Category Archives: About my art

About Feelings

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

Art, making, and how I feel before, during & after!

Before starting, I am drifting, uncertain, and shifting various ideas and visual images.

Once I start work, I am excited, engrossed, and enthusiastic. It may be tough at times, I may feel my piece is ruined or will never get to the level I want, but mostly I am engaged and energized by the work! At some point I am really excited about ambitious work: I can smell success!

Then when I am finally finished with a good piece there is triumph, but that is generally short-lived. I start to lose interest quickly, and soon I will lose much of my interest in the work. It may actually bore me, even when I remain satisfied with the quality and content of the work.

Maybe that is why career artists often develop their words (!) and find stories for their artwork and why they make art. The story may come during or often after the art work is complete. But a story allows the artist to remain engaged with a piece after it is finished, and to retain more enthusiasm for their finished work. Enthusiasm is very important for marketing art, so lacking a outgoing patron or gallery owner, the artist may need to be the enthusiast! A good story not only helps the artist stay engaged with an artwork, but it allows the artist to share their enthusiasm, through their story, with potential buyers.

I don’t tend to analyze or create stories about my artwork, or about why I work. I find that difficult…!

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Three Angels

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

This is a relief sculpture based on a recent drawing, and has been an ambitious and interesting project.

This is a 24″ x 18″ air dry paperclay relief sculpture on board. This is a new process for me, and it was quite a challenge. The board is completely covered with a thin layer of paperclay. I digitally resized the incomplete figures from my drawing, completed them, and used these to cut out the first layer of each figure. The figures were then built up with additional paperclay and textured before adding pastel pigments.

The cradled board is presented for hanging in a simple homemade protective frame, that can be removed and replaced with a professional frame. It is coated with a spray acrylic that protects it from ambient moisture and dirt, so it can be dusted with a feather duster or wiped gently with a soft cloth.

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Angel Bodies

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

Hard to explain this sketch, or maybe not. I have yard art that I am very fond of, and would love to “translate” into more durable form & media. This doodle is about that, and may help me achieve this eventually. It won’t be as simple as just remaking the work in sturdier material & form, as something vital will likely be lost in the process… I need to capture the essence that I like, rather than try to duplicate the work.

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Artisan Well

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

My yard and studio have become my creative source: a veritable wellspring of inspiration and ideas. The more I work & play, the more I feed my own creative energy. I have created spaces for my ideas that feed new ideas and new work: a continuous cycle of playful work!

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Twelve Labors

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

This is a 9?x12? page divided into 12 squares, each representing difficult achievements in my life!  The inspiration is the Twelve Labors of Hercules, the media are water soluble graphite, watercolor pencil, & watercolor paint on paper, draft 1 is on the left, draft 2 in the center, with the digital version of draft #1 at right.

The events are not in chronological order.  Captions for the squares/events, left to right, top to bottom:

  1. early rebellion, childhood success stopping ballet lessons,
  2. prison like boredom #1,
  3. grey boring sensory deprivation (career at Boeing) from which I …
  4. escape into a more colorful world (Port Townsend),
  5. growing a garden, in more ways than one,
  6. angst, anger, dysfunctional personal dynamics learned as a child,
  7. from which I extract myself (mostly),
  8. house #1 (building the straw-bale home in Port Townsend),
  9. appreciation & awareness of nature,
  10. making art, my own studio, etc.
  11. making art: expanding into sculpture, casting, & learning to carve rock,
  12. house #2, my current home & studio.
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Twelve Labors (minus 2)

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

A small exercise from last night, incomplete:  this is a 9″x12″ page divided into 12 squares, each intended to represent a difficult achievement in my life!  The inspiration is the Twelve Labors of Hercules, the media are water soluble graphite, watercolor pencil, & watercolor paint on paper.

Two more to go, probably involving art!

The storyline, left to right, top to bottom:

  1. early rebellion, success stopping ballet lessons,
  2. prison like boredom #1
  3. grey boring sensory deprivation (career at Boeing) from which I …
  4. escape into a more colorful world (Port Townsend)
  5. growing a garden, in more ways than one.
  6. angst, anger, disfunctional personal dynamics learned as a child,
  7. from which I extract myself.
  8. house #1 (building the strawbale home in Port Townsend)
  9. appreciating nature
  10. blank
  11. blank
  12. house #2, my current home & studio.

 

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Listen to the Women, MeToo

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

I have been struggling with this second in the series “Some of the Women”: it seems to be resisting me!  I want to give the faces life, energy & the desired expressions!!!

And I am so sad, so concerned for all the women who have spoken up about past abuse.   Far too many of these women have been disrespected & belittled for their effort.  Women need to be heard, need a strong voice, and need to be listened to!

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Can They Listen?

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

As this painting has evolved, the title has changed from “Can We Listen” to “Can They Listen?”.  The finished color palette of the painting (at left) is so “white guys in business suits” that the figures are no longer “we”, but rather “them”.  The figures have now come to represent so many of the predominately white male U.S. senators currently in the news.

I did not set out with quite this plan, but I have been listening to the news, and thinking of the Senate Judiciary Committee members as I created the painting.  Some all the Republican Senators who will soon vote on Donald Trump’s poorly behaved Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, have climbed onto my “canvas”.

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Can We Listen?

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

I sketched this piece in water-soluble graphite on board, taking photos of three drafts.  I do this for documentation & evaluation, AND because I love the possibilities of digital magic.  Often the simpler, rougher sketches are the best basis for digital transformation into new, quite wonderful artworks.  These are best online, but can make very good prints also…

I decided to continue with the original, which was pale and ineffective in graphite, and try my hand with acrylic paint.  I do use acrylics, but usually work in mixed media, incorporating textures, pieces of prints, etc. such that the paint is a secondary material. Not sure what will happen here!

Of course I am still photographing at every step, and still creating digital versions as I work.  The top images are most recent, the images at left are the original photos, and those at right are digitally manipulated.

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