On a windy afternoon, Bonnie admires one of her Watercolors of busy New England life.

"I paint what I enjoy, small town scenes depicting a reflection of my childhood."

"Hopefully my primatives remind us all of a happy childhood full of bright colors. I love bright colors."

"I don't really think that I chose it," Burns said of electing one of the more risky career paths. "I think it chose me. Once it's in your blood, you just don't lose it."

With frequent showings, several greeting card contracts and a celebrity clientele, Burns has acheived a measure of success of which most artists only dream.

"I'm not a realist; I don't paint like Norman Rockwell," Burns says of her style.

Her latest work abounds with color and is often populated with dozens of the busy, happy New Englanders that have become her trademark.

"It's sort of like a childhood memory," Burns says of her watercolor Utopias. "What I try to put into my paintings is just what I feel, showing the way I'd like things to be."

Portions of above by: Beth Saulnier