The Second Look: Cover Artist Bonita Waesche

by Susan Owens and Stacey Paretti Rase

Early on, Bonita Waesche had two passions: caring for the sick and photography. And for much of her life, she lived out those passions by working as a nurse and enjoying photography as a hobby.

And then came Hurricane Katrina. As it did for many others, that experience made Bonita take a second look at her life and the direction she wanted to go. She started on a different creative journey as an artist, eventually adding an exciting new dimension to her work—watercolors.

Educated at the Louisiana State University Nursing School and Charity Hospital School of Anesthesia for Nurses, she says, “I worked for many years comfortably in the orderly and exacting world of the operating room.” During those early years of her career, she did her part for her family, taking care of her children and even supporting the family while her husband, Randy, established his career as a financial consultant.

But she remained fervent about photography, enrolling in night classes at Tulane University to stay focused. “I kept taking pictures—pictures of children, the natural South Louisiana surroundings, beautiful flowers and pictures of the seashore in Connecticut where my husband grew up,” Bonita remembers. In fact, it was to Connecticut that the family evacuated when Hurricane Katrina was lapping at their door, literally, in Lewisburg near Lake Pontchartrain. And it was at that point in her life that she became intent on following her artistic passion. “Katrina really slapped me down,” she says. “I suddenly realized that my whole adult life was spent in a room with no windows. I wanted a totally different mindset. I had never allowed myself the time to be truly creative. Creativity requires you to meditate and devote time to allow creative energy in.”

Bonita’s love of fine art photography had actually taken root many years before. After graduating from college, she grabbed her camera, traveled with a friend throughout Europe, and discovered the antiquity and beauty of Western Europe through the viewfinder of her 35 millimeter Minolta. For several years, she thought that photographing architecture was the highest and best use of the camera. That was before she discovered the joy of capturing the spirit of small children on film. An artistic metamorphosis took place “when my first child,” daughter Megan, “was born twenty-one years ago, and it continued with the birth of my fourteen-year-old twins, Beatrice and Rachel.”

But her artistic journey took a decidedly different turn most recently when she began painting atop certain photographic images, such as the one featured on this issue’s cover. After printing the image out on matte-finished fine-art paper, she added depth and vibrant color with brushstrokes of watercolor paint. “I’m always thinking of new ways to do something—to see something,” she says. “The flowers, such as this dahlia, are so naturally beautiful and seductive. This one was as big as a dinner plate! It’s as if they were calling to me.”

Her method was to move the subject into different positions to play off the natural light coming from behind the flower. “I surrender to the light, and sometimes I can manipulate the light in the printing process.” After printing the photo on art paper, she set about to create added depth within the light’s contrast by taking watercolors and “playing” with them. “One thing led to another and I realized I had added another dimension to the work,” she says.

While the series of painted flowers is dramatic, Bonita has become better known on the northshore of late for her stunning watercolor-enhanced pictures of sunrises and sunsets on the horizon of Lake Pontchartrain. The images seemingly come to life with vibrant hues of reds and oranges saturating the scene. “I get out way before sunrise to catch some of those shots. I watch the weather patterns. There has to be a front moving across,” she notes, revealing a hint of her deeply ingrained attention to detail, possibly carried over from her first line of work. “I can sometimes see a clear stripe of weather coming through and I know it’s going to be a good morning. I have to be patient with it, though. I like to say that I ‘stalk’ the sunrise and sunset.”

Now that her art is more than just a hobby, Bonita devotes many hours each day to her passion. “I see beauty all around me. For so long, I never took the time to stop and embrace it,” she says. “I just kept upon my little road of life and only somewhat acknowledged it. Now, I find the greatest joy in interpreting it,” she smiles, before adding her last piece of newfound wisdom. “You can find beauty in anything. Don’t look once—look twice.”

Bonita Waesche’s work can be seen at Covington City Hall, the North Shore Art Market, Day Elements Spa, Private Beach Tanning Salon, Artistic Framing, and Mandina’s Restaurant.