Carmen Bonnici Biography
My name is CARMEN BONNICI. I was born in Scotland. At the age of two my parents up sticks and immigrated to Western Australia sailing on an Italian ocean liner that took 5 weeks to finely reach its destination in Western Australia and was to be the beginning of a beautiful childhood that will stay with me forever.
Early years were spent living in a small mining town called kalgoolie way out in the outback where my father worked down the mines. From age we lived in a small town called Wonthella in Western Australia. My father had become a successful Cray fisherman and five months of the year was spent on a small coral Island called Big Pigeon with my family.
The Island is one of a group of beautiful the Abrohlos Islands situated in the Indian ocean approximately 70 miles off the mainland. Living amongst only eleven other Cray fishing families life could get pretty lonely for a small child so when I wasn’t being home schooled I would spend the rest of my time Cray fishing with my father and exploring the island and the ocean and all its fascinating inhabitants.
Sadly the adventure and the magic of growing up in Western Australia was to all come to and abrupt end when my father decided to return to Scotland with us and buy a small plantation. From that moment of my life it would never return to its former wonderful self, and I was to spend my early teenage years growing up in a country that was completely alien to me from the childhood I remembered with such fondness.
To console myself I became an avid reader of The famous five books and secret seven as well as Nancy Drew and my collection of horse books and I had a secret crush on Marc Bolan from T.Rex. An absolute animal lover I had my assortment of pets I all adored equally from my pot bellied pig called pork scratching, a crazy cockatiel called Sid Vicious who believe it or not was really into all my favorite bands such as The legendry Doors, Pink Floyd and The Eagles. Sid really loved music and Jim Morrison would leave him in an intoxicated trance especially when I repeatedly put on LA woman.
Absolutely having gone from loving school in Australia to loathing it in Scotland due to prejudice I received and bullying as a result of being different and not one of the herd. I was constantly bullied both physically and mentally from the age of twelve up until the age of 16 and my longing to escape the stiff confinement of a stuffy classroom filled my heart with despair.
When I eventually escaped the prison walls of mainstream school at the age of seventeen I soon realized there was to be no real escape from my traumatic life until I found the courage to leave home and escape my father who was for all my childhood and adult life an absolute tyrant and control freak as well as a physical and mental bully.
Escaping the clutches of my father I spent the next 7 years of my life fluttering aimlessly like a butterfly in the breeze experiencing life in all its crazy madness. Having run off to London at the age of twenty I had spent over one year of my life homeless and living on the streets without shelter and not a true friend in sight, something I have never quiet recovered from.
At the age of twenty five I was married and with a beautiful baby girl who changed my life forever and for the first time in my sad sorry life I truly understood the meaning of genuine raw love and from that moment on my life had real meaning. Sadly the marriage was not to be and ended when my daughter was just 5 years old.
Making the decision to leave the United Kingdom when my daughter was just twelve years old we moved lock stock and barrel to sunny Spain and for the next ten years life was a mixture of crazy madness.
Taking up residence in Southern Spain I took up any job I could to make ends meet and also made the decision to continue home schooling my daughter. Life in Spain was often wonderful, sometimes stressful and painful, and almost every day was different and an adventure.
In 2002 after a very traumatic painful experience in our lives living in Spain my daughter with some persuasion and encouragement put the suggestion in my mind to become an artist.
Having no experience but always having been very creative and loving art I decided to try my hand at painting. I decided my talents for abstract painting were not to be ignored and as I became more involved in art and painting my confidence, self-esteem and love for life began to returned. Being a self taught artist I am really proud of my achievements.
I soon became involved in having my own exhibitions starting in small venues in Spain and gradually exhibiting further a field gaining more recognition from especially the US.
Having sold over 92 paintings in the first two years of the beginning of my art career. I have been offered exhibitions in the well established Agora gallery in New York as well as Fusion Gallery in Los Angeles California I consider myself an establish artist and my art sales and clients come from all around the globe.
Painting for me is an extremely personal experience and journey and comes directly from my heart and my experiences in my life. It is a very spiritual journey and my artwork changes constantly as the journey in my life changes bringing in new and fresh experiences. These experiences reflect in my work and can be seen in my art as a reflection of different emotions and passions, feelings and joy.
I hope you to also find something special and unique in my artwork that brings to you both feelings of passion, joy and spiritual healing. Since my creative artistic journey began i have also became an established author of romantic poetry and non fiction. My books are avaliable on Amazon under my name.
Carmen Bonnici
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