Sandra Stowell

Outdoors, walking, woods, beaches, mountains (with easy trails :-), birding in very small groups or alone, nice weather, silvery light on water, sun on mountain peaks, ocean waves crashing on rocks, eating good food with friends, wine, cheese, olives, fresh picked raspberries (& blueberries, and cherries, and thimbleberries), serious art galleries and good art exhibits, bookstores, amazing altered books, pubs with good beer, my family, castles and ruins, rocks, good movies, scanning my art into my computer, comfort, good binoculars, comfortable camping in out of the way spots, luxury expedition travel (one trip with Lindblad Expeditions!), my every Tuesday art class with friends,my brother's new house in Colorado, my own almost new house and studio.

Trouble: I don't want to be distracted from things I like! I am a hedonist, though not, I think, lazy. Angry unhappy people who cannot be honest with themselves or others. I hate to use the word "hate". I try not to hate, just dislike :-) Anger can be useful, but hate is destructive.

Walking, birding, reading novels, cooking & baking, making yard art, playing on the computer.

I have made art a daily part of my life. I work in a fabulous studio next door to my home. It is convenient, spacious, comfortable (heated, with a cleanup sink AND a bathroom). I have a storage room & loft, plus a work room with power tools.

I have the facility & tools to make 3-D work, and sometimes I do...

I find it hard to describe my style, but organic comes to mind. I don't like to plan or measure much, and I am not terribly neat or precise. I get my hands dirty, I erase, and I layer and rework. I like detail, complexity, textures, and layers. Because I work with many different media, my work has a lot more variety than it might otherwise: my monoprints don't look much like my drawings or my sculpture. However there are reconizable themes that appear and reappear in different forms.

My work is often based on natural objects lately: trees, eggs, rocks, leaves, etc. But I am not striving for realism most of the time, but rather something beyond. I try to represent the essence of nature that captured my attention. There will always be my personal take on an object or scene.

I work most with graphite and colored pencil, pastel, paint, paper, board, canvas. I may also use wire, foam, clay, cement, trays, boxes, books, string, twigs, and found objects.

Nature, my friends, and my memories.

This changes constantly. I want it to be each new piece I work on :-), but not every piece becomes a new favorite. Many do, however!

My work is my message, although I am trying to use my blog to put some of this into words. I struggled for years thinking and not thinking about art and being an artist. It is very satisfying to have spent the past 12 years just being an artist!

My maternal grandfather was a painter, and a member of the Royal Scottish Academy. His paintings were in our home. My mother's interest in art was limited, but she encouraged me to draw, kept her father's art books, hung good reproductions, collected a few art objects, and had an interest in beautiful fabrics, so I was exposed to art all my life. I loved to draw when young, but had no training, did not like an expensive summer art class, became very discouraged as a college art major. I dropped art for many, many years, but I knew it wasn't that easy to give up! When I left my 9-5 (well 8 - 6) office job forever, I tried out art for fun, and after a few year it became "art is necessary"!

Art is necessary. Making things makes me happy, makes me feel alive, and gives me a purpose. I would love to know that more people enjoy what I make, but usually it is enough to enjoy it myself. It gives me joy.

So many artists, so little time! Rembrandt, Leonardo Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Johannes Vermeer, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Ito Sozan, Ohara Koson, Katsushika Hokusai, Hiroshige,

Joan Miro, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Loise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns, Lee Bontecou, Antoni Gaudí, Amedeo Modigliani, Paul Klee

Terry Turrell, Meinrad Craighead, Christopher Wilmarth, Giorgio Morandi, Koh Gillchun, Gaylen Hansen, John Hoover, Margie MacDonald, Maureen Piper ...

I love Pacific Northwest carvings and sculpture, Inuit drawings, Australian Aboriginal art, American Southwest pottery and basketry.

The Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti. But this changes each time you ask. For instance, there are some absolutely amazing stunning altered books out there!

Access to digital images! Instant browsing of immense variety.