Bonnie Gray’s Book Release Party

I first met Bonnie Gray aka The Faith Barista last year at our church’s artist meeting. I was excited to learn she was a writer since writers and photographers can often complement each other’s work. And I was excited to find out she knew of my mom who also is a writer. Moments later, our group leader announced that Bonnie was the speaker for that evening’s discussion. She shared an amazing tale of how she landed a book contract but was in a state of paralysis and could not write her book. It was a crazy unbelievable story that gripped us all. She ended the evening by sharing that she didn’t yet know how things would play out and if there ever would be a published book.

Now over a year later, Bonnie has published her very first book: Finding Spiritual Whitespace
Because of that evening when I first heard her story, I knew what an amazing victory this was!!! She went through trials and lots of suffering to get to the finish line. And because she did it, a major celebration was in order!

This last Sunday evening –  a fabulous party was held at Red Rock Coffee in her honor to celebrate the release of her new book and share some soulful art by other wonderful artists. The evening began with Ryan Kingsmith, music artist & songwriter, playing beautiful music. Then Bonnie graciously welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. Then Karen Wong, award-winning watercolor artist, was up  sharing  about her artistic process and work. Bonnie did a couple readings and Ryan played a few more tunes. Then he shared how he works with whitespace aka silence as a musician. Apparently it’s very important! Lastly, Mel Lindstrom, award-winning photographer, got up and shared how he works with whitespace in his photographic work. The room was packed and people kept pouring in throughout the event – some were even sitting in the stairwell for lack of space. Bonnie was the perfect belle of the ball – radiant with joy in her completed book and so thankful to everyone being there who had walked with her through the journey. It was an absolutely wonderful event and I was grateful to be able to photograph it.

Here are some of the photos from the event…

​You can view more photos here:
http://www.scatterjoyphotos.com/Clients/Events/Bonnie-Gray-Book-Release-Party/

Congratulations Bonnie!!!! You have so much to be proud of with a published book and an amazing party to celebrate it! I can’t wait to read this book now!!! To learn more about Bonnie Gray and Creating Spiritual Whitespace, visit her website: http://www.faithbarista.com/finding-spiritual-whitespace/

– Naphtalie Joy Joiner