Maker Monday: Brushes and Boots combines artist Stephanie Daniels' love of hiking, and art

Inspired by the beauty of the Sonoran Desert, artist Stephanie Daniels combines her love of nature, hiking, and art in her delicate watercolor paintings of the Arizona landscape — and some of its most iconic plants. 

Daniels grew up taking art classes, and said she had always dreamed of being an artist, but by the time she moved to Tucson almost nine years ago, her love of art had mostly fallen to the wayside. 

It was Tucson’s stunning natural landscape that brought back her creative spark, Daniels said.

“When I moved out here, I hadn't painted in like a very long time,” she said. “I didn't know what to expect in the desert, I thought deserts were brown and boring and nothing growing, but my first spring here, I saw all the wildflowers, and I was just amazed by taking pictures of everything that I was seeing, and wanting to learn the names of them.”

For the first time in a long time, she said she felt inspired to create again. 

“I slowly started painting more and more plants of the desert, but especially the wildflowers,” Daniels said. “The creativity just grew, and I wanted to share more of what I had been seeing on my hikes and adventures around Arizona, and show how colorful and beautiful the desert is.”

Now, Daniels’ work largely features the unique plants and landscape of Southern Arizona, from palo verde blooms and poppies to watercolor scenes of the Grand Canyon and Saguaro National Park.

“I joke that my phone is mostly like sunset, flower and cactus pictures,” she said. “Everything out here is so inspiring, from the plants to the landscape to even the higher elevations, Mount Lemmon or Flagstaff.”

While Daniels said she occasionally uses acrylic paints, watercolor is her preferred medium because of the freedom it allows her to work in the field.

“I could take it on a hike with me, I can take it traveling,” She said.

In addition to her painting prints, Daniels also makes stickers and cards of her art, which retail for $4 and $5, respectively.

“The cards have probably been one of my most popular items,” she said. “I also have recently added hats, and I've had mugs and tote bags for a while too because I know not everyone has space on their wall for an art print.”

Daniels said her favorite project is her series depicting the different ecological zones of the Catalina Mountains.

“As you're driving up, every couple thousand feet, the scenery totally changes as you're traveling into a new ecological zone,” She said. “And I wanted to show the diversity of the plants and flowers that you would find, from cactus to conifers up on Mount Lemmon.”

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Daniels took images of the common plants that inhabit the four life zones — desert, grassland, woodland, and forest — and compiled them into their own posters and prints, complete with areas you might be likely to spot the plants. 

“It was a fun project to research,” she said. “Learning about all the different native plants in those areas, and then trying to figure out which ones I want to include.”

Going forward, Daniels said she wants to be able to dedicate more time to her art and grow her business and her community. Currently, she teaches monthly watercolor workshops around town, but she is hoping to be able to offer more events going forward.

Part of what she loves about her work, Daniels said, is connecting with people over a shared love of hiking and native plants, and her workshops allow her to do just that. 

“They're just a lot of fun, and it brings in a fun group of people, and people make friends, and I'm hoping to use that to foster connections and community for people, because I think that's what a lot of people are needing right now,” Daniels said.

Her classes range anywhere from $60-75 per ticket, and she said they are accessible for any level of artist, including beginners.

“It can be an intimidating medium, but it's very forgiving for a beginner, too, so there's no experience necessary for my workshops,” she said. “I've got these little kits for everyone, and then we've all got our little cups of water. I provide all the brushes, erasers, pencils, all the paper. Everything that they'll need I provide, they don't have to bring anything.”

Overall, the reactions to her workshops have been extremely positive, and she said she often has people return for multiple classes.

“I have a few people who come quite often, which is really fun to reconnect with them and then see how they've grown. And a lot of people have brought in stuff that they've worked on at home to show me, or ask for suggestions,” Daniels said. “I've had people who've come to workshops and say, ‘since I took your workshop, I've been painting more often, it's nice to have a break and not be on my phone and not think about my to-do list.’” 

Daniels said she is also considering adding a few new events to her programming. 

“I'm playing around with the idea of an open studio kind of thing,” she said. “Bring whatever you want to bring, and we'll just paint together. Whatever kind of creative activity you want to do, you can just be together doing that.”

She also said she is hoping to return to her roots and offer her art hikes again at some point, bringing people into the field with her to create art.

“I would love to bring that back, I just don't know exactly when,” she said. “I feel like it's a fun way to express yourself and capture the world around you.”

Her next watercolor workshop is May 16 at Di Luna Candles, 2700 N. Campbell Ave., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the cost for the event is $65 per ticket. For more information on the event, you can visit her website at brushesandboots.com.