Stephanie Peters

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  • Home
  • About
    • Biography
    • Stories
    • Events/Exhibits
  • New
    • Colorful Wildlife Encounters
    • Migration - Circle Bird Paintings
    • Urban Wildlife
    • Life on the Rock
    • Icebergs
    • Spirits of the Forest
  • Natural Disasters
    • Natural Disasters
    • Volcano paintings
    • Wildfires
    • Extreme Weather: Storms, Tornadoes, Hurricanes & Lightning
  • Wildlife Pastels
    • Life on the Rock
    • Adirondacks
    • Africa
    • 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
  • Contact

-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 Pastel - What did you say?

11/4/2021

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Rabbits always bring me joy. Maybe because they are so vulnerable but if they like you, they’ll show their fearless side and eat right in front of you. Giving you a little glimpse of trust and friendship. ​
desert cottontail
“What did you say?” Pastel, 9x12
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New Painting: Salad for Dinner

3/21/2021

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A few weeks ago when the ice on lake Icaria was melting, hundreds of geese and ducks were migrating through this little edge of Iowa.
canada geese flying
Picture
migrating ducks swimming
Though we mostly saw Canada geese and cackling geese, we also saw greater white-fronted geese (lifer!), wood ducks, canvas backs, ring-necked ducks, greater scaup (lifer!), lesser scaup (another lifer!), red-headed ducks, coots, pied-billed grebes, northern shovelers, mallards, common mergansers, american wigeon, green-winged teal, northern pintail, snow geese, ross's geese (and another lifer!), trumpeter swans, common golden-eye, hooded merganser, bufflehead and this strange looking bird... 
muskrat on lake icaria

which I know, I know, isn't a bird... but he is the cutest muskrat ever...

Now I love birds, most of my travels surround birds, and many, many, of my paintings, are bird inspired... but I have a very soft spot for little mammals - Squirrels, rabbits, otters, beavers, and even muskrats. So of course, this muskrat became my new favorite model over the next few weeks as we watched the birds arrive each evening on the lake.

We did of course take thousands and thousands of photos of birds for future inspiration, but I was a little distracted...
muskrat icaria lake
muskrat swimming
muskrat on ice
muskrat in iowa
muskrat eating
Which of course led to sketching the adorable fur ball...
muskrat sketches
muskrat sketch
muskrat on ice sketch

and all those sketches, led to a new pastel:

muskrat pastel painting
Salad for dinner, pastel, 13x18" More details
The ice is gone now (hello spring!!) So we haven't seen our muskrat friend around recently. And at the same time, our migrating waterfowl have moved on to the next stop on their journey to their breeding grounds. Lake Icaria is a little quieter now. But I'm still looking for our muskrat friend, because though there may be no ice to eat salad on, he'll be hanging around with us through the spring - which probably means more muskrat art to come!
muskrat on lake icaria in iowa
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New Pastel: Cherish - Elk & calf

2/10/2021

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Last summer, before we came to Corning, Neil and I camped around western Iowa – I know, maybe a bad idea during a pandemic, but we were safe and stuck to only our camper to avoid any contact. One of the places we camped was Botna Bend Park in Hancock, Iowa.
Botna bend park river
East Nishnabotna River
Located right next to a grain silo, Botna Bend Park is a little spot of inspiration in an otherwise non-descript ordinary rural town. Not only is the campsite right next to the West Branch East Nishnabotna River (which apparently flooded extensively in 2019) but it is home to a herd of Bison and a herd of Elk.  One of the highlights of our visit there was when we first arrived, we witnessed the first few days of an elk calf’s life. Though very late in the breeding season, we watched how the newborn calf stayed isolated from the rest of the herd during the day and then watched it start to assimilate with the group when it was ready – which occurs around 10 – 14 days.
Elk and calf
Typically, in the wild, elks give birth in the spring, but I imagine with the elk enclosed and fed well, their natural mating and birthing cycle is skewed – which could explain why we were lucky to see their interaction so late in the summer.
elk herd
elk newborn
Each morning and evening, we would go out and watch the calf and mother interact. And of course, that is where the moment that inspired this pastel came from. Though I could have been anthropomorphizing the mother elk a bit, I could see how she cared for and cherished her newborn. It was an extraordinary moment to be a part of in an otherwise ordinary little town in Iowa. Though everything is extraordinary if you really stop and observe.
Elk painting
Cherish, 15x17, Pastel
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New Pastel Painting: Oblivious

1/21/2021

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Whenever you encounter a river otter, it always seems like they are having fun. Whether they are rolling around together on the ground or diving for fish, they seem to enjoy being an otter. I’m not sure if there is another animal out there that really likes being what it is as much – well maybe cats. Cats have it made. But River otters seem to at least have a life of play. And that’s the kind of life we should all strive for. Make time for play and be oblivious to the stressors around us for at least a few hours a day.

That’s what it seemed my muse for this painting was doing, while I watched him dive in and out of the water catching fish then rolling on his back. It seemed more like he was playing with his food than eating it. No one told him it was disrespectful to play with your food and maybe that’s the secret to life, there is no bad time to play…

river otter art
Oblivious, Pastel 13.5x16.5”
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New Pastel: Slouching

1/3/2021

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desert cottontail drawing
Keeping up with a cute theme this year... Slouching - Desert Cottontail, 10x14” Pastel.

A few years ago, when I lived outside of Phoenix, this desert cottontail used to come visit my backyard and lounge in the shade. He never ate any of the treats we left (probably a good thing) but he did always position himself to watch us through the window. Either he really liked being photographed or he thought we were just as interesting. Since then, most of the desert cottontails I draw that are laying down, are portraits of him. I like to think he’s still out there somewhere posing for another artist to be inspired by for years to come.
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Desert Wildlife

8/29/2017

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Desert Wildlife 

I live in the desert. It's hot, dry, and always sunny. It's known for scorpions and prickly cactus. But it's also known for some pretty cool animals and birds...

javalina
Javalina
Quail
Gambel 's Quail

Lately, I've been taking notice,
​and getting inspired by the visitors in my backyard...

Picture
Mourning Dove
Picture
Desert Cottontail

And with a little color...

Picture

​I'm sharing their personalities on paper. 

ground squirrel
Round tailed ground squirrel
blue bunny
Blue Bunny (Desert Cottontail)
jackrabbit
The Great Hare (Jackrabbit)
cactus wren
Cactus Wren
coyote
Coyote
roadrunner
Roadrunner

From coyotes to roadrunners, and the curious cottontail I've named Cosmo, Arizona is far from a dry, desolate desert filled with things that hurt you... 

Although, we do have rattlesnakes... ​

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

3/12/2017

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I've fallen in love... Big black eyes, tan and gray, and somewhere between a prairie dog and a rat... this little creature has entered my heart:

round tailed ground squirrel

Did you notice how cute he or she is? Here's a better picture... 

ground squirrel arizona
This little creature is called a round-tailed ground squirrel. I've never heard of such a thing, or seen one, until i stumbled upon them at the San Tan Mountain Regional Park, east of Phoenix, last November...
ground squirrel san tan
We both froze when we saw each other. Then, slowly, he (or she..its kind of hard to tell) came closer to my car.. and I took some close up pictures. Which inspired this pastel drawing...
round tailed ground squirrel drawing
Round-tailed Ground Squirrel, Soft Pastel on light blue-gray toned paper, 18x24"
Then winter happened in Arizona... you know that one month where we get something called cold weather... and the ground squirrels went into hibernation.
But, this past week, I went to the Desert Botanical Garden, in Phoenix, and fell in love with them all over again... Because it's spring, and spring is a marvelous time of year.
It's the time of year when we get to see cute, little ground squirrels munching on new leaves as they climb up high into the trees...
ground squirrel in tree
round tailed ground squirrel
arizonas round tailed ground squirrel
ground squirrel eating on leaves

 They are just so darn cute. 

And this one is definitely going to find its way into some new pastel drawings. 
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