Art by Stephanie Jean Brown

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Philadelphia, PA
Art by Stephanie Jean Brown

Artist working primarily in soft pastel.

08/28/2026

Even though it's still August, I feel a little bit of that fall crispness in the air already. This is one of my favorite fall paintings-- it found a home at Rittenhouse a couple years ago, and I hope it's making its new owners very happy. Soft pastel on LuxArchival, 14x11. Bring on the scarves and pumpkins 🍂

08/21/2026

Just a little lemon! 6x8 on Canson Velvet. I paint at this size pretty often but they don't always make it to social media before I take them to a festival-- I produce quite a few of them and keeping up with photographing and posting them all can be a challenge. But that's part of what makes them sustainable for me to produce so it'll probably stay that way for the time being. I love painting these minis, they're fun and it's nice to do something low-stakes after all of the big stressful paintings.

Packing up this little painting and heading to Pittsburgh today for the Shadyside festival this weekend!

08/19/2026

20x25 on Pastelgrain. Third one in the pool house series. After painting this scene several times from life I felt more comfortable painting it from a photo I took in the spring the first time I went to Chanticleer a few years back. I've been sitting on it all this time, but I knew I'd get around to it someday. I couldn't resist all of those purple and blue flowers 🪻

Also curious to see if this painting will have the same "Likely made with AI" tag as the last several ones I've posted. I suspect it's a metadata issue caused by using Adobe software in post-processing (odd because I never use any of the AI features, just crop and straighten and adjust the white balance if needed). Who knows. But while I'm here I might as well explain my position on AI and art. I don't care that much what others are doing-- I think if you use AI in your artistic process you should disclose that, but if you use it to write your emails, that's your call. But I don't. Every single word I write here or in my emails or on my website is mine. My paintings come entirely from me; I don't ask ChatGPT for inspiration or to critique my work or to "improve" my reference photos. I just feel pretty strongly about this. I'm not anti-AI in all contexts, and I can see myself using it for back-end admin stuff like market research or expense tracking. But I don't think it has a place in my artistic process or in my interactions with other human beings, and I wanted to be clear about that publicly. I've had to resist a lot of peer pressure on this, which is why that "Likely made with AI" tag annoyed me so much-- after several years of being called a Luddite, here I am having Meta warn my followers about my undisclosed AI usage. Gotta love the irony 🙃

08/18/2026

Second in the pool house series. I got pretty imaginative with this one; it's loosely based off of a plein air sketch, but much of it was invented, particularly the flowers and the background trees. I also wanted the light in this painting to be a bit more neutral in temperature, the kind you'd see at midday. I remember how surprised I was awhile back when I looked up the color temperature of sunlight at noon in the summer-- it's around 5000-5500K, not very warm at all. We always think of sunlight as warm because the sun emits heat, but visually, it's really only warm in the winter months and/or closer to the golden hour. Noon light isn't usually considered to be desirable for landscapes, but I really love it for structures. I think they look really beautiful under bright white sunlight. Everything just glows.

This is also 18x24 on Canson Velvet. I'm really enjoying working big!

08/17/2026

A new painting, one I finished right before Des Moines. This is a subject I've been wanting to tackle for awhile: the pool house at Chanticleer Garden (well, one of them-- there are two right next to each other). Chanticleer itself is a work of art; it looks a bit like it was designed by a painter who just happened to be great at gardening. But this is my favorite spot there. There's a bench under a tree that's perfect for plein air and I've painted there many times. It's so peaceful, and I love the way the garden in front of the structure changes throughout the seasons. I ended up doing a series of several paintings of this pool house and I'm sure I'll do more. Each time I paint it it feels a little easier, which of course is one of the benefits of working in a series, but I also like knowing that I'll be painting the same subject again so I don't feel so much pressure to say everything in one piece.

18x24, soft pastel on Canson Velvet. I'll have this painting with me at Shadyside along with several other new pieces to be posted soon!

08/16/2026

Next weekend! Excited to exhibit for the first time at Shadyside on Walnut Street in Pittsburgh. The show runs August 22-23, 10am-5pm both days. Hope to see you there!

07/05/2026

Another piece that found a home in Des Moines. I've always loved this painting, especially since it was one of my first to win an award in the Pastel 100. I could tell that the woman who bought it loved it too, and I hope it will brighten up her home and make her happy when she sees it 🌼

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07/03/2026

Quick schedule update: I've had to cancel the Haddonfield show for personal reasons. Sorry to miss it but sometimes life gets in the way. My show schedule for the rest of the summer is still the same for now. Wishing all the other Haddonfield exhibitors a fantastic weekend (and hopefully a cooler one than this weekend)!

06/30/2026

Thank you Des Moines! A wonderful show in a city full of warm and friendly art lovers. Nearly everyone I talked to was a huge fan of this festival and made a point of coming out for it every year. And I was very happy to send some paintings home with new collectors, including these two from my Lambertville series, which went to the same lovely couple (who have already shown me photos of both pieces hanging in their dining room). My husband Martin was at the fair with me, and I think he was pretty touched to see these paintings of his hometown find such appreciative owners.

Thank you to the excellent team at the Des Moines Arts Festival, especially the volunteers, who were doing everything from helping artists with setup to just stopping by our tents during the show with a cheerful word and a wagon full of the good snacks. Oh, and thanks to my booth neighbors, who were the best, and to Martin, who is also the best plus a little extra. Hoping to be back next year ❤️

06/26/2026

I'm open! Here at the Des Moines Art Fair until 10pm tonight. It's a lovely day (much nicer than usual for this time of year, I'm told). I'm at booth , near Grand and 13th. Stop by and say hi!

Address

Philadelphia, PA

Website

http://stephaniejeanbrown.com/

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