Cadeaux de la France

I received an email from celui qui apprécie Ellie Bogardus art. The daughter of a collector wrote asking whether I would like photographs of several painting her mother and father had collected. I will post them when they arrive, and hopefully some more background about them. Following is the nice message from the daughter of the collector:

Hi, I don't know how to reach you other than by commenting. I found you by Googling Ellie Bogardus. Mom & dad collected some paintings (as much as possible on a HS teacher's salary). I'm helping mom move to San Diego and we're packing her artwork for the trip. She has a large Bogardus (The Shopkeeper's Cat, I believe it's called - very Matisse-like and joyous) and a few smaller ones. Would you like to see photos, and if so, to whom should I email them? [edited personal information] Mom and dad used to rent the Rosenlieb's house, which was across the street from Ellie's, and they became friends.

I was going through the list of blogs I have posted, and saw several that still needed to be posted. They are a mix of various random topics, and some photographs of birds that have not been identified. Since all of my birding books have been and still are in storage with the rest of our household items, its will still be a little while until they are unpacked after the boxes are delivered next week to our new home.

The following is by Justine Bonnard, daughter of Ellie's husband Jean-Marie. Her brother Mathias has been invaluable in filling in pieces of information from decades earlier, and for access to his father's and Ellie's art. The narrative below was begun better than a year ago - maybe two, and finished today.

Justine Bonnard's Silly Beast

When I was driving home from work today [Beltsville to Annapolis, MD], I was thinking of how busy I have been with travel and the frantic pace in the office, and how I have hardly put any effort into coming up with new ideas to blog. (1) This week I received another Ellie Bogardus painting by email (see the earlier [previous blog]). The French connection to the Bonnard family has turned up a pretty good collection that has been posted. Add to these the ones from northern, central, and southern California, as well as New Jersey.

When I Google'd the Silly Beast animation by Justine Bonnard, I came up with both the storyboard version (A), and the final product (B) that I had seen before. A set of drawings for the chicken in the animation shows a bit more of the detail that goes into the preparation for an animation.

Much more detail about the animation and artist can be found by clicking here.

I have pointed out before, the artistic linage - in avian idiom terms, birds of a feather, flock together, is impressive. This compilation almost amounts to an artist guild to itself. Given my interest in birding, it is no wonder that I have an affinity for them as well.
____________________
(1) Blog can be a verb, just like putting an "ing" at the end of curry to make it a verb. Tonight when we went to the Chinese restaurant that seems to be the best in Annapolis, I saw a sign beside the door that read, "We are now currying Chinese broccoli."