Voice is a mixed media portrait commissioned by Krista Thomsen to honor her mother, Bonnie Ribble Kennedy.
This piece features a creative soul’s passions. Bonnie’s philosophy empowers: “…my gifts are meant to be given–So they can come back to me–It’s a circle.”
When I shared with her how her belief helped me to get over my fear of selling my original paintings, she replied: “So, in a way, I’ve inspired you, as well! That’s what art is all about!!! How exciting when we get to see how it works!!”
While praying about a message for the piece, this came to mind; “The gift she gave to the world was her voice!” What a perfect descriptor of a woman who is so generous with her gifts!
Bonnie inspires many others as well. She’s finishing a major in English Literature with Creative Writing and a minor in Art while in her 60’s. She plans to go onto a grad program with the goal of teaching creative writing. She is a talented artist, a lover of music (with an amazing voice), and a poet.
Her poem, Landscaping my Garden, was published in the 2017 spring issue of “Voices De La Luna“–a quarterly literary magazine out of San Antonio. You can visit the link and scroll down to read the entire poem, but here are a couple of stanzas to entice:
I’ll have a bed of nursery rhymes
Circling the swing set,
And limerick vines and riddling ivy,
Their puns in bloom,
Can climb the fence.
A blanket of green pastorals and blue idylls
Will make it feel like a country picnic,
And in one corner,
I will let Blank and free verse
Just grow wild!
Add to all of this, she is a woman with a contagious sense of humor…truly a free verse, growing wild!
Of all she has shared with me, this quote has to be my favorite:
“The imagination, the ability to create, is the irrefutable evidence that we are children of God!”
Bonnie expressed her gratitude for the piece with a message applicable to all of us creative souls:
“I’ve actually been looking for my ‘Voice’ for many years, and only recently feel like I have discovered it! This piece is so expressive and appropriate for me! It’s never too late! It is special and personal, and it means more than you know!”
Refrain from the Identical 
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