Stephanie Peters

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  • Home
  • About
    • Biography
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  • New
    • Colorful Wildlife Encounters
    • Migration - Circle Bird Paintings
    • Urban Wildlife
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    • Icebergs
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    • Natural Disasters
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    • Extreme Weather: Storms, Tornadoes, Hurricanes & Lightning
  • Wildlife Pastels
    • Life on the Rock
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    • Arizona Desert
    • Aquatic life
    • Birds
  • Paintings
    • Series >
      • Migration - Circle Bird Paintings
      • Flying Color - Bird Paintings
      • Ocean Life
      • River Fish
      • Wildlife Paintings
      • Abstract
      • Illustrating Literature
      • The Energy of White
      • Abstract Landscapes
    • Printmaking >
      • New prints
      • Stamps
  • Buy Art
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-Stories from the road-

Adventures, notes of inspiration, daily experiences, trips to nowhere and then somewhere, works in progress, creative discoveries, new work, tools of the trade, news from the studio, event updates, and things that make me smile or think deep thoughts...

New Watercolor Prints

3/31/2017

1 Comment

 

New Watercolor Prints

Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon painting at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an amazing place to see all kinds of desert plants, but unfortunately I can't tell you what kinds of plants, because I wasn't paying any attention to the plants. Although I find flowers pretty, plants aren't really my thing - I'm sure my botanist Grandfather is rolling in his grave hearing that - But, animals - animals are my thing. And the Desert Botanical Garden is a great place to see some native desert animals.. like the Round Tailed Ground Squirrel, or the Harris Antelope Squirrel... 
round tailed ground squirrel
Round Tailed Ground Squirrel
harris antelope ground squirrel
Harris Antelope Squirrel
​...and a great place to see native birds like the Gambel's Quail, Roadrunner, and even some non-native birds like the house sparrow. 
Gambels quail
Male Gambel's Quail
roadrunner
Roadrunner
female house sparrow
Female House Sparrow
Painting animals from life is not exactly easy, because they never stand still. It is recommended you learn a bit about the anatomy and movement of your subject before you enter the field - and way before adding water, paint and a brush. I am no expert at painting animals from life, but I have been practicing a lot recently. My practice method is not drawing the animal in detail, but instead capturing their gestures in watercolor. With gesture painting (same principles as gesture drawing in learning how to draw the figure), you can get a better understanding of the creature's movement - which ultimately helps me when I'm in the studio painting from photographs. 
So last Saturday, I was doing some gesture painting of Quail, House Sparrows and my favorite this week, the Harris Antelope Squirrel. Now, because the animal moves... and really doesn't stop moving... ever... with watercolor gesture painting, you get blobs of paint that kind of resemble a distorted road-kill version of the really adorable creature you are trying desperately to paint... 
gesture painting
Scene from my sketchbook
But sometimes, you can get some really interesting results. And those blobs and layers of watercolor paint can catch the essence, the life, the energy of that really adorable creature you are painting...
gesture painting
Pages from my sketchbook

​And sometimes, you can take those gestures, and with a little digital magic,
​ turn them into works of art....

Abstract house Sparrow
House Sparrow
framed house sparrow art
Framed print, available at Fine Art America.
abstract blue squirrel
Harris Antelope Squirrel
framed art squirrel
Framed Print, available at Fine Art America
Then, make them available as prints on products of course... 
house sparrow abstract tote bag
Tote Bag
squirrel mug
Coffee Mug
Just another fun way of merging technology and art: The traditional into the digital. 
I think the best thing about gesture painting is that it keeps you loose. When painting from photographs, I tend to get too technical and focus on all the details. Which can be interesting if you are trying to render a subject accurately and realistically. But, I prefer to paint abstractly - I love how abstract marks can add an energy that sometimes gets lost in 2D art. So when you are out in the 'field,' this method really enhances the movement and I feel it brings the soul of the subject to life.  More gesture painting to come as warm spring days invite me outdoors. 
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Harris Antelope Squirrel

3/29/2017

0 Comments

 
​Last week, I was all about the Round tailed Ground Squirrel, and as seen on instagram, this week,
​I've discovered the

Harris Antelope Squirrel

harris antelope squirrel

That doesn't really show it's cuteness... ​

Squirrel

Or how about...

Desert Harris Antelope squirrel
The Harris Antelope Squirrel is native to Arizona, New Mexico and some parts of northern Mexico. It looks very similar to a chipmunk, but is in fact a squirrel. They can be found in rocky desert areas and around cacti. They are always dashing around and looking adorable. But, when they get hot, they will find a cool shady area, and spread their legs out so their belly will touch the cool ground. This helps release the heat from their body, and explains their odd behavior. Well some of it... 
Harris antelope squirrel standing
So to celebrate my new favorite subject, I decided to take three different materials and explore how I want to share my love for it. The first material I used to convey the subject was charcoal:
Squirrel in charcoal
Harris Antelope Squirrel in Charcoal See details
Charcoal is a wonderful material to really grab the form, and showcase the values in the composition - but wasn't quite what I was looking for... Next, I tried some graphite and added a little wash to it... 
harris antelope squirrel drawing
Harris Antelope Squirrel with watercolor wash See details
Then to really capture the personality of the Harris Antelope Squirrel, I decided to draw a more quirky pose, in just the simplicity of graphite: 
drawing of harris antelope squirrel
Harris Antelope Squirrel in Graphite
Graphite is one of my favorite mediums to render a subject in, the precision and value helps bring the creature to life.
A good wildlife drawing or painting is usually rendered quite well - but a great or even exceptional wildlife painting, I believe, captures the soul - the personality - the life of the subject. By doing the Harris Antelope Squirrel in three different mediums, I am able to explore different styles, textures, etc. that will help me find my way to share the soul, the personality, and the life of the subject - at least, how I see it or experience it. Most likely, these studies will lead to a larger pastel drawing or even a painting. I know for sure though, this little squirrel gives so much inspiration in it's tiny package, that I'll never stop wanting to draw or paint it!
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