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The Las Vegas Book Festival!

| Bonnie Kelso

Last Saturday was the Las Vegas Book Festival! I went for the first time and helped host the Nevada SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) information booth with other volunteer members. I was so impressed with the amount of vendors, speakers, and activities. The Historic 5th Street School makes for a lovely venue with its Spanish architectural details.

I think we recruited a dozen or so new members; networked with booksellers, librarians, and teachers; and I even booked a school visit! We were encouraging visitors to “READ LOCAL!” and support Nevada authors and illustrators. It was also the most beautiful fall day we’ve had after a long and dreadfully hot summer.

There was even a special appearance by Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie. At our booth we had activity sheets from my book Nudi Gill and I taught kids how to make a zine from one piece of paper.

All in all it was a great experience and I look forward to attending again next year. I highly recommend checking it out. In my humble opinion, the nicest people in the world seem to be book people!

See you at the Las Vegas Book Festival next year!

Bonnie

Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books for children and adults that encourage individualism and brave self-expression. She facilitates art workshops for her local community and beyond. Her debut picture book, NUDI GILL, released April 4, 2023. SEA SMILES, the first of a three-part series, released February 20, 2024. Coming soon: WONDER OF THE WOODS and QUAIL TRAIL, releasing this fall. A lover of nature and travel, she often wanders about outside with her family whenever an excellent opportunity to do so presents itself.

Decide

| Bonnie Kelso

Since the lock-down began, I’ve suddenly had a lot less time to work on my projects. The funny thing is… I’ve somehow managed to still find time to work on my projects! I’ve had to make a lot of tough choices in order to stay productive. It’s heart-breaking work to have to say ‘no’ to comfortable routines and people we care about, but it helps you to understand in your heart what you need to continue saying yes to, no matter what. The world is changing on micro and macro levels all at once. Even when things “go back to normal” we’re only kidding ourselves if we believe that anything will ever be like it was. I’ve been learning important things about myself during these past few months. Like the other day when a distracted driver almost ran me over in the crosswalk. I learned two things in that one moment. #1, I learned that my crisis response is to freeze, not fight or flight. #2, I learned that I had been taking for granted that a few lines drawn on the street could grant me safety. They don’t. In these times we have to be extra vigilant. We have to observe. We have to look both ways, again and again, even when the lights are green and the little walkie man is flashing. It’s okay to freeze, but at some point we need to start moving again. But when we do, we have to remember that the world has changed, that we have all changed. There will be some things we will miss. But there will be other things that we can rebuild to be better than they were. We have to decide to hold on to that hope.

Bonnie
©Bonnie Kelso and Creating Your Experience

For a limited time I have reduced the price of my coloring books to $7.99. Enjoy!

Check out this new 100 Day Project on Instagram: #TinyLifeLines2020

Some heARTful inspiration…

| Bonnie Kelso

Just felt like sending out some heARTful inspiration today. Hang in there, the Universe has our backs.

Spread some love and joy today.
Dance like nobody’s watching.
Find comfort wherever you are.
Take yourself on an imaginary adventure.
It’s okay to vulnerable. We’re all in this together.

With love,

Bonnie

Thank You

| Bonnie Kelso

Thank you for reading this. Thank you for caring. On this Thanksgiving I have a lot to be grateful for. Mostly, I am thankful to be alive. I am thankful to have the ability to think about putting sweaters on wild animals. I am thankful to have the time to wonder, who was the first animal to be drawn with a sweater on. Was it Winnie the Pooh? Goofy? What is Goofy, anyway? These are the questions I am grateful to be able to ask on a Thanksgiving morning, because I am still here. I am still alive, and I am hopeful that with each new day I will put a little more of my fears and insecurities behind me.

To see more pictures of animals in sweaters, if this interests you, click here.

I am thankful that I have time to draw this penguin in a sweater. That I can put aside everything else and simply indulge myself in an idea and put pencil to paper and create it. I don’t know why I wanted to do it, but I did it, and you know what? It made me feel happy. Sometimes I get so consumed by the challenges of each day, the work that needs to be done, the goals that are still to be met, that I forget what the point of it all is anyway. Everyone might have a different reason for living, but, for me, today, it is to create a little “penguin-in-a-sweater” happiness.

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True As Blue

| Bonnie Kelso

Deep in my heart I’ve been wanting to write a Children’s Picture Book about global climate change and our role as stewards of this beautiful planet we live on. I’ve been waiting for a story to come to me ever so patiently. Then, just yesterday it appeared! As I sat in my backyard and wrote in my journal next to my favorite tree, the words came through my hand and I don’t even really know how. I believe it may have been from a source outside of myself. It felt like an out of body experience. I love it when that happens!

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Reading and Writing

| Bonnie Kelso

As a writer I find it embarrassing that I was never an avid reader as a kid. I was much more interested in going outside. It didn’t really matter what I was doing, as long as it was outside. Mostly, I wandered. I looked at things, smelled flowers, tried to talk to the birds, and when I felt really brave, I would lift up a rock and see what I might find hiding underneath. I didn’t really become a recreational reader until I graduated from college.

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HeART of Discovery!

| Bonnie Kelso

I’m facilitating a collaborative mural project for the Discovery Children’s Museum! On Saturday, August 3rd from 10am – 1pm we will be in the Discovery Lab working on a visitor-created piece of collaborative art in celebration of Art Appreciation Month at the Discovery Children’s Museum here in Las Vegas. I’m so excited to be a part of it.

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Happy Little Trees

| Bonnie Kelso

Started my day today watching an episode of Bob Ross and following some of his advice as I created my own version of “Happy Little Trees.” What an inspiration he was. Such a lovely person. He always says, “don’t copy me, make it your own. Make the place you want to go to.” I feel like I’ve been there all day, even while I’m roaming around in my urban desert home. I’m still there among those happy little trees. Magic. Thank you, Bob!

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May your day be filled with happy trees of any size.

Bonnie

Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books that celebrate diversity, creativity, and all the special qualities that make each of us unique.

©Bonnie Kelso and Creating Your ExperienceVitalize Your Creative Life is a workbook based on a series of classes I designed based on creating from the energetic space of your inner child. In this workbook, I encourage you to rediscover the creative kid inside of you by coloring, scribbling, and even drawing stick figures. This is a very approachable book for people who want to begin exploring their creative life in a playfully spiritual way. Read more…

For the joy of it!

| Bonnie Kelso

trust

My illustrations are a reflection of my inner child. I can remember drawing my own characterizations of animals since I was in Kindergarten. When I was in the first grade I won a poster contest about listening. I drew animals with big ears. When the teacher announced to the entire class that I had won, I heard a classmate say, “We all know her Dad drew it.” I was horrified and heart broken. It’s true my Dad can draw, but he didn’t help me, not one bit. Already being fearfully shy, I didn’t know how to express my distress over the comment and began crying right there in front of everyone. Over the years I have realized how precious our creative lives are to us. I try to express this vulnerability as well as beauty in my art. My intention as an artist and writer is to encourage people to express themselves creatively and become more resilient to criticism, especially that dreadful inner-critic.

How are you using your creative life? Do you feel like you have one? I’d like to reassure you right now that you do. When was the last time you engaged in a creative project just for the joy of it? Sometimes I feel like we put so much pressure on ourselves to create something amazing that we never even start. It’s true there are a lot of amazing creations out there. The other side of this truth is that these things were created because a whole lot of other things (things that may not have been so great) were created first. So, take the pressure off yourself and create something for the pure joy of it. No expectations. Just joy.

Xoxo,

Bonnie

Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books that celebrate diversity, creativity, and all the special qualities that make each of us unique.

©Bonnie Kelso and Creating Your ExperienceVitalize Your Creative Life is a workbook based on a series of classes I designed based on creating from the energetic space of your inner child. In this workbook, I encourage you to rediscover the creative kid inside of you by coloring, scribbling, and even drawing stick figures. This is a very approachable book for people who want to begin exploring their creative life in a playfully spiritual way. Read more…