Stephanie Peters

Recently, I have created some new art magnets. These miniature works of art (2.5x4.5") are created on wood panels with a magnetic strip on the back. The weight of the magnet is perfect for holding photos and papers to a magnetic surface. They are not only decorative, but functional! 

I've been experimenting with new materials and approaches, so these magnets are a glimpse of whats to come... Here they are:

Thanks to Finding Nemo, clownfish, scientifically known as Anemonefish, have had their 15 minutes of fame, or more like 30 minutes with Finding Dory. But these tropical fish deserve it. In addition to being quite beautiful, they have a super power! Clownfish are immune to anemone stinging tentacles, and in the wild they have a symbiotic relationship with certain anemone, where they both benefit from each others company for food and protection. Most people know clownfish as the Nemo type, orange with three white stripes across their heads and body. But there are thirty recognized types of clownfish, including black, reddish and yellow variants. And a dozen more or so that have been bred in captivity for aquariums.

These illustrations were inspired by the false clownfish. Similar to the orange clownfish, the false clownfish has a thinner black line between the orange and white stripes. I just really like the contrast of orange and white... 

Check them out at my society6.com shop,  if you want to carry around a clownfish or wear a clownfish. 

...have found their way into my studio.  After spending three months in Europe this past summer, where I probably saw more rain that I have seen over the last five years living in Arizona, I've been hooked on storms.
From tornadoes to thunder storms to clouds dancing over mountains - the colors, mood and music of thunder has started to find its way into some new paintings and drawing.  Working with new mediums like graphite powder, and a more limited tinted palette, I'm very excited about the abstract direction these are going. I have a feeling these stormy paintings are the beginning of a few new collections on thunder storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.

I will be participating in the inaugural event for Uncommon Markets. Uncommon Markets is a new event coming to Scottsdale that offers an opportunity to support local artisans, discover sustainable goods, find uncommon stuff, enjoy food, music, and see innovative new art from emerging 29 & under artists - like myself! It will be my first market/art festival type event and I'm very excited to take this opportunity to share new work with a new audience. Learn more about the festival at Uncommon Markets' website, and if you do make it out, find me at booth 220!

Over the summer I spent some time with a variety of different birds, while traveling around Europe. 
Here are a few sketches of some of the birds I saw:

more sketches and work coming soon, as soon as I go through the hundreds of photos I took!

Over the past week, I have been biking up the coast of Western Ireland - part of a summer traveling around Europe that has taken me from Munich to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, UK, Whales, and now Ireland. Spending the last two weeks of the summer in Donegal, Ireland, where daily bike rides pass by grazing sheep. On the rare sunny day, they lounge out in the sun too. This little illustration was inspired by a talkative lazy sheep.

Available for prints here... and as products:

(Currently on the shores of Lake Lugano painting...)

A week in Munich, Germany is not enough. If you want to see all the attractions and WWII history, don't discover the English Garden. This traveling artist found herself inspired by the little oasis of nature and dozens of geese for a few days before taking a train to Salzburg, and missing out on all of Munich has to offer. Although, we did get to see a couple art museums and met some new friends.

This watercolor painting turned graphic was inspired by wild red poppies I have recently encountered in the fields of Austria! I am spending Summer 2016 in Europe for a few different opportunities.  And I couldn't resist these beautiful poppies we keep seeing on our walks. They look so happy and cheerful.

However, the Red Poppy is not symbolically cheerful. It is used in Great Britain and America as a symbol of remembrance for soldiers who have died during wartime. Which makes it appropriate to see as I travel through Austria and Germany, two countries that have seen their share of blood in recent history.   In many of the towns we have explored, we have seen WWI and WWII memorials reminding tourists and citizens alike the history the area has experienced, right under our feet.

It's interesting to walk these streets and think that 75+ years ago, there was a different daily story being told. Perhaps the poppy can remind us that life was lost for love to survive. And now, that love grows wild in the fields or on the sidewalks, freely.

This graphic gives form to the idea that love is growing wild as poppies. And now it's available to bring love into your world too.

When life is a bit disoriented, it's reflected in your work. Sometimes it's important to take a break, realize you've lost something and to go back and find it. Or find the source of where you turned on the wrong path. Recently, I let someone's opinion of my work get to me. Making me feel like my approach or my visual voice was not good enough. I should have taken their opinion with a grain of salt. But does anyone? In every professional field, at some point we define our successes by the opinion of others. Why is not really the question, nor is blaming someone else for feeling a certain way the solution - because that is a waste of time and unrealistic. And ultimately you should never give someone else the power to make you feel a certain way or control your direction in life. This is my lesson this month. Like any artist, beginner or seasoned, I will always be learning, growing, and mastering my craft. And I will probably never define what my craft is. It may be painting today, drawing tomorrow, abstract the next, and portraits a day later. And that, that is beautiful. Because that is me. I not defined by my mediums or my subjects, but I am defined by my approach. Which is of course a combination of the thousands of artists before me but blended together to become my own unique visual voice. Whether it be bold, saturated in color, dramatic, complete or a work in progress, it is personally how I see the world. And where I'll go with it, is unknown, limitless and will be my own amazing path. Never let someone else define your success or future. You are responsible for your life, never give that power away.