BONNIE PHILLIPS GARDINER:

I am a forty year old mother of three chiildren, two teens and one almost ten year old.  My youngest son is non-verbal autistic about low-middle on the spectrum.  I have been drawing everything since I was a little girl, drawing my own silly comic books and illustrated Sci-Fi stories at a very young age.  I began doing portraits in the 1980's during the first years of music video when the age of the "pretty pop star" came around.  I would draw rock stars from pictures in magazines and sell them to other students at $5 each.  While in high school my parents got me some freelance work doing drawings for some local print shops.  After leaving technical school I went to work for one of the print shops I had done work for in high school and continued to do drawings for many of their customers during the seven years I was there.  During this time I also illustrated a book for a local author, and I still did the occassional portrait. 

Now, many years later, I have picked up my pencils again.  I recently illustrated another book for another local author, did some art and portrait work for a website, did some illustrations for an online magazine, and was commissioned to do two more portraits.  It has been so much fun I have decided to pull out all my supplies and dust off my drawing desk to do this work again. 

~ Bonnie