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2 for the girls- 'Amy's unicorn' and 'Lucy's letters'
Posted by Bonnie Warner Blackburn on
Unapologetically PINK. Not every girl loves pink, and are girly girls obsessed with frills and ribbons, rainbows, unicorns and fairies. But some are! And it's actually fun to cater for them. All of my girly paintings take me back to certain places in my own childhood where imagining a fairy could live at the bottom of my garden was the coolest thing ever. When I was enamoured with 'cute' and loved all the classic storybooks capturing tales of princesses, magic and fairy godmothers. Amy loves pink, unicorns, rabbits and flowers. Lucy wanted a magical world of fairies to compliment the feminine...
2 for the boys- 'Austin's treasure map' & 'Ben's blue sky adventure'
Posted by Bonnie Warner Blackburn on
Not wanting to gender stereotype, as either of these paintings could have been made for girls.. basically any kid who is lego loving, a fearless flyer, a superhero, an awesome adventurer, a dynamic dinosaur hunter... a car cruiser, an intrepid explorer with a top imagination and the absolute intention of being the hero of their own life's adventure. In this case though, the recipients were boy flavour. Austin loves green, cars, superheros and the great outdoors. Ben loves lego, flying, superheroes and battles. When I look at these, for me, the ultimately cool thing is they look like pages of...
..And then there were 3 more (Arks)
Posted by Bonnie Warner Blackburn on
Continuing with the Ark/ animal theme... mixing it up with different placements and animal depictions. Each one is unique although the basic composition remains the same. Painting animals doesn't come naturally to me- I search up images and do sketches to try and get the right look for each creature. I don't want to be painting them in an uber realistic way nor did I want them overly cartoonish- the balance was fine :-) The Ark theme is enduring, but more so of course, children love 'dem animals. They learn their names, their sounds, their colours... It's a virtual zoo...
The Ark- for the love of animals
Posted by Bonnie Warner Blackburn on
It all started with an Ark. Well almost. It was one of the first commissioned pieces I painted. The classic tale of Noah and his Ark has transcended it's biblical beginnings into an enduring and popular theme in contemporary children's imagery. Some parents like their kids to have knowledge of some of our culture's classic stories, but ultimately it's all about the animals! After completing this, my 'first Ark' (painted for a good friend of mine after she had her first baby) I embarked on a few more.. all a bit different with different variety of creatures depicted. This one...
Art for art's sake
Posted by Bonnie Warner Blackburn on
My biggest creative passion and my biggest creative hurdle is to turn up at a page and create for creating's sake. Without fear of judgment. Without fear. Knowing that something may not be the most original or cool, knowing some may like and some may dislike. When you make something sort of knowing inside that it will never see the light of day, it's easier to be freer and honest. Having said that though, I find that working on an artwork with someone else in mind- with pieces and concepts of another's vision, intermingled with my own- is so much...