Azaleas Oil on canvas Price info:  Contact artist	Sunday Morning and Roses - Redux Oil on canvas Price info:  Contact artist (Also available in a giclee print)	Gaby Oil on canvas Price info:  Contact artist	Still Life with Green Apples Oil on canvas Price info:  Contact artist

As early as I can remember, I have always been fascinated with color and light. And I always drew. All I wanted to be able to do was draw the little floppy-eared bunny rabbits that my mother would draw as entertainment for me and my three young siblings. My earliest recollection of using color is sitting on the floor with a box of Crayola Crayons (no other brand would do) and coloring always making sure to outline the images in black, beause it really made whatever i was coloring stand out. I suppose on some level, even though I didn't know it then, I was playing with lights and shadows.

In my early teens, I started doing paint-by-number. But I wasn't satisfied. My dad suggested that I blend/blur the lines so that you could not see a division between the colors. It helped. But I wasn't satisfied. So using the leftover paints from my paint-by-numbers, I started composing and painting my own pictures.

In my early twenties and newly married my husband saw what I was trying to do and bought me my first "professional" paint box, paints and easel. I improved but I still wasn't satisfied. So at the suggestion of my grandmonther-in-law I began taking instruction from Sam Correnti at the Academy of the Arts in the basement of the old Zeswitz building at 7th and Penn in Reading. When Sam passed away, I kind of put my painting on hold while life happened. Over the past few years I have taken instruction from Paul Flickinger, Fred Wagner, Barton Henderson and Mary Lou Cryets at the Institute of the Arts in Wyomissing.

Painting fulfils and contents me and gives me a feeling of accomplishment. It honors the spirit in me and around me, and I hope I honor that god-given talent. It's what will keep me painting.

My inspiration comes from my family and from nature. I enjoy painting still life, landscapes and portraits. People are my favorites. There is always a story to be seen in the painting of a face, always a new subject. Oils are my medium of choice. Although recently I have worked in both pastel and watercolor.

I was born and raised in Reading and I have one son. I currently reside in Spring Township. I am known as Bonnie by my friends and fanily.

Most recently I have participated in exhibits at the Wyomissing Institute of the Arts and the ACOR showings at Borders Bookstore, the Jewish Community Center, Reading Area Community College (RACC) and the ACOR Gallery of Art in the GoggleWorks.