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 ...

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.