Stephanie's Studio

I've switched gears and started painting and drawing a lot more in my studio. I tend to do this as the seasons change. Seasonal change is just to darned inspirational to ignore. Spring is lovely and lush with unusual colors worth celebrating. Just in time my son Liam bought me this lovely, full bouquet of tulips with stock and some trumpet flowers, among other tiny delights for Mother's Day. It took all week to do these drawings. It felt like a race against time. That's what happens for me with direct observation still life. The light changes greatly from day to day and the subject transforms, if it is alive, as is the case with flowers. So here's what I did. "Mother's Day Tulips Full Sun" c. 2015, Stephanie Rose Bird Mixed Media Preliminary "Tulip Study" c. 2015, Stephanie Rose Bird Close Up Pastel Study, "Tulips" c. 2015, Stephanie Rose Bird Black and White Vine Charcoal Study, "Tulip Bouquet," c....

Ever since I was in art school, in my junior and senior year, when I had my own studio at Tyler, I have been fascinated with still life. That fascination carried on when I went to graduate school at UCSD and ended up being the topic of my thesis. Implicit in the depiction of still life is food.                                     (Edouard Manet, 1866, "Still Life with Melon and Peaches) Shown above is a reproduction of one of Edouard Manet's still life paintings. Manet is one of my favorite painters to this day. He imbues his food with such a luscious quality through his brush strokes and the oil-laden paint he uses, that you literally want to reach out and into the painting to eat the food within them. His facility with paint and the love that he seemingly has for his subject matter is a continual source of awe and inspiration.                 ...

Working the negative space is a natural move if you are an artist that enjoys landscapes during the winter.  The blank spaces left from fallen leaves, between branches and stems leave a poetic opening of artistic opportunity.  At the same time negative spaces, like winter’s effect on the landscape, give us a chance to imagine what was there and what is to come. We can either complain or be disappointed over what is seemingly not there or delve further into these seemingly blank spaces and delight in the shapes, geometric interplays and markmaking possibilities with which we are faced.  This drawing taken from my sketchbook is a still life of a vase filled with variety of blooming Dutch bulbs, most prominently tulips.  Absence of the usual intense colors of tulips is filled with enticingly rich graphite, creating its own conversation in shadow, shape and depth. The stark winter landscape which many of us will be facing for many months to come, invites us to step i...

In the week since I have been away from the computer, I have had time to observe the beauty of the changing of the seasons and celebrate Yule.  Next I set out to create an artful Christmas.  By artful, I mean packing the holiday with as many artistic pleasures as possible.  There is so much artifice today in Christmas that I figured art could counteract. Christmas songs from the 30s until today are quickly becoming the exclusive domain of television and radio commercials.  I tried listening to some "Christmas" music on Pandora and had to stop short because it reminded me of a tacky Old Navy commercial. So, what to do to keep the spirits bright?  First of all, I've watched less television and instead started listening to incense.  I've been listening to a pine blend to see where it takes me and what it has to say to my soul.  It seems to want to take me to a mythical and mystical outdoor wonderland, filled with all sorts of whimsical creatures, trees ...