To make the abstract (which is around 24″ x 36″), my rule of thumb is to do my best to make the colors and shapes somehow “fit” organically without giving in to the desire to make the shapes and forms “representational,” I inevitably will see things that resemble objects or familiar images. Some of those I may allow to stay in the final depending on how they work together with the rest of the piece.
Playing with shapes and colors, Bonno chuckles when he explains to Janice Bremec Blum that he loves the “f…k it factor.” Basically, that means going mad in his own world and giving himself permission to be loose. That freeing spirit is found in all of Bonno’s work. “I don’t leave a painting until I believe in it” he says, “until it impresses me.”
I would be up late, take a break from painting and then brainstorm. Situations for tomatoes, odd places you might not find them, personifying events with tomatoes… what painting would be next?
Then an idea would make me laugh and I would suss it out to see if I thought it was a strong laugh… then run inside, sketch and plan it out or paint it.
Playing with shapes and colors, Bonno chuckles when he explains that he loves the “f…k it factor.” Basically, that means going mad in his own world and giving himself permission to be loose. That freeing spirit is found in all of Bonno’s work. “I don’t leave a painting until I believe in it” he says, “until it impresses me.”
When I asked Bonno what advice he would give for aspiring artists, without flinching he stated, “Get out of your own way!” He feels that everyone has their own, private and personal relationship with art and it shouldn’t be marred by the critical voices in our head.
