Portfolio > Sanctuaries

Night Light
Oil on Canvas
51" x 62"
Night Light/detail
Oil on Canvas
51" x 62"
Wings
Oil on Canvas
34" x 48"
Wings/detail
Oil on Canvas
34" x 48"
Rounded Homewards
Oil on Canvas
41 7/8" x 54"
Rounded Homewards /detail
Oil on Canvas
41 7/8" x 54"
You are not Me
oil on canvas
72" x 43 1/8"
You are not Me/detail
oil on canvas
72" x 43 1/8"
Rounded Homewards II
Oil on Canvas
24" x 24"
Rounded Homewards II /detail
Oil on Canvas
24" x 24"
Homage
Oil on Canvas
45"x60"
Homage/detail
Oil on Canvas
45"x60"
Oasis
Oil on Canvas
32" x 42"
Oasis/detail
Oil on Canvas
32" x 42"
Midsummer's Day Dream
Oil on Canvas
22 1/4" x 30"
Midsummer's Day Dream/detail
Oil on Canvas
22 1/4" x 30"
Signal of Joy
Oil on Canvas
37" x 46"
Signal of Joy/detail
Oil on Canvas
37" x 46"
The Canary Sings
oil on ampersand on wood frame
16" x 16"
2020
New Breath x 2
oil on canvas
36" x 48"
Transformation Again
Oil on Canvas w/custom maple frame
16" x 18 1/8"
Emerging
Oil on Canvas
44" x 47 1/8"
The Emerging/detail
Oil on Canvas
44" x 47 1/8"
Rebirth
Oil on Canvas
36" x 48"
Rebirth
Oil on Canvas
Detail
Dances Across Time
Oil on Canvas
42" x 46"
Dances Across Time/detail
Oil on Canvas
42" x 46"
Tree of Life #2
Oil on Canvas
72" x 20"
Tree of Life #2/detail
Oil on Canvas
72" x 20"
Circle of Life
Oil on Canvas
24" x 24"
Circle of Life/detail
Oil on Canvas
24" x 24"
First Friend
60 1/4" x 48 1/4"
First Friend/detail
Oil on Canvas
60 1/4" x 48 1/4"
Can I Live Here?
Oil on Canvas
14" x 14"
The Protectress
Oil on Canvas
24" x 40"
The Protectress/detail
Oil on Canvas
24" x 40"
The Protector
Oil on Canvas w/custom maple frame
16" x 20"
The Art of Camouflage
Oil on Board
14" x 10"
Transformations
Oil on Canvas
32" x 40"
Keeper of the Fire
Oil on Canvas w/custom maple frame
20" x 16"
The Distance Pacer
Oil on Board
8 1/2"x11 3/4"
Purification
Oil on Canvas
60 1/8" x 47"
Purification/detail
Oil on Canvas
60 1/8" x 47"

Nature as Sanctuary — Animals as Spirit Guides

In these works nature is reduced by an unwavering focus of the artist to a single form, the embodiment of nature in her most pristine and precise state. Nature is reconstituted in an authentic way, where the sublime is stunning in its accessibility. We’re asked in these works to find refuge in their orchestration of light and form, but not alone. Spirit guides and helpers inhabit and, furthermore, navigate these environments, reassuring even uplifting us in their roles as masters of these domains. Their presence transforms their locales into sanctuaries, beyond idleness and repose into emotion, inviting us to activate the most engaged aspects of our attention. Stella Zee’s paintings steer clear of romanticizing nature as some lost Eden for our salvation. Instead, she advocates a different model in which we avail ourselves to a new vision of nature with an ever-present set of potentialities that exist inside each of us.


by Christopher Bowen