About my paintings

My fascination for painting in oils began while watching my father paint a small picture of Venice. I was eight, and the smell and texture of that painting is still with me - along with the fascination of a city with ‘roads’ of water.

An art teacher during my first year of high school introduced me to abstract painting, which was to develop into a lifetime love of experimenting with colors and patterns. While majoring in art for an Education Degree, I discovered a fascination for design and composition, and under the watchful guidance of Mitch Pearson who said, “Artists often destroy what they paint to create something more alive - even though there may have been some interesting elements present,” I learned more about the creative process.

Painting in this way, rather than skillfully copying a scene before me, I am drawn into my feelings and imagination, and life becomes a journey that constantly unfolds in surprising ways. What will I discover as I paint? If I put a shape here rather than there and intersect it with a line, what emotion will it evoke? What new insight or understanding will come? These are the gifts to me of lifelong learning through art.

Essentially I paint in order to become more self-aware, to learn and discover more about my inner world, who I am, and the role I might like to play here on earth. Being self-aware, I can recreate my life the way I would like it to be rather than continuing to let the self-limiting thoughts and conditioning I learned as a child, create a life that does not serve my highest good.

About Me…

Since 1996 I have been a resident of New Zealand. I was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1948 and studied Art at Bendigo Teachers College (Australia), majoring in Ceramics (1972-1974) and at Ballarat University (Australia), majoring in Painting for a Degree in Education (1980-1981). At the Skipton Art Shows in 1981-1982 I won three Honourable Mentions and held my first solo exhibition of paintings and drawings at the end of 1981. Since then I have travelled extensively and worked sporadically in various education settings in Australia, North America and New Zealand, periodically exhibiting paintings in all three countries. During this time I also began a long apprenticeship as a writer and had numerous articles published. At the end of 1999 I left teaching to further develop myself as an artist and writer. During 2000 and 2001 my paintings were exhibited at Marina Gallery, Whangarei and Gallery 185 in Auckland. In March, 2003, I  exhibited jointly with Geraldine Leonard at the National Maritime Museum in Auckland, and in March, 2004 had a solo exhibition at Quay Park Medical Centre, Auckland. My paintings and drawings are in private collections in Australia, North America, Russia, and New Zealand.

Visit my other websites:

http://www.by-julietbonnay.com

http://www.self-regeneration.com