases my botanical art. Yes, that Jeffrey Pinecone keeps showing up. Who would notice the tree behind Ms. March and her pinecone are Sequoia sempervirens—not Pinus jeffreyi?
Happy and Healthy Holidays to you. This year instead of asking family around the holiday table what we’re thankful for, we might also ask what we’ll miss this year. It turns out they are often one and the same.
But I feel the beginning of Pandemic optimism. We know more about how to stay safe and the creative community output is growing beyond belief. Who knew our local business entrepreneurs had so many great ideas? And many others are trying to help those who cannot.
Last June, twenty-one Piedmont artists created The Piedmont Art Walk supporting art in local schools. City approved, spaced and masked, I had 5 people on my porch at all times from noon until 7 pm—several hundred not counting dogs and babies. Whew. Citywide posters with QR Codes, footprints on our front sidewalks and signs up my steps led people along flat box hedges covered with small framed prints and Bug Hotels; then to the upper porch with easels of larger art. Five more steps up, I sat behind a table in the doorway like the great masked OZ. No barking, no crying, no contact, no candy dish, only dog biscuits. Nevertheless, everyone loved it so we’re planning another Art Walk next May. It was good to safely share my new work with people walking, exercising and desperate to do anything at that point. Me too.
Postponed, were my exhibits for The Garden Club of America, Piedmont House Tour, Harvest Festival, and the 150th Anniversary Celebration of Golden Gate Park, ‘From Sand Dunes To Forest’. My Redwood painting was juried into that exhibition but the Celebration itself was juried out by a greater force! The committee has graciously posted the exhibit online along with historical information and photos about planting the Park’s eroding sand dunes with canopy trees all those years ago. They hope to reschedule the Park-wide celebration next Fall.
This summer I painted a triptych based on the fruit grown by Limoneira, a company my son works for. It was a special challenge because I painted on calf skin vellum (slippery to paint but luminous) and since we’re not holding art classes my teacher advised me online. I’m happy to finish a successful painting from home but miss my classmates and teacher. The UC Berkeley Botanical Garden will be displaying this piece all of February—no longer in the beautiful Julia Morgan building but in the comfort of your slippers. The virtual exhibit is called 12th Annual Plants Illustrated Exhibition and they remind us, no framing necessary. Too late. There will be a live Zoom opening reception, date yet TBD. www.botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu
Finally, as expected our Botanical Art class will not be holding our year end art exhibit/holiday party, but several of us contributed to a booklet called, A Cabinet of Curiosities. It’s an age-old concept for artists to create a composition painting notable objects, bits and pieces of favorite things. Our book emphasizes natural things. We are having a live Zoom reception December 13 at 4 pm where each artist will exhibit and describe their work in the booklet. I will forward the information when I receive it Dec 12, if you email me before to let me know you’re interested in attending.
Otherwise I have the booklets if you want a small gift for an art lover. My porch is open in December for anyone who wants to pick up holiday gifts. Besides framed and unframed numbered prints and Bug Hotels (see my website), there are: botanical art notecards, aprons, framed mini prints, wrapping paper, playing cards, Gardens of Alcatraz books and more. Let me know if you want to stop by—bring your masked bubble people. Or come by Rocky’s Market in the Leimert district of Oakland to see my paintings on their wall plus a selection of signed art cards. I’m sending those profits to the Alameda County Food Bank. Keep up the good work everyone!
