Skip to main content

Bonnie Marris Art

b. 1951
Bonnie Marris has been studying and painting wolves, foxes, dogs and horses since childhood. She remembers her family home as a refuge for anyone in trouble, human or animal. “At one time we had two wolves and a three-month-old coyote living with us,” she recalls with a smile. Always, when Marris wasn’t around animals, she was painting them, and this love led her to pursue degrees in zoology and animal behavior. Animals are an integral part of both her life and her art. She cites David Shephard, the great British painter and preservationist, as her hero and mentor. His mastery of color and pure magic on canvas, she says, motivate her every day to become more skillful, to make an animal seem to step off the linen canvas so that viewers hold their breath in preparation for the meeting. If anyone has never had the opportunity to see a fox running through a field and stopping suddenly to listen for a mouse, or to watch a pack of wild wolves at play, Marris wants to give that person some of the experience with a painting. She also wants to let viewers see each animal she paints as an individual, to connect with its soul. “We all know that our dogs and cats have personalities and their own ways of being,” she says. “Well, this is also true of grizzlies, of horses, of wolves—all nature’s creatures. Once in Alaska, about thirty yards from my campsite, one wolf from a pack of twenty got down on her front elbows and wagged her tail at me in play mode. Another time a coyote spent a whole morning watching me watch a grizzly—and then hiked with me all afternoon and sat on a nearby hillside while I waited for more bears. A very grateful wild skunk once patiently let me clean caked mud off him after he had been stuck in a window well. Studying color and light, Marris says, has become an obsession with her. “Color sets a mood, an atmosphere that can create feelings ranging from contentment to terror. There are colors within colors, too. The many colors in a shadow, for instance, convey cold or heat. The way light plays with the subject is also very important. Light may dance across snow or water, then lead the eye through the thick fur of a wolf’s neck or flash in the corner of a cougar’s eye. I’m fascinated by hue changes in light as it ages with the day.” Marris is very much a loner, spending most of her time in the fields and woods with a horse or a dog. She does a lot of outdoor photography and sketching and tries to take one major field/research trip a year. Watching polar bears along Hudson Bay, grizzlies fishing in Alaska, or elk sparring and bugling is thrilling, Marris says, but at the same time she finds herself impatient to get back to the studio to paint these sights.
to
1
3
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
5
2
2
1
4
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
5
4
4
5
11,209
2,855
2,494
1,437
5
5
Artist: Bonnie Marris
Below the Ice
Below the Ice

Below the Ice

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original oil painting on canvas by artist Bonnie Marris. Framed.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Guardian Angels Blessing
Guardian Angels Blessing

Guardian Angels Blessing

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original Oil painting signed by the Artist in the lower right corner.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Oil

Sandwich Snitch
Sandwich Snitch

Sandwich Snitch

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original oil painting on canvas by artist Bonnie Marris. 43 X 31 Framed.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Fresh Powder
Fresh Powder

Fresh Powder

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original oil painting on canvas by artist Bonnie Marris. Framed.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Head to Head
Head to Head

Head to Head

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original oil painting on canvas by artist Bonnie Marris. 46.25 X 46.25 Framed.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Related Items
"The Sumatran Tiger" - Original Oil Painting of an Endangered Big Cat
"The Sumatran Tiger" - Original Oil Painting of an Endangered Big Cat

"The Sumatran Tiger" - Original Oil Painting of an Endangered Big Cat

By Lindsey Kustusch

Located in Denver, CO

Lindsey Kustusch's "The Sumatran Tiger" is a stunning handmade original oil on wood panel artwork, with dimensions of 30 x 30 x 1.50 inches. Created in 2023, this piece stands as a p...

Category

2010s Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

A rough collie

A rough collie, circa 1890

$3,322

H 20.04 in W 15.87 in

A rough collie

Located in London, GB

A charming and sensitively rendered late 19th-century oil portrait of a Rough Collie, this work captures the breed's intelligence and gentle temperament with remarkable clarity. Indi...

Category

Late 19th Century Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Portrait of a Spaniel, " France 19th century
"Portrait of a Spaniel, " France 19th century

"Portrait of a Spaniel, " France 19th century

Located in SANTA FE, NM

Portrait of a Spaniel France, 19th century Oil on canvas, original gold leaf frame 15 ¾ x 14 ¼ (21 x 19 ½ frame) inches Signed illegibly, lower left Above the signature reads the not...

Category

1850s Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A basket upgrade (springer spaniel)

A basket upgrade (springer spaniel)

Located in London, GB

Painted in 1922, this sensitive and beautifully observed portrait captures the quiet intelligence and loyal character of a liver-and-white Springer Spaniel. Seated with dignity on a ...

Category

1920s Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Dust Storm" by Morgan Cameron, Oil painting Featuring Galloping Horse
"Dust Storm" by Morgan Cameron, Oil painting Featuring Galloping Horse

"Dust Storm" by Morgan Cameron, Oil painting Featuring Galloping Horse

By Morgan Cameron

Located in Denver, CO

Morgan Cameron’s (US based) “Dust Storm” is an oil painting on panel that depicts a red and white horse galloping with it's mane flowing. This painting is framed and ready to hang. ...

Category

2010s Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

Henry Robinson Hall (British painter) - 19th century sheep Highland loch
Henry Robinson Hall (British painter) - 19th century sheep Highland loch

Henry Robinson Hall (British painter) - 19th century sheep Highland loch

Located in Varmo, IT

Henry Robinson Hall (York 1859 - Barrow-in-Furness 1927) - Sheep Family in the Highlands. 67 x 36 cm. Oil on canvas, unframed. Signed lower left: "H. Hall." Autograph inscription ...

Category

Late 19th Century Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Autumn River Scene of Children Fishing & a Distant Windmill, Oil on Canvas, 1980
Autumn River Scene of Children Fishing & a Distant Windmill, Oil on Canvas, 1980

Autumn River Scene of Children Fishing & a Distant Windmill, Oil on Canvas, 1980

By Andrew Grant Kurtis

Located in Preston, GB

Autumn River Scene with Children Fishing and a Distant Windmill, Oil Painting by British Artist Andrew Grant Kurtis M.A. (Lon) B.Des. (Hons) L.S.I.A.D. Art measures 13 x 10 inches ...

Category

20th Century Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Dog Portrait: Grand Griffon Vendéen Hunting Dogs Jules Chardigny
Large Dog Portrait: Grand Griffon Vendéen Hunting Dogs Jules Chardigny

Large Dog Portrait: Grand Griffon Vendéen Hunting Dogs Jules Chardigny

By Jules Chardigny

Located in SANTA FE, NM

Double Portrait: Grand Griffon Vendéen Hunting Dogs Jules Chardigny (France, 1842-1892) circa 1870 Oil on canvas, signed 21 3/4 x 18 1/4 (29 1/8 x 25 frame) inches Though pairs of G...

Category

1870s Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Perched Eagle Oil Painting, Realist Style, Mid-19th Century, Unsigned
Perched Eagle Oil Painting, Realist Style, Mid-19th Century, Unsigned

Perched Eagle Oil Painting, Realist Style, Mid-19th Century, Unsigned

Located in Fredericksburg, VA

This striking mid-19th century oil painting captures the drama and majesty of a perched eagle surveying its domain at dusk. Painted around the 1840s, the work evokes the spirit of th...

Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

King Charles Spaniel puppy bath painting (Oklahoma Artist)
King Charles Spaniel puppy bath painting (Oklahoma Artist)

King Charles Spaniel puppy bath painting (Oklahoma Artist)

By Jay Weaver

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Jay Weaver (?-1960). Is This Necessary?, 1952. Oil on canvas measuring 12 x 16 inches. Framed measurement: 18 x 22 inches. Signed by artist lower right. 1952 Salmagundi label af...

Category

1950s Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Crowded Hunting Scene in Wooded Landscape 19th century Oil Painting Signed
Crowded Hunting Scene in Wooded Landscape 19th century Oil Painting Signed

Crowded Hunting Scene in Wooded Landscape 19th century Oil Painting Signed

Located in Stockholm, SE

Signed lower centre “H. Vernet” presumably leads to French painter Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (1789 - 1863) more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet. “Lost Track” - This captivating...

Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Oil

Previously Available Items
Warmth of the Sun
Warmth of the Sun

Warmth of the Sun

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original Oil Painting signed by the Artist on the lower right corner.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Oil

Not a Fish to be Had
Not a Fish to be Had

Not a Fish to be Had

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original Oil Painting signed by the Artist on the lower right corner.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Oil

Black Magic
Black Magic

Black Magic

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original Oil painting signed by the Artist in the lower right corner.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Oil

Testing the Water
Testing the Water

Testing the Water

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original painting signed by the Artist on lower right.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Oil

September on Honey Creek
September on Honey Creek

September on Honey Creek

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original oil painting on canvas by artist Bonnie Marris. 39.5 X 49.5 Framed.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Grande Vista – From The Beartooth Pass
Grande Vista – From The Beartooth Pass

Grande Vista – From The Beartooth Pass

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original oil painting on canvas by artist Bonnie Marris. 57.25 X 57.25 Framed.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Avalanche
Avalanche

Avalanche

By Bonnie Marris

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original oil painting on linen by artist Bonnie Marris. 58 X 45 Framed.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Bonnie Marris Art

Materials

Linen, Oil

Bonnie Marris art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Bonnie Marris art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Bonnie Marris in oil paint, paint, canvas and more. Not every interior allows for large Bonnie Marris art, so small editions measuring 24 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Jules Pages, Edmund Adler, and Sir David Murray. Bonnie Marris art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $14,000 and tops out at $42,000, while the average work can sell for $20,000.

Artists Similar to Bonnie Marris