Sonia: The Life of Bohemian Rancher & Painter Sonia Cornwall, 1919-2006

After Sonia Cornwalls father died in 1939, her mother inherited the Onward Ranch and a huge debt. To make the ranch viable, a twenty-year-old Sonia traded paintbrush for pitchfork, labouring alongside the male ranch hands. But after marrying Hugh Cornwall in 1947, Sonia had time for painting once again. She learned techniques from some of Canadas most celebrated artists who came to visit the Onward Ranch, and later her home at the Jones Ranch, from Peter Aspell, Molly Bobak and Jack Hardman to Group of Seven painters A Y Jackson and Joe Plaskett, Cliff Robinson and Zeljko Kujundic. Tales from renowned Cariboo Chilcotin personalities bring Sonias story to life: old-timer Willie Crosina recalls pitchforking hay to seven hundred head of cattle in sixty below Fahrenheit, and filmmaker Peter Elkington describes the now-defunct home veterinary procedures practised by Sonias husband, Hugh. Independent and driven, Sonia developed a distinct style that captured the nuances of the rugged interior in oils, mixed media, pastels and watercolours, doing for British Columbias Central Interior what Emily Carr did for the Coast. The Honourable Judith Guichon, lieutenant governor of BC, describes Sonias paintings as "very real, warm, alive. Sonia Cornwall died in 2006, but her paintings continue her important legacy of connecting us to rural life and the beauty of simple and unexpected places.