“About an hour before the tsunami hit, Corea said, people at Yala National Park observed three elephants running away from the Patanangala beach.”
- National Geographic News, January 2005.

For years, it has been believed that wild animals are more in tune with their natural environments than humanity is. After every natural disaster, there always seems to be a story of how the elephants ran, the flamingos found higher ground minutes before, and the dogs refused to go outside. In 2005, amongst the bodies and debris, it was noted that very little animal carcasses were found on the beaches of India, in a normally highly populated area for animals. Strange animal behavior prior to the tsunami was reported instead.
The question lingers, when did humanity lose this sixth sense?
In my current work, I mimic nature and our natural environments and how they affect us. I find it interesting that we are a part of nature, but in many ways, among the scientific advances and technology, nature is not a part of us.

My abstract series on Natural Disasters imitates each disaster through action and color, and then shows the days after through stitches. I am not answering the question of how we adapt for the future, only how we heal to move on.

The Energy of White series pays tribute to how our environments affect us by showing how shadows can be created by our man made light. How does nurture affect nature?

And in my 3-D nature paintings, I bring the environment to you,
so you are no longer removed from the scene and looking out a “window.”
Rather you become a part of it.

Growing up on a farm, nature has been a constant inspiration for my art.
Through the past ten years, I have watched how humanity has been affected negatively by nature and it has sparked a long search for the answer of why the elephants ran
and we didn’t.

abstract stitching traditional three dimensional painting landscape nature inspired emerging water scenes

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  Volcanic Eruption

  This is part of a series based on Natural Disasters and how they affect us. This one is Volcanic eruption and was created using acrylic, ash and stitches. See more on my website at www.stephartist.com

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  Tornado

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  Flood

  Flood. 18x24. Acrylic and String on Canvas. The abstract paint represents the natural disaster flood, and the stitching are for the days after. We can survive, but have we adapted?