Stephanie's Studio

I have been working with memories of land formations and geographic features this week.  One of the pieces I worked on is called, “Sand Dune” and it is an abstracted version of a sand dune I climbed in Michigan.  I have been working with oil pastel on top of a foundation of vine charcoal for a few weeks now.  Yesterday I bought some watercolor pencils to add into the mix but I haven’t attempted to mix the oil-based and water-based materials yet. To my surprise and delight the oil pastel mixed media works seem to be coming together to form a body of work.  For the first time in a long time my work has a flow to it that taps on intuition and expression in a way that I enjoy very much. This is something I can continue with for a while and I can't wait to see the series all together in a gallery space. I intend to continue to work with mixed media, trying the watercolor pencil as a contrasting element with the oil pastels and vine charcoal. Often, I teach my classes projects that i

Lately I’ve been craving a good storm.  I don’t want it to pose danger to anyone but for someone reason I need a storm.  It already feels like spring or really like summer though it is not yet Ostara. You can do such potent magical things with Lightning Water but you need a strong storm to be able to collect the water. In my book, “Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones,” I write a lot about proper collection of the different types of waters for magickal intentions and found during my research that I was especially fascinated by some West African collection techniques of the Ibo people.  I was looking through my things and noticing that I still have some Tennessee Lightning water sent by a good friend who is very spiritual.  I wonder how potent it is now? It is bottled in a brown bottle so it probably has maintained much of its power and I know it was sent with good intentions.  I need to make some powerful changes in my environment and have a good feeling that I need fresh Lightning Wate

I have been continuing to go through my sketchbook and repurposing my blind contour garden sketches.  It’s funny how something you did so long ago can be pertinent and useful today.  This particular sketch had a strong suggestion of landscape in its foundation.  As I developed it and worked into it with oil pastels I began to focus on remembering vacations in Wisconsin.  There are incredible geographic land formations in Wisconsin and I am attracted to the powerful forces of Mother Nature that created them.  I thought quite heavily about the Driftless regions of Wisconsin and the Kettle Moraines as I worked on this drawing.  It was a respite from life to work on this and it took quite a bit of time, working during multiple sessions.  I call this “The Driftless,” named after the driftless region in Wisconsin.  It stands as a reminder of the power of Mother Earth to continuously transform and impact our world.

This mixed media drawing is called “Storm Moon,” named after this month’s full moon.  I observed her in her full glory and saw a halo of multi-colored lights around her giving Storm Moon an eerie glow.  True to her name, it has been a stormy time, punctuated by deadly tornadoes and storms; some hitting portions of Illinois and surrounding regions.  I have been watching the footage of the destruction from the tornadoes and I’m pretty sure it is the source of this abstracted imagery in this drawing.  There is a feeling of arrested movement to this piece and while many things are topsy-turvy, there are also peaceful sanctuaries where there is safety yet it is all unpredictable. In the drawing, there is structure within the destruction that offers hope.  I am not fond of drastic changes and I can only imagine and empathize with those who were victimized by the storms. I am relating to this Storm Moon heavily because I feel big changes afoot in the weather and in my life.

One of the recurring themes in my art is looking at life with the eyes of a child.  I try to feed my inner child inspiration and nurture her so she is always with me, alive and healthy. I remember in grad school at UCSD I did very large oil on canvas that was strongly rectangular about playing jacks as a girl with my cousins in Montclair. There are balloons in the background and a large brown hand in the foreground is throwing jacks in the air.  It is mostly a red painting. I equate red with fun and excitement.  Now I am working with a very oily material that I can layer up on paper—Sennelier Oil Pastels.  They were a gift and what a gift! I love that set of pastels but at first found them on the overwhelming side. I find them much easier to work with using an actual oil pastel pad as the support. I typically work with them for a while and then put them back away so they last so I’ve had them over a year now.  Lately I’ve been incorporating them with chalk pastel pencil which is a

Learned the meaning of a new word that I’ve seen kicking around—upcycling.  Apparently, it is taking something that is ready for the rubbish heap and turning it into something more valuable than it originally was.  Since I starting this blog old sketchbooks have been turning up in my life and I have been studying my older work.  The most recent sketchbook contains blind contour, vine charcoal sketches of my garden, which are 9” x 12”.  I usually do them as exercises to increase my hand eye coordination and as a right brain exercise—leaving it at that, hoping it will prove useful in terms of increasing my skills as I develop on my journey.  I found one of these drawings that were fleshed out in color and it gave me the idea to turn them all into mixed media full color abstractions.  This image I am posting today is an upcycled drawing that began as vine charcoal on paper, in black and white.  It is now done with vine charcoal, pastel pencils and oil pastels.  It remains landscape-li

Even though I live in the suburbs it is pretty urban here as I am right on the border of the city of Chicago.  My little urban garden suffers the ills and blessings of being near the expressway.  The blessing is the garden itself; I have seen people stop and pause next to it, as it offers a respite so close to the expressway.  The other wonderful blessing is that it is visited by many birds including birds of prey attracted to the expressway possibly because it is very canyon-like.  The ills of an urban garden are obvious. Trash blows all too frequently into its small space adding clutter.  This particular drawing from my sketchbook reminds me of the blessings and curses of my urban garden.  There seems to be trash blowing about in this drawing, landing in odd positions but there is also beauty in color, shape and texture, just as these contrasting elements exist in the actual space of the garden.  Even though it is not spring yet, I enjoy the spring-like colors in this sketch and