Stephanie's Studio

Hmm. Current weather conditions didn't use to matter all that much. Now, they are controlling my work flow. I've always enjoyed sun and warmth but now all the variables in between are of keen interest. This is because I'm doing plein air painting. "Tiny Clover Blossoms" oil pastel, c. Stephanie Rose Bird, 2015 "Tiny Clover Blossom" was painted on a sunny Sunday morning. Some how, because of the sunlight, it reminds me on some of Gauguin's work in the South Pacific. It uses a very warm palette with just a touch of blues. "Garden Daisies" oil on canvas, c. Stephanie Rose Bird, 2015 "Garden Daisies" was done over the period of a month or so. It started in all warm colors, mostly red and then was over painted a number of times to achieve an impasto. The weather and light changed so many times during its painting that the light comes from within the painting, rather than from above. "Larkspur #1", col...

Regulars here know of my weight loss journey. If you're new, here's some brief background. I decided to lose weight, using spirituality and calorie counting on My Fitness Pal about a year and a half ago. I lost 50 pounds. I felt great, gave away my big clothes to charity, celebrated and still planned to lose 40 more. I also embarked on writing the book "Mama Earth's Spiritual Guide to Weight-loss." Then life stepped in, in a big way. I got distracted. I started cooking my own food less, eating out more. Staying within the calorie limits I'd set (higher mind you), I reached for some "healthy" packaged foods. Low and behold, weight started to creep back on, slowly but surely. It came a pound here and a pound there--until I'd gained 5 pounds back. Recently I went back to the source. Back to Mother Nature for guidance and nourishment. I'd mentioned in a previous post how I'm eating more vegan and raw foods. That's a part of my mov...

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the brainchild of Alex Cavenaugh and has several dedicated administrators as well. You can read more about them and the group  here . This group is designed to help writers overcome, deal with or vent about their insecurities. Writers who've come through the fire, share helpful tips for overcoming insecurities, which is what I'm doing in this post. Today I'm examining insecurity in writing and sharing holistic health solutions. Insecurity has more of a chance to thrive in an unhealthy environment. Not having a healthy foundation cultivates and strengthens the shaky environment, producing the most undesirable effects.                                      (Posted on www.wallpowerglow.com by Matt Willliams) Spirituality Whatever your beliefs, it's a good idea to employ them as you begin writing each day. Spiritual practices may include ...

Signs of spring tease us. They give us a peek at the possibilities and then retracts them. Today is a beautiful day but the pattern seems to be every other day, here in Chicago. Yesterday I wore my coat during my morning walk. A couple of days before that coat and woolen scarf were needed. Today a sweater is just fine. Like many people, I crave the shift  from winter weather to spring. I'm filled with anticipation; savoring each day we have over 45 degrees. Stephanie Rose Bird "Change in Direction" Watercolor and Ink on Paper                                             Nature has the power to heal. It uplifts our spirits, particularly when we move from one season to the next. This movement and transformation, in terms of how we perceive our world, brings to mind the traditional Yoruban word 'ashe '. Sometimes you will see this word used with an exclamation point, tho...

I’ve written a lot about transformation during the past year because I started working on that journey seriously in January. Yesterday I went shopping. It was an eye opener. After having lost 45 pounds, I found that my former haunts were no longer mine. Over the years I had gotten so accustomed to being a certain size and shape that automatically when shopping I gravitated towards the same sort of clothing. Yesterday, I had to redirect myself away from the XL clothes, which would have bagged and dragged along after me. Instead, I headed to the size mediums—a huge breakthrough for me. In my past with the XL’s, my main goal was to find what covered me up the best. In some instances I had pushed past XL to a size XXL, so there was also a challenge to figure out which size I could actually fit. Generally at the XXL sixe, I would just leave the store to go find a store specializing in vanity sizing, wherein I could fit an XL. Now I’m no longer engaged in that sort of inner conflict. St...

Today for the letter T, I am writing about my relationship to trees, as part of the A to Z Challenge, by sharing the Preface to my book "A Healing Grove: African Tree Remedies and Rituals for Body and Spirit." Seeing the Forest for the Trees I owe my early camaraderie with the woods to my patience, my willingness to search, and my love of mystery. The trees became my friends after my family moved from an urban suburb near New York to the desolate Pine Barrens of New Jersey. My father’s logic for moving from the city to the country seemed counter-intuitive. Most African Americans had begun the sojourn from the South and rural areas to cities in the early decades of the twentieth century, but in the late 1960's we moved to a rural community in the Delaware Valley . Whereas both sets of my ancestors had lived in Virginia, my father’s people having lived in the original shires of that state since the mid-1700's, our families left those rural communities to seek ...

Thank the Goddess! March has arrived. Only, here in Chicago, we are expecting quite a lot of snow--again. A while back I wrote for a journal called "Seeding the Snow." It's such a delightful concept that I had to title this post after it. With March, we are asked to think about renewal, growth and change. We can even go so far in our notion of transformation as to consider rebirth. Mother Earth will be coming into full bloom in no time at all. If we follow her rhythms closely, by taking her lead, this coming month offers us some very special gifts. March is about planning ahead for a harvest to come, sometime in the future. It is the time of the dreamer. We can also use divination and oracular skills to project out, gaining glimpses of where these seeds will best take root. We get to plant our dreams, and as it warms up, there is the opportunity to cultivate, till and weed them, until they are just right. But in many of our areas, we will need to do our seed...

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.