Welcome!
This is where I share my inspiration, thoughts, and projects I am working on as a way to connect with clients and friends interested in following my work. For more art and updates, sign up for my newsletter in the about section.
Please enjoy your visit and explore the rest of my site.
Honored that you shared your time with me here,
Amanda Pepper
“Life stages of a flower”
(Rose of Sharon)
6x8” colored pencil illustration on Bristol
-April 2024
“Overlap”
Intuitive painting commission
16x20” acrylic and oil on canvas
-April 2024
“Being Here”
Intuitive painting commission
36x48” acrylic and latex on canvas
-April 2024
“Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
photo of magnolias taken by me
-March 2024
Japanese painted fern illustration
8x10 colored pencil on Bristol
-March 2024
“Mountains and Sea”
36x48” Oil on canvas
-February 2024
“Animal Guides II”
24x36” oil on canvas
-February 2024
Pet Portrait
18x24” oil on canvas
-January 2024
“I have lived with several Zen masters- all of them, cats.”
-Eckhart Tolle
-January 2024
Pet Portrait
9x12 oil on canvas
-December 2023
“Cardinal flower with vertebrae”
9x12” prismacolor on tea stained bristol
-November 2023
“Chiron, the wounded healer”
Oil on canvas, 16x20
-October 2023
“Animal Guides”
18x24” Oil on Canvas
-September 2023
Oleander Illustration
colored pencil on paper
-September 2023
“The Spark that Carries a Torch”
18x24” and 9x12”oil on canvas
-August 2023
Pet Portrait
16x20” acrylic on canvas
-July 2023
Original Graphic Design for Logo and Business Card.
-June 2023
“Within you, there is a stillness and
a sanctuary to which you can retreat at
any time and be yourself.”
— Hermann Hesse
Photo taken by me at Missouri Botanical Gardens.
-June 2023
Original Graphic Design for Logo and Business Card
-June 2023
Pet Portrait
12x16 Acrylic on Canvas
-May 2023
I’m excited to be participating in this event. I’ll have several paintings and a few small handmade items for sale. Hope to see you there!
-May 2023
A photo I took on a walk of a lovely blooming tree.
-April 2023
“…let me never be afraid of endings or beginnings. Teach me to embrace all of life with joy.”
— Helen Lesman
“Flowers Obscuring Mountain”
(2) 12x24” acrylic on canvas
-April 2023
Photo I took of a beautiful and fragrant flowering Daphne.
-April 2023
“Mountain”
12x48” Acrylic on canvas
This piece was made for the client’s home inspired by images of a mountain in the Caribbean. I really enjoyed painting such a lush and peaceful scene.
-March 2023
“Progress”
22x28” oil and acrylic on panel
-February 2023
“Hidden Lotus”
5x7 colored pencil illustration
-January 2023
“Cave Painting”
This three piece painting was a custom project made for a client. The intention with the art was to create something to honor her late father. Some of the feeling we wanted to capture was that of a warm embrace, welcoming and flowing, being part of something, a sense of belonging.
It was an honor to be part of making a symbol that resonates with this feeling. The process of painting it was joyful and therapeutic for me as well… I LOVE doing intuitive art like this. I explored the idea of the hearth of a cave, and was inspired to make the painting like a cave with different ‘cozy’ warm places, the sources of light reflecting off the cavern walls.
-December 2022
“Fluorite Sky”
24x36” oil and acrylic
$350-
I painted this on an old framed piece of art someone donated to me. It was like a mass produced print you might expect to see at a thrift store. Rather than throwing it away, they gave it to me, which brought inspiration in itself to make it into something beautiful.
This piece is available for purchase, local pickup or delivery 25ish miles of STL
-October 2022
“But I’ll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything”
— Alan Watts
Peace in nature, taking things slow.
-September 2022
“Portal”
24”x36”
Oil and acrylic on canvas
Light. The first experience of life entering the world. Even as a seed reaches its first shoot breaking through soil, life is a passage toward light. And we carry the light.
- August 2022
“Flowers don’t worry about how they are going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light, and that makes them beautiful.”
— Jim Carrey
Beautiful waterlilies
summer at the Saint Louis Botanical Garden
-July 2022
Luminous Moth Illustration
5x7” colored pencil on colored paper
-July 2022
Butterfly collage
12x20 floating glass frame
-June 2022
Take time to stop and smell the flowers.
And sometimes take their pictures too!
-May 2022
“Cells”
8x10” colored pencil on vellum
I love working with the sunset colors in this piece. Birds are a recurring theme for me, they represent something like freedom and grace. They navigate the air as if they are one with the sky, part of an organized system larger than themselves.
available for purchase in my store. Email me directly for local pickup
-April 2022
As the sunlight shines through, the leaves show us what they are made of. Pure beautiful color. They just are. They are alive for the sole purpose of living, and we experience their beauty as a byproduct. Nature holds space for us like no other human can, with a whole acceptance of chaos, peace, and everything in between.
-April 2022
Three kitties pet portrait
8x10” colored pencil on vellum
-March 2022
“Hawk Rising”
24x36” oil on canvas
This hawk was created as a tribute to a client's family member whom had passed. In my life, art has been beautifully therapeutic. Grief carries a particular tenderness that there really are no words for. And this is why we make art, to capture an expression that can only be felt. I'm thankful and happy to be a part of such a special project.
-March 2022
Graphic Design
For the past year, I have been practicing a new medium and am encouraged by the design process. I've done some personal projects and some logo work. I look forward to new possibilities as I continue to hone my skills.
Bumper sticker design with customizable hair, eye, and skin color.
-February 2022
Lantern logo design for a local therapy office.
Kawaii sneaker of Hermes, just for fun.
“Toward the Sun”
12”x36” Oil on canvas
Someone once told me they sought to live like a sunflower, facing and growing toward the sun. I thought it was beautiful. How the sunflower then grows, it reflects the color and shape of the sun, petals reaching outward like the suns rays. To me, this painting has a warm feeling of comfort.
available for purchase in my store. Email me directly for local pickup
-February 2022
“Snowy Owl”
watercolor on paper 8x10”
This piece was commissioned as a gift for the client’s family.
The owl is a symbol of wisdom, and they are often considered messengers. This peaceful snowy owl glides over a winter landscape. The warm sun on her back, she exudes ease and grace, balance and precision.
(You know, that “everything is OK” sort of feeling!) Thank you, Owl.
-January 2022
Colored pencil pet portraits!
-January 2022
“Close up”
Mixed media on two 30x36” canvases
This original painting is an abstract expression of a concept. I was thinking of something that is so close up, so much in the foreground that it cannot be seen. When there is a feeling or a sense that is larger than our comprehension, that its absence is unfathomable. Of course, I enjoyed making a mess with different textures and paint. There is some acrylic, enamel, latex, and metallic gold spray paint. There are also two cat footprints, a happy accident (as Bob Ross would say). Available for purchase, email me if you are interested.
-December 2021
This is a photo of the children's book “The very hungry caterpillar.“ I read this often with my little girl. While enjoying the kaleidoscopic colors of the wings, I observed some curious and inspiring thoughts come into my mind.
Does the caterpillar know that it will become a butterfly?
The caterpillar hungers, feeds, and repeats. When content, it finds a place to rest. Surely it must think it has died, when its tiny caterpillar body turns to goo inside the cocoon. How in the world this transformation takes place is mind bending to me.
The caterpillar does not have to TRY to become a butterfly, it simply exists and evolves, and one day learns how to fly… which is pretty cool if you ask me.
-December 2021
This is a holographic sticker of a design I made. It combines a seashell with a moon and stars within. The inspiration was the mysterious vastness and beauty of both sky and sea.
I’ve been enjoying graphic design as a new direction or expansion of my art. Spring 2020 I began to explore the medium and with lots of patience I became more comfortable with it. Of course I am still learning every day but I suppose that’s the fun of it!
This sticker and more available for purchase in the store section of my site.
-November 2021
“Creature of the Depths”
9x12” watercolor on paper
This commissioned piece is a mythical sea creature I dreamt up. I am fascinated with the colors and luminosity of the deep. This concept was associated with the couple’s wedding, and we used a personal symbol as the heart in the center. It was very peaceful and hypnotic working on this painting. The loops in the heart space are very rhythmic; the same loops repeat in the background of a more chaotic sea. I think it represents the still waters that can be found in the depths of the human soul when illuminated with love.
-October 2021
I took this picture leaving the grocery store. As an introvert with anxiety that I always feel a bit drained after shopping or just being in the public. I felt a wonderful feeling when I looked up, the sky was so big, and it reminds me how expansive life is. I was thankful that I did not keep my head down as to miss such a beautiful moment. Sometimes the meaningful experiences are in the fleeting, the ever changing, the anticlimactic, the every day reality of what is.
-October 2021
“Keira”
4”x6” colored pencil on colored paper
This is my most recent pet portrait, memorializing a sweet kitty who has passed over to the other side.
-September 2021
“Together” 12x16” oil on canvas
This is a painting commission I did for a lovely couple’s 19 year anniversary. I learned a little bit about their travels together, and that their favorite animal is the highland cow (it became my favorite part of the painting too!) I like thinking about the story of these lovers/friends who have walked mountains and valleys together, that they have seen so much beauty and have so much more yet to see and experience.
-September 2021
“The Lovelights”
24x36” oil, acrylic, enamel, and nail polish
I had a meditation where I climbed a great tree, its branches reached the cosmos. There, I hovered in the warm black void of space. Above me were beautiful lights, swirling and undulating; I felt the universe’s love for me, vivid and nourishing. This is the glowing of life energy that flows through us all. In the story IT, the deadlights are a mysterious force that paralyzes and consumes its victims. Like staring into the Abyss, fears accordion and contract inward, draining joy and life. The Lovelights are the antithesis of this. The lights absorb and transform the darkness, bringing its onlooker into pure being and oneness.
This is the second finished piece of my Soul Series paintings. Working on this has been integral in processing my grief. As I think about my mother, I wonder, when someone is no longer a part of your life, does that really make them any less a part of you? Somehow when they leave, a new relationship continues on. In this way, I do not experience less of her, as the love we shared cannot be taken away.
-August 2021
This is the first card in my Housecat Tarot deck, The Fool.
What's out there? I am being drawn to something.. it feels totally new, and at the same time familiar! I am curious and confident that this is where I am meant to be. I do not fear what lies ahead, because somehow I know I was made for it.
-July 2021
I started a new series of paintings, I think I’ll call them the soul series.
This abstract piece was inspired by the swirling colors of outer space. It depicts a central glowing figure that flows upward like a phoenix. To me, this represents the energy of a soul as it returns to source. Something about the swirling motion is soothing to me, like flowing water or flames.
-July 2021
“Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal, for the present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone, and yet it exists forever...”
— Alan Watts
These two sweet kitties are my most recent pet portrait. I love drawing exaggerated animal illustrations. Its really fun and I feel like it captures their personality. Also if you didn’t already know this about me… I love cats!!
5x7 colored pencil on colored paper
-June 2021
I made this painting for my mom. In the past year, her chronic pain compounded into more serious health complications.
Titled “The tempest and a safe place”, the painting depicts a storm blowing through a beautiful landscape. There is a peaceful area with a cave near water, nestled beneath a tree. When I showed a picture to her, she was in the hospital recovering from an emergency surgery. She said it looked like heaven.
Two days later, Mom was in ICU on life support. It was my family’s worst nightmare. The uncertainty of her condition ebbed into heartbreak as the doctors explained that she was, in fact, dying. I was not able to give this painting to her before she passed, but am struck deeply by its symbolism. The storm that blew through was much more than I could ever have anticipated.
Someone once said regarding death, that it must feel like taking off a tight shoe. I can only imagine the relief my mom must have felt. She had a spirit that was much too big for her body. My heart is broken, yet it also grows. Being a mother now myself I know the love that has no bounds. Her physical presence will be deeply missed, but memories of her love will last forever.
Thanks for everything, Mom.
The family had a wonderful outing to Saint Louis Botanical Garden. I arranged a few photos together to give a snapshot of the beautiful day; I consider the phrase “a picture says a thousand words”.
I think about how photos serve to support our memories, like stepping stones between years. They become a physical representation of a small single moment in time. These moments are nearly immortal. These images are like songs, they can get stuck in our heads.
Maybe we can choose what we want to imprint, what station we want to turn our attention into. I want to be dialed into joy in the moment, to express my experience of life through art. It is how I process, my part in the natural system of the world. I love knowing that my purpose is to create, because that tells me I belong here. Its the voice inside that encourages me to live and grow as the flowers do.
- May 2021
This certificate says I am officially a level 2 reiki practitioner! This simply is a landmark, a recognition that the more I learn, the more there is to learn.
Reiki has been such a beautiful instrument in my own healing and growth that it inspired me to pursue training, with the intent to help others in their own healing.
For now, this looks like a commitment to do my best everyday. To observe energy without judgement and hold space for others in love. Most of all…easier said than done… just breathe!
-April 2021
SPRING! These beautiful African violets are happily blooming. Their petals shimmer with tiny sparkles, and the texture of the leaves is as soft as velvet. Magic is truly everywhere, if we just slow down enough to sense it. To see, touch, and smell is to experience the wonder that nature exists in constantly. It just IS, with or without our attention. To take a moment to be present here is so peaceful and refreshing.
-March 2021
‘Feel’
16”x48” Acrylic, newspaper, and enamel on canvas
This multimedia painting was a therapeutic expression for me. I have titled it “Feel”. Feelings are, as their name suggests, meant to be felt. With some feelings, it's easier said than done. The first layer is newspaper, representing information intake. Abstract shapes emerge and are ambiguous, shifting and melding together. The last step in the painting was a splattering of black enamel. With time, the feeling becomes concretely visible; it is ready to be accepted and released.
-February 2021
I always enjoy doing pet portraits, these dogs are a few of my most recent. Colored pencil on paper, 4x6 to 5x7.
-January 2021
I’m excited to see this project come together! Its the first of what I anticipate to be several card decks that I create.
Available for purchase in my store. Comes in its own tin with booklet and selenite “charger”.
We all know that feeling.
We pick up the phone and scroll mindlessly through apps until we find the one that suits the moment.
While we have access to an endless amount of specific applications, the purpose of each can be traced back to our simple human instincts. They are our basic needs for community, safety, security, expression, self care, love, belonging, and the material needs that sustain us physically.
With Primal Apps Oracle Deck, we reflect inward upon each of these concepts that we reach for.
The phone is a symbol of communication, both with the inner and outer worlds. Lenses and buttons represent our actions and perception as gems encased in stone.
-January 2021
Holiday window cling, digital art printed on vinyl.
This illustration is from The Housecat Tarot, currently in progress.
Available for sale in my store!
-November 2020
Transition
8”x11” oil on canvas
-October 2020
Willingness to accept the possibility of change in perspective. What was seen before as a desert can gradually transition to greenery, new growth. Seasons.
Available for purchase through my store.
Jaguar, Quail, and Koala
-September 2020
These digital illustrations are my take on the archetypal court cards, in animal spirit form. They will be printed on stickers and available for sale soon!
Jaguar: strength and courage, embracing the power of the unknown.
Quail: humbleness, and family, movement in compassion and community.
Koala: slow, steady, mindfulness, wisdom in presence.
Heron Illustration
colored pencil on paper, 8x10.
Calm, flowing movement. It was so enjoyable to design this piece as a gift for a friend. The inspiration came from the symbolism of the heron bird; tranquility, independence, determination, grace, and insight.
-September 2020