# rstearnsart.com > The personal portfolio of a casual Christian artist. ## Posts - [Minnows Under Lily Pads, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/minnows-under-lily-pads-2025/): This is the final piece I did for a greeting card this year. It’s for a celebration of Baptism card featuring a verse from “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Come, Thou Font of every blessing,Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;Streams of mercy, never ceasing,Call for songs of loudsest praise.While the hope of endless […] - [Lo, How a Rose, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/lo-how-a-rose-2025/): This painting is intended for a Christmas card featuring a verse from the hymn “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” This flow’r, whose fragrance tenderWith sweetness fills the air,Dispels with glorious splendorThe darkness everywhere.True man, yet very God,From sin and death He saves usAnd lightens ev’ry load. I think this is the most challenging piece […] - [Mushrooms, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/mushrooms-2025/): This is one of three botanical paintings I did for greeting cards celebrating loved ones. This one is for Father’s Day. I had originally intended to do a rosette succulent, but my husband informed me that that looked too much like a flower, and since he is one of my favorite fathers, I thought it […] - [Phalaenopsis Orchids, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/phalaenopsis-orchids-2025/): This is one of three botanical paintings I did for greeting cards celebrating loved ones. This one is for Morher’s Day. My own mother is especially fond of orchids, so I chose that flower for my subject. The card features the first verse of the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God.” Now thank we […] - [Bleeding Hearts, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/bleeding-hearts-2025/): This is the first of three botanical paintings I did for greeting cards celebrating loved ones. This one is for the occasion either of Valentine’s Day or a wedding anniversary. Since I was already working on another card featuring roses, I went with bleeding hearts instead. The hymn verse featured in this card is from […] - [American Robin, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/american-robin-2025/): This is part of a series of four bird paintings I did for greeting cards featuring hymn verses. I was more apprehensive about this painting than the other three because I thought that a songbird amidst cherry blossoms at dawn stood a good chance of looking too Hallmark-y. But I am pleased with how it […] - [Great Blue Heron, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/great-blue-heron-2025/): This is part of a series of four bird paintings I did for greeting cards featuring hymn verses. Herons are just about my favorite birds to draw because of their fascinating necks, but the bird’s larger size made this painting more difficult than others in the series. With the others, I found that the natural […] - [Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/ruby-throated-hummingbird-2025/): This is part of a series of four bird paintings I did for greeting cards featuring hymn verses. I wanted a wide variety of Missouri-native birds of different sizes, which is why I chose the hummingbird. I love their tiny lichen-covered nests, and the iridescent feathers were a fun challenge that I found watercolor well […] - [Purple Martens, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/purple-martens-2025/): This is the first of four bird paintings I did for a series of greeting cards featuring hymn verses. I had originally intended it to be a series of three, but I wanted to paint a flock in flight, and I also liked the idea of a general-purpose card featuring the Common Doxology. The two […] - [Simon "Hydrate," 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/simon-hydrate-2025/): This sketch was one of the last pieces I did for the art challenge with my brother earlier this year. My brother and I both have small children, and figuring out how to balance creativity and parenting is often difficult, and even before we dropped the challenge, I had started to get lazy with it […] - [Pumpkins and Pomegranates, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/pumpkins-and-pomegranates-2025/): The weekly art challenge I did with my brother earlier this year gave me the opportunity to use a reference photo I’d been saving of some particularly picturesque produce sitting on my kitchen counter. For a postcard-sized painting like this one, if I work on it about an hour a day, it usually takes me […] - [Stick with Fungi, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/stick-with-fungi-2025/): Another sketch from the art challenge I did with my brother in early 2025. This one’s of a cool stick with bird’s nest fungi that I found and photographed on a trail near Clear Lake in Oregon. - [Oregon Dusk, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/oregon-painting-2025/): This painting was part of an art/photography challenge I did with my brother in the early months of 2025. I used a photo taken on a previous trip to visit my husband’s family in the Willamette Valley. I don’t think I spent more than an hour and a half on this painting, including the sketch, […] - [Lighting and Chicken Sketches, 2025](https://rstearnsart.com/lighting-and-chicken-sketches-2025/): My brother is a photographer, and we often encourage each other in our creative endeavors. At the start of 2025, we decided to do a weekly challenge where we would both draw or photograph something using the same prompt. We only continued the challenge for a few months before the busyness of life and parenting […] - [Stickers, 2024](https://rstearnsart.com/1201-2/): I did these four sticker designs in 2024 when I started making and selling my own art products. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with how any of them turned out. The two deer designs in particular feel rushed to me. But the main problem is the limitations of my medium: I wanted to make something that […] - [Bohemian Waxwing, 2024](https://rstearnsart.com/bohemian-waxwing-2024/): This is one of two winter bird paintings I did for Christmas cards in 2024, when I first started making and selling greeting cards. I don’t usually work on more than one painting at once, but in this case, I had both this painting and the cardinals taped to my desk at the same time […] - [Northern Cardinals, 2024](https://rstearnsart.com/northern-cardinals-2024/): This is one of two winter bird paintings I did for Christmas cards in 2024, when I first started making and selling greeting cards. I don’t usually work on more than one painting at once, but in this case, I had both this painting and the waxwing taped to my desk at the same time […] - [Coffee Grinder, 2024](https://rstearnsart.com/coffee-grinder-2024/): This old wooden coffee grinder at my in-law’s in Oregon makes for a really fun and challenging still life subject. I tried drawing it on our 2023 trip, but I think I had more success in 2024. The same page in my sketchbook also features a Sierran tree frog we caught and put in a […] - [Taste and See, 2023](https://rstearnsart.com/taste-and-see-2023/): This painting started as a chalk drawing I did for a competition at a Higher Things conference my husband and I attended (“Taste and See” was the theme of the conference that year). My husband then convinced me to revisit the design as a more detailed watercolor painting. I’m often asked how long it takes […] - [Light Study, 2023](https://rstearnsart.com/light-study-2023/): I’ve always been drawn to images that are mostly characterized by shadow with a small but significant source of light. This kind of night-level lighting is difficult to capture in art, or even to get good photos that can be useful as references. I had to borrow my husband’s phone, which has a more sensitive […] - [Oregon Sketches, 2023](https://rstearnsart.com/oregon-sketches-2023/): My husband’s sister and her family live in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, which makes that area one of our more frequent travel destinations. These two sketches were done on our 2023 trip. Usually when I sketch, I use a single mechanical pencil for the whole drawing, but in this case, I used three wooden […] - [Simon Doodles, 2023](https://rstearnsart.com/simon-doodles-2023/): Simon and his adventures are among my favorite things to doodle. Most of the drawings here were on the backs of old grocery lists. Simon’s design has changed substantially since I first began drawing him: His eyes have gotten bigger, his eye bags baggier, and his posture much worse. He has developed a pot belly […] - [Seasonal Things, 2023](https://rstearnsart.com/seasonal-things-2023/): Another collection of doodled objects. This one is of various things I fondly associate with each of the four seasons. - [Jadda, 2023](https://rstearnsart.com/jadda-2023/): A couple years ago, my brother led a short Dungeons and Dragons campaign set on a desert continent with a lot of ancient history. My character for the campaign was a human rogue who was the last surviving member of a small tribe whose ways had now been forgotten by everyone but herself. One of […] - [Acorn, 2023](https://rstearnsart.com/acorn-2023/): An acorn-laden branch I found on a walk made for a fun study in natural shapes and textures. - [Bone, 2023](https://rstearnsart.com/bone-2023/): My brother found this broken deer femur on a camping trip and thought of me. Old bones have a lot of unique shapes and textures that makes them interesting to draw. - [Havard, 2022](https://rstearnsart.com/havard-2022/): A copic marker sketch of my old character Havard contemplating some mysterious lights. - [Still Life Studies, 2022](https://rstearnsart.com/still-life-studies-2022/): This set of small marker sketches was part of my 2022 studies into light and composition. Up until around this time, I didn’t give much thought to copyright with my reference images, and a lot of my earlier artwork is drawn closely from photos I found on Pinterest or Google Images, which is part of […] - [Houseplant Study, 2022](https://rstearnsart.com/1140-2/): While I don’t regret not really studying art in college, there are definitely some gaps in my artistic knowledge that probably would have been covered by a more formal training. I was feeling particularly aware of those gaps in 2022, so I started trying to fill them by doing a lot of study and exercises […] - [Moab, Utah, 2022](https://rstearnsart.com/moab-utah-2022/): My husband and I honeymooned in Moab, Utah in 2021. The next summer, I did this painting in oil from a photo we’d taken at the top of a small cliff we had climbed overlooking the Colorado River just outside Moab. I love the versatility and vibrant color of oil paints, but because they tend […] - [Herbal Illustrations, 2022](https://rstearnsart.com/herbal-illustrations-2022/): Over the past few years, I’ve developed a casual interest in herbalism. So far, it’s only amounted to my making a few teas and salves for my family’s minor ailments, but I also just find it interesting to learn about the natural medicines God built into his creation. It can be difficult to sift through […] - [D&D Packs, 2022](https://rstearnsart.com/dd-packs-2022/): I always enjoy drawing a good collection of interesting objects, and Dungeons and Dragons offers many delightful lists of such things. This is a set of doodles I did of the different supply packs a character can choose to start out with in 5th edition. - [Aurora, 2021](https://rstearnsart.com/aurora-2021/): I drew this piece as a gift for my husband while we were dating. He grew up with a newfoundland named Aurora, and his family still remembers her with many fond stories that make me almost feel like she was a part of my own childhood. - [Gity and Pig, 2020](https://rstearnsart.com/gity-and-pig/): While Dungeons and Dragons hasn’t really been a part of my life since my son was born, there was a period of a few years where my brother ran a couple very enjoyable campaigns for myself and some friends. This is the art I did for my character in the first campaign: a goblin rogue […] - [Bible Imagery Poster, 2020](https://rstearnsart.com/bible-imagery-poster-2020/): At about 30 inches tall, this is the largest piece I’ve ever done, and it took me about a month, mostly during the 2020 lockdown, to draw it. It was a birthday gift for a close friend, so many of the objects depicted were ones that had special meaning for her. Written next to each […] - [Thunder, 2019](https://rstearnsart.com/thunder-2019/): I have always loved thunderstorms. There is a feeling of energy and life in them that I have enjoyed since I was a child. Each year, there is a special moment when I hear spring’s first roll of thunder. 2018 held a lot of personal struggle for me as I figured out what to do […] - [Inktober 2019](https://rstearnsart.com/inktober-2019/): Inktober is an annual online art challenge where artists will draw something each day of October, usually following a series of prompts released for that year. Instead of following the prompts for 2019, I made a list of “a few of my favorite things” and drew those. - [Simon with Jellyfish, 2019](https://rstearnsart.com/simon-with-jellyfish/): I started drawing Simon in early high school, though didn’t get his name until I was in college, at a time when I was listening to a lot of Simon and Garfunkle. He’s a weird little guy, with a tendency to find himself in weird situations. - [2017–2020 Sketchbook](https://rstearnsart.com/2017-2020-sketchbook/): Thus far, I’ve only ever managed to fill one sketchbook (that I can recall) cover to cover, and that was the sketchbook I kept from the fall of 2017 to the spring of 2020. Most of the sketches, especially the earlier ones, were ideas for a story that at the time, I was considering trying […] - [U.K. Sketchbook, 2017](https://rstearnsart.com/1027-2/): In early 2017, I was blessed to be able to study abroad for a semester in Oxford, England, with a brief trip into Germany. During my time in Europe, I kept a small sketchbook. The goal was to preserve my memories of the trip in a way more meaningful and lasting to me than photography, […] ## Pages - [My Work](https://rstearnsart.com/) - [Contact](https://rstearnsart.com/contact/): If you have any questions, please reach out using the form below. I look forward to getting in touch! - [About](https://rstearnsart.com/about/): Rachel Stearns I’m a Lutheran wife, mother, and artist living in St. Louis. As an artist, I am self-taught, and my work is mostly in pen and watercolor. I enjoy trying to capture the ordinary beauty of God’s creation—my favorite subjects are birds, plants, and everyday objects. By day, I can most often be found […] [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)