Stephanie Peters

Over the summer, I painted a mural on the recreation center, in Elliston, Newfoundland, Canada. While I was there for other reasons, the recreation committee asked if I could paint a 115ft long mural on their building and I couldn't say no to that challenge.

The wall is facing a community park they had recently improved and they thought a mural would be a nice addition. They requested that the mural be community friendly and colorful but I was free to paint what I wanted. (Of course my sketches were approved by their committee before I began.) 

I wanted to make a mural that related to their community, and their history. Elliston is located on one of the northern peninsulas of Newfoundland, and historically it was a big  fishing community. Like most of Newfoundland, after the cod industry was eliminated in the 90's, Elliston struggled to stay alive. But 20 something years later, after the community got together to promote tourism, Elliston is a tourist destination known as the Root Cellar Capital of the world, with a strong tight knit community at the core of it. It is an incredible place to watch whales, see icebergs, and plenty of sea birds (puffins, gannets, and razorbills included!) Thousands of tourists visit Elliston for their location, natural features, and even for their festivals like the Puffin Festival, and Roots, Rants and Roars - a fall event that brings chefs from all over the world to Elliston. 

With all of this inspiration to work with, it was easy to come up with a composition that highlights what Elliston is proud of: their relationship with the sea. So I drew up a composition that started with Puffins flying off an island and then flowing into the life at sea. I included a variety of sea birds (Northern Gannets, Herring Gulls, Kittiwakes, Black-back gulls, Razorbills, Double crested cormorant, Black guillemots, and Atlantic Puffins,) a fin whale, a humpback whale breaching, a humpback with calf, a minke whale, a school of cod, a school of sculpin, a gray seal, a crab, lobsters, squid, capelin, an iceberg, seaweed and a root cellar - to highlight all that is Elliston. 

The mural took ten days to paint, and thankfully, a few community members came by to help during the ten days.

Here is the finished mural:  

And a gallery timeline of the project:

And so after 10 days of painting, the mural was complete...

I have painted murals before, but this was my biggest mural to date. I really enjoyed painting it, but what I enjoyed the most about this project was the enthusiasm from the community. This mural is theirs. Some of them painted it, but many followed the progress along on Facebook or stopped by to say hi while I was painting. I wanted to make something that they will smile at when they see it, something that brought a little color to their world, and most importantly, adds a little joy to their everyday. 

I was so lucky to have this opportunity and I cannot thank the Town of Elliston enough for giving me the opportunity  - and I'll never be able to thank those who helped enough.  

If you ever find yourself in Elliston, Newfoundland. Take a look at the mural, it's across the street from the Home from the Sea Sealing Memorial Interpretive Center. 

The annual Puffin Festival celebrates the puffins, root cellars, and various other cultural gems found in Elliston. During our summer stay here in Elliston, we met some of the people who run the festival and they asked us if we had any ideas for this year's festival. Since I'm a big fan of public art and getting people outdoors, I suggested a puffin scavenger hunt of sorts. We could create large painted wood puffins and put them around town for people to find. And people could take pictures with them if they wanted to. 

Thankfully they liked my idea, so I came up with 6 different puffin designs and created templates for them to be cut out of wood. Once they were cut out, Neil and I primed them, then we painted various designs on the puffins. 

Most of the designs were of course inspired by Newfoundland and well puffins. After they dried, they were installed around town. Here is each puffin, and where it was placed: 

These puffins have been up around town since the Festival and I hope they make an appearance every year. But if they do or don't, at least they brought a little goofy fun to the town for a weekend :) 

Along with my exhibit, Spirits of the Forest, Tannery Pond Community Center invited me to do a 10 day artist residency, sponsored by Garnet Studio.

For the residency, I was to paint on location all over North Creek, which meant I would set up daily at a restaurant, library, cafe, etc. and create some art.

North Creek is located in the southern Adirondacks on the edge of the Hudson River. The town is known for white water rafting, skiing and hiking. Throughout my residency, I had a chance to meet many of the residents, and explore the river. Here are a few photos from my experience:

January 15th 2018 was a free national park day, and for nature enthusiasts like ourselves, Neil and I felt like it was the perfect day to explore Joshua Tree National Park. I had never been, and wasn't even sure what a Joshua Tree was, but I've heard great things about the open space and colors. So we needed to see for ourselves...

You can encounter a raven every day, and it's still a magical experience. 

Joshua Tree National Park is located right outside Palm Springs, California. It is where two deserts merge together, the Mohave and the Colorado. It is open all year, and the visitor center has some great information about where to hike, camp or drive. It is definitely worth a trip if you are in the neighborhood. 

With their bright red bumpy heads and black and white feathers, that have highlights of green and turquoise in the sun, these ducks are something to look at. Quirky but beautiful. Muscovy ducks originate from South America and are a tropical bird. The ones found at Papago Park, and in most backyards or parks across the USA are a domestic version that has its origins in the pre-Colombian period. The true Muscovy duck is all black with a little bit of white on their wings. I've never had the opportunity to see them in the wild but I think it's pretty cool to be able to go down the street to a local park, and at least see these fun looking birds sleeping in the afternoon Phoenix sun.
Recently, I've been inspired by my encounters with wildlife that thrives in unusually urban environments. Invasive or native, our ecosystems are complicated and filled with a variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, bugs and more that somehow balance with 'man.' And some, thrive. Like this domestic Muscovy duck seems to at Papago Park.

Escape the Madness is the inaugural exhibit of Grotto Gallery, a new exhibition space in downtown Tempe, Arizona, hosted by Arizona Artisans Collective.  Arizona Artisans Collective is an organizing offering business classes and workshops to help artists grow their businesses. 

Escape the Madness features 10 emerging artists from Arizona, including myself. The theme of the exhibit encourages people to escape the madness of the every day, and enjoy some art. I pleased to have 9 of my new wildlife drawings as part of the exhibit. Grotto Gallery is located at 132 E. Sixth Street, in downtown Tempe. 
The exhibit will be on display from October 5th to January 12th, 2018. 

"M​ixed media artist Stephanie Peters has found inspiration in the natural world since childhood. Growing up on a horse farm outside Baltimore, Maryland gave her the perfect foundation to become a full-time artist inspired by animals. She’s still working on that - somewhere along the way she got distracted by the majestic beauty and destructive forces of natural cataclysms. In her studio in Arizona, she creates mixed media paintings and drawings inspired by recent natural catastrophic events and their role in the ecosystem.

Her relationship with natural disasters began in 2004 after the powerful earthquake and tsunami hit Indonesia. After hearing the news, she wondered how she could help heal those directly affected by the devastation. Over the next ten years, she would witness and experience natural disasters personally, giving her the inspiration to seek answers to her question in a series of abstract paintings that symbolized healing. 

Her original series deliberately did not discuss the science of natural disasters; however, she couldn’t ignore the positive and negative impacts disasters have on their environment. Focusing on wildfire, a natural event that is part of the backdrop of her life in Arizona, Peters examined the important role of forest fires in the life cycle of plants and animals. This generated a new series of paintings and drawings that look at the forest both during and after a fire.
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Peters acknowledges that disasters, besides being brutal and surreal, can also be breathtaking and astonishing. “When an avalanche falls, or a meteor shoots through the sky, it’s hard not to see beauty,” she says. For that reason, her work reflects the aesthetic dimension of these complex events. Recently, in addition to wildfires, she has also begun to explore the impact of severe weather and volcanoes on the environment.

When she is not chasing a natural disaster, she travels to interesting places seeking experiences that inspire her, like hiking among Desert Bighorn sheep in Zion National Park, or watching flamingos in the Camargue region of France. These experiences inspire her to create intimate portraits of animals in soft pastel, abstract interpretations in her paintings, or illustrations for digital art – on her journey as a wildlife artist."

I'm excited to see and share where this collection goes... and looking forward to who stops by next!

The area is almost 3 million acres wide, making it the largest national forest area in Arizona, and the fifth largest in the country. It's a big area of desert landscape! It has three lakes, miles of cacti, and some legends of the Lost Dutchman and his gold. I didn't really explore the history of the area - but I did get to explore flora...

Something about the orange gold just caught my eye. The Tonto National Forest is another hidden gem found in Arizona. What I love about Arizona is the incredible diversity of regions it offers. It is hot and dry in Phoenix during the summer. But drive a few hours north and you are in a completely different habitat that's cooler and filled with Ponderosa pines. A lot of that has to do with a change in elevation and geology.

I think everyone can share, with excitement, a story about a hummingbird they have experienced - these magical birds are so tiny, but so full of energy and spirit. When ever you encounter one, you can't help but look and smile. At least that is my reaction every time I see one. 
I remember when I first acknowledged hummingbirds as a kid. I was living in Maryland at the time, and right outside our kitchen window was a big bush filled with flowers. I recall it being this enormous tree, but I was like two feet tall, so everything was big to me. The bush attracted hummingbirds every morning. And I remember sitting at the table in a trance, just watching them fly around the flowers. My mother would share little tidbits about hummingbirds, and I would learn they loved 'sugar' as much as I did, making me a little hummingbird too.
I have since learned that high quantities of sugar is not good for you - so, um, you shouldn't try to be a hummingbird -  and a whole bunch of scientific facts about the why, the how, the where, the what and when hummingbirds eat and live. But the excitement I get every time I see a hummingbird is not because of all the science and knowledge on the subject, instead, it's the pure joy I have watching them buzz around, just like I experienced as a kid.  

I was inspired to capture that feeling in a painting, when I watched a hummingbird fly around a pile of washed up seaweed on the coast of California (turns out, some hummingbirds will eat flies and other insects.)  I wanted this painting to be colorful, vibrant, and echo the joy of a kid in awe of the spirit of a hummingbird. 

As I worked on this painting, and another similar painting that reflected my interest in Grackles, I started thinking about all the birds that I have had a personal connection with during my life. From the iconic mallard duck to the exotic flamingo, to the unique one of a kind experiences with rare birds like the Northern Bald Ibis during my travels - I feel inspired to create a series of paintings that reflect my joy, excitement and love for birds - especially when they are flying and the colors of their plumage. If you aren't envious that they can fly, you are certainly envious of how incredibly beautiful their feathers are. 
This new series, like most collections of paintings I start, is of course, an ongoing work in progress.