People who know me well call me Stevie — that’s my nickname. My dad told me he named me Stephanie just so he could call me Stevie -- so I’ve been called Stevie since the day I was born.

 

I’ve always been interested in art and color. My earliest memory of art was finger painting in Kindergarten. When I saw all those colors, I couldn’t wait to get my hands in the paints! And it’s been that way ever since. When I was in grammar school, we had an art class once a week, and we drew and colored pictures on manila paper while listening to classical music.  What a great time!

 

Unfortunately, my college prep course in high school didn't allow me to take art classes, so I pursued it on my own.

When I was 13, I was a big fan of Jon Nagy, the first television artist.  He drew in charcoal, and I saved my baby-sitting money to buy his drawing kit.  I loved that kit, and I had pretty good success with it, but like so many other things from my childhood, it got lost somewhere along the way.  A few years ago, I noticed the Jon Nagy kit was still for sale online, and I bought one -- it was just as I had remembered it!  I haven't used it again, but it's a nice memento.  I was well into my adulthood when I pursued art again, and I began to dabble in different forms of art when my son became a teenager — stained glass, calligraphy, watercolor painting, fabric painting, decorative painting and wet-into-wet oil painting.

 

I've studied different media including oil, acrylic, watercolor and pastel with several artists:  Dana Jester, Hugh Greer, Richard McDaniel, Morgan Samuel-Price, Jerry Yarnell, Susan Scheewe and Joyce Ortner. 

I like to paint a variety of subjects including landscapes, seascapes, florals and wildlife. I also enjoy plein air painting, although it's quite a challenge here in Arizona.  If you're ever out in the desert, be sure to take plenty of water -- even on a cool day.  The Southwestern desert provides so much good material for plein air, but painters here always need to be aware of the critters roaming around, or slithering near our feet!

 

Although my career was in the banking industry, I've been teaching painting classes for 15 years.  I've had really good success in teaching beginners to paint.  So many people have come to me because they've tried other art classes, but haven't really gotten what they need.  I'm a big believer in learning by doing, and that's the approach I take in my classes.  Think back to when you learned to read.  If no one had taught you the letters of the alphabet, or how to sound out words, you wouldn't have gotten very far.  The same is true with painting -- you need to learn the basics before you can develop your own style.