Stephanie Peters

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  • Home
  • About
    • Biography
    • Stories
    • Picture a day
    • 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...

A Bright Spot

1/2/2021

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Years ago, well not that many years ago, we took a friend visiting from out of state to the Grand Canyon. Like most people who live in Arizona, at some point you realize you only go to the Grand Canyon when someone is visiting from out of state and when you are there, you wonder why you don’t go more often.

Anyway, it was on one of those trips that I saw a yellow-headed blackbird for the first time. I wish I could say I saw this bird hanging out on the edge of a Juniper tree, creating the perfect composition, but that’s not the case. Instead, my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these beautiful birds was in a gas station parking lot because the tire pressure light came on as we left the park and we had to evaluate our chances of getting a flat on our drive back down the mountain. Spoiler alert, we didn’t get a flat, but we did get to see a flock of yellow-headed blackbirds. I was captivated by their vivid yellow heads. It was a bright spot to see in an otherwise troubling moment.

These birds typically breed from Utah up into Alberta, and then migrate far south into central Mexico. When I saw them near the Grand Canyon, they were on their way migrating north after most likely spending their winter in Mexico. And since then, I have never seen one again. Though, if you look at their range, it seems like they can be found all over west of the Mississippi in wetland areas and they migrate in large flocks. Apparently, I need to hangout in marshy areas more often...

But somewhere out there is the best place to see yellow-headed blackbirds, and I doubt it’s in a parking lot. But wherever it is, I bet these birds are still a little bright spot of joy.  And this is why I call this one – number 6 in this series - “A Bright Spot.”
Picture
A Bright Spot (Yellow-headed blackbird), 7.75" Mixed media
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Happy New Year

1/1/2021

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Happy New Year! With a year like 2020, I’m sure we’re all looking forward to the fresh start that this little day offers us. A fresh, shiny new year that has the potential to be filled with joy, excitement, and lots and lots of good to cancel out all of last year’s hurdles and loss.

I’m really looking forward to good days ahead and productive periods of creating art I’m excited about. And what better way to start the year artistically than to sit in the studio/gallery and create something that makes me smile? If the year starts off with a smile, maybe it’ll be significantly better than last year, at least one can hope. So, for the first work of 2021, I present a red squirrel in pastel.

May your 2021 be full of whatever makes you smile.
red squirrel pastel
Chewing 8x10”, Pastel
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Welcome to Corning...

9/7/2020

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​Welcome to Corning, Iowa. A small town with a vibrant arts center, and my new studio/residence for the next few months.
 
As of late last week, Neil and I are artists-in-residence at the Center for the Arts in Corning. We each have a studio space and some of our art up on the walls. We are hoping to spend some time over the next few months creating new work, meeting a new community, and learning what it’s like living within the “corn belt” of America. Or also known as the fly over region. We can already tell you that there is so much more to this region then corn and soybeans. And if you have never spent time in the Midwest; I hope after a few months of me sharing all the beauty overlooked here, you’ll consider the Midwest for your next adventure. Of course, after coronavirus goes away – stay healthy and please wear a mask and wash your hands… 
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Picture
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How do you define a drawing?

5/16/2020

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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.
Merriam-Webster has many definitions of drawing, among them, it defines drawing as “the art or technique of representing an object or outlining a figure, plan, or sketch by means of lines” and to draw as “to produce a likeness or representation of, by making lines on a surface“ or even more simply, “to create a likeness or a picture in outlines.“ By these definitions, anything representational or marked on a surface could be a drawing, as long as it is made with lines and has a likeness to its subject.
goose sketch
By definition, this is a drawing, a drawing of a goose...
Though once you put pigment in the definition, you have a painting. So, pastel drawings are not drawings but paintings, but sumi ink drawings are drawings and not a painting? A quick google search and one would assume pencil, charcoal, pen, and anything related to those three would be considered drawing materials because there is no pigment (or color.) However, art supply companies consider pastel, colored pencil and markers drawing tools. So, if I create lines with watercolor markers, am I drawing or painting?​
hermit thrush
Is this a drawing or a painting because I used watercolor markers?
If we take the definition of drawing literally, it does avoid addressing materials or color, so could anything with lines and marks really be considered a drawing? Definitions limit everything. Though they have a place, nothing ever fits perfectly into it's definition - especially when considering art.
jellyfish
Jellyfish painted with graphite - so drawing?
For me, as an artist that works in watercolor, charcoal, graphite, ink, acrylic, gouache, oil, string, pastel, colored pencil, markers, and anything else that inspires me, I don’t think I’ve ever let the definition of drawing define what I consider a drawing. And looking across the art world, I don’t think the art world has ever defined what a drawing can or cannot be. Contemporary drawing focuses primarily on the act of using lines, and less on the likeness or representational part of the definition – but in many cases, just pure mark making with no intentional line or shape has been classified as a drawing.
lightning storm
A 'pure' drawing in graphite.
In my work, I tend to be confident to call anything I create with charcoal or graphite a drawing, but the rest of the work I make, I might call it a drawing or a painting, or just a work of art. In 2018, every day I made a drawing for my #365daysofDrawing project, but I did not stick to using just charcoal, pencil, or ink to create these drawings. I used my tablet, pastels, watercolor, pencil, marker and everything in between. 
I use Pastel Painting and Pastel Drawing interchangeably when I exhibit my pastel work. Most of the time though, I call them paintings because unfortunately when you classify a work of art as a drawing, it doesn’t get the same appreciation as it would if you use the word painting. Which I’ve never understood. 
black-tailed prairie dog
Pastel drawing or Pastel Painting? Or just a cute black-tailed prairie dog?
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. ​
squirrel art
Colored pencil, so drawing or not?
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Spread like Fire

5/15/2020

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​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.
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The Sea Unites Us

9/19/2019

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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:
Ocean mural
Ocean mural beginning
Ocean mural beginnings
Ocean mural beginnings
Ocean mural start
Ocean mural sketches
Ocean mural sketches
Ocean mural sketches
Ocean scene mural sketches
Ocean theme mural sketches
Ocean mural drawings
Ocean mural puffins
Ocean mural seal
Ocean mural  humpback
Ocean mural cod fish
Ocean mural fin whale
Ocean mural sea birds
Ocean mural iceberg
Ocean mural school of cod
Ocean mural razorbills
Ocean mural kelp and seal
Ocean mural minke whale
Ocean mural full view
Ocean mural gannets
Ocean mural humpback whale and calf
Ocean mural northern gannets
Ocean mural squid and fin whale
Ocean mural sunset
Ocean mural puffin
Ocean mural rainbow
Ocean mural seabirds and iceberg
Ocean mural capelin
Ocean mural sculpin
Ocean mural close up humpback whale and calf
Ocean mural the sea unites us
Ocean mural full view
And so after 10 days of painting, the mural was complete...
Ocean mural

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. 
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Puffins for Elliston

7/31/2019

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Tourism Elliston, who hosts the annual Bird Island Puffin Festival in Elliston, Newfoundland asked Neil and I to help out with this year's festival, and this was my contribution.
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: 
abstract puffin
abstract puffin
Abstract angled puffin
Abstract angled puffin
circle puffin
circle puffin
School of Capelin puffin
Puffin in maberly
Iceberg Puffin
Iceberg puffin
Newfoundland Flag Puffin!
Newfoundland Flag Puffin
Newfoundland and Labrador Map puffin!
Newfoundland and Labrador Map puffin
Standing Puffin
Standing Puffin
Sitting Puffin
spiral puffin
spiral puffin
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 :) 
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Tannery Pond Community Center Artist Residency

4/25/2019

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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:

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Joshua Tree National Park

1/17/2018

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When the day is free, and the winter chill is no where to be seen, the best place to be is somewhere in nature. 

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...
For the most part, it looked like this.... (look at that blue sky!)
joshua tree national park
But there were tons and tons of rocks to climb... 
stephanie peters
To get great views like this.... 
joshua tree national park
And there were so many Joshua Trees...
joshua tree
This is a Joshua Tree
Joshua Trees are actually not trees, they are a type of Yucca, and a part of the agave plant family. They are the largest Yuccas, reaching a height of 15 to 40 feet. That's just tall... 
stephanie at a tree
Super tall...
While we were there to see the Joshua trees... we got a little distracted... 
raven & joshua tree
...a raven!
flying raven
by Ravens flying to Joshua tree tops... 
You can encounter a raven every day, and it's still a magical experience. 
Though it wasn't just Ravens that caught our attention... Jackrabbits were around too!
jackrabbit
And we also got up close and personal with a Cactus wren... 
cactus wren
Or maybe two...
cactus wrens
While we were more interested in the birds and wildlife - the landscape is something not to overlook... 
joshua tree national park view
It's the perfect playground...
joshua tree national park
walrus rock
neil
joshua tree national park
or it might be the perfect place to do your next men's clothing photo shoot
joshua tree national park
joshua tree national park
Joshua Tree National Park is split into two sides, a north and a south. We primarily stayed on the north side where the Joshua Trees were. But the south side is still quite beautiful, littered with Cholla Cacti.  
cholla cactus
We spent the entire time playing rather than doing any plein-air drawing or sketching. But I did manage to create an oil pastel sketch of Joshua Tree National Park, for my daily drawing.
joshua tree national park
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. 
joshua tree national park evening
Photos were taken by Neil Rizos and myself. 
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Drawing Muscovy Ducks at Papago Park

10/29/2017

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When I was a kid, my uncle had a Muscovy duck. I think his name was Phillip.

Muscovy duck
This is not the real Phillip... this duck lives at Papago Park in Phoenix

Every time I see these ducks at Papago Park in Phoenix,
​I like to think they are all named Phillip too.

Muscovy duck phoenix
Another fake Phillip living at Papago Park

This weekend, I spent some time drawing these characters from life.

Drawing birds from life
Muscovy duck pastel
Muscovy duck drawing
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.
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