Stephanie Peters

May 16th is Drawing day – which may have originated as National Drawing Day somewhere but has been adopted as just “Drawing Day” across social media. This day could celebrate the act of drawing or the art of drawing. But drawing is a funny word.

Ultimately, the definition of what a drawing is doesn't matter. At the end of the day, whether it's a drawing or a painting, it is still a work of art. And as a work of art, it is an opportunity to experience magic - for the viewer when seen or for the artist when created. 

Thankfully a day like Drawing Day or National Drawing Day is a way to single out drawing and give it the appreciation it deserves, even if the definition is a little fuzzy. So whether you create a pure drawing today or appreciate a drawing masterpiece, celebrate Drawing Day and the incredible, beautiful ideas that come out of our imagination and onto a piece of paper or some kind of surface. An act we've been doing for oh I don't know, the last 36,000 years or so. ​

​This painting was inspired by the sunsets we would see in the evenings over Coffee Pot, in Sedona, Arizona, during Slide Fire, in 2014.
 
Thankfully where we were living was not physically affected by Slide fire, but we were still impacted by it. From experiencing the smoke to the way our communities came together to support those who were physically impacted – we were reminded that we were all in this together, much like today with Covid-19.

If you are lucky to not physically experience coronavirus firsthand, you will still be experiencing it with empathy and compassion towards others by staying home and washing your hands. Arizona has phased into reopening, much like the rest of the country has or will but that does not mean we are healed or no longer vulnerable. Where I am today, the cases are increasing daily with no sign of decreasing. It’s important to do what you can to stop this pandemic – this never ending natural disaster. Viruses spread rapidly like wildfires but it’s our job to do what we can to prevent how many victims there are. Just like you would put out a campfire completely to prevent fires (or maybe not even start a camp fire because of fire restrictions), wear a mask and wash your hands to do your part from a continuous rapid spread of coronavirus.
 
One day the flames of coronavirus will be put out completely, but we’ll be left with the scars and burns, like what was left after Slide Fire along 89A towards Flagstaff - the burned trees you can still see today. 

Slide Fire Sky (smoke) is part of a series called Flames to Ashes, inspired by wildfires, that I’ve added new work to recently.

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!