Bonnie grew up in Salt Lake City as the eldest of six children. Family vacations often involved camping throughout the western states, where she developed a deep appreciation for the beauty and wonder of nature, now vividly reflected in her paintings. Encouraged by her mother, an artist, Bonnie joined a plein-air painting group as a young adult, setting the course for her artistic journey.

Her most significant influences include early landscape painters John F. Carlson, Richard Schmid, Edgar Payne, and LeConte Stewart. Carlson (1890-1945), a noted expert on outdoor painting from the Art Students League Summer School in Woodstock, New York, authored Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting, which has become a “bible” for many serious landscape painters. His philosophy of painting nature at one’s back door, without feeling compelled to seek the “picturesque,” and his reverence for pure, natural landscapes and trees have profoundly inspired Bonnie throughout her career.

Bonnie has painted extensively throughout South America, including trips to Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Chile, Easter Island, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, and four trips to Peru over two decades. An adventurous week-long river trip in Alaska’s Tik Chik Wilderness area opened another plein air painting and camping experience for her. Recent travels to Italy, France, and London, England, continue to inspire many of her newer paintings.