Mari Stauffer Howard

@maridara.bsky.social

491 Followers 1107 Following

Visual artist & illustrator…cat mom…happy wife…human rights & justice, climate justice. Iban/Swiss/American #decolonize ✨Art✨Cats✨Music✨ Foraging✨ Nature✨ Cosmos✨Gardening✨🛸✨ 🎨: https://www.maristaufferart.com

Photograph of a hand in the lower left of the frame, holding up a paper pad with two separate black ink drawings, each in its own drawn rectangle frame, of black trumpet mushrooms, growing out of the ground with various tan oak leaf litter.
Photo of a watercolor painting depicting a turkey tail mushroom growing on a branch. The colors of the mushroom are rings of browns and ochres and greys. The colors of the branch are greys and ochres, and the background is mostly a wash of browns.
Photo collage of two pictures of two different (brother) grey tabby cats, with a black background peppered with colorful shapes that look like confetti.
Photograph of a sketchbook with a black ink drawing of a fern plant on the page. Behind the sketchbook is the blue sky and some trees, denoting the outdoor forest scenario of the photograph.
A woman sits at a table displaying her greeting cards, prints, and stickers of her mushroom & bird paintings, and pen and ink drawings of cats and aliens. The setting is a shady garden.
Photograph of a man and woman posing in front a mountain river, with the green mossy bank visible on the other side of the water.
Pink flyer image advertising for The Art Of Nature exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, from March 28 to May 31, 2026. There’s also a small image of a watercolor painting of a manzanita bolete mushroom growing out of the tan oak and madrone leaf duff.
Photograph of an unfinished watercolor painting (mostly blue, grey, and brown colors) of a turkey tail mushroom growing out of a log. The painting is on a block or pad of paper and is being held up in front of a backdrop of a sunny forest.
Watercolor painting of an orange/peach colored jelly mushroom growing out of brown, grey, and rust colored redwood duff.
Watercolor painting of a yellow coral mushroom with green tips, growing out of a dark almost black ground full of oak and madrone leaves, with an acorn on the ground in front of it.
Watercolor painting of a reddish capped bolete mushroom growing out of brown, reddish brown, and grey leaves. The background is a blurry view of thin green forest.
Black and white drawing of a grey alien standing up, proudly holding up a basket of foraged wild mushrooms with one hand. Next to the alien is their friend, a black cat, sitting on top of a large mushroom and looking up at the basket, very pleased.
Black and white drawing of a flying saucer, with a grey alien and black cat piloting it. They are hovering above another flying saucer that’s empty, and has a “for lease” sign on it. The background is black space with stars, in a circular shape, and there are a few stars outside of the circle.
Black and white drawing of a classroom setting where a black cat is the teacher, pointing at the chalkboard. On the chalkboard, it says “lesson 29: how to keep us happy”, and there are drawings of an empty food bowl with a line through it next to a food bowl full of food with a positive checkmark that the Cat teacher is pointing to. There are three students sitting on the ground attend, attending the lesson and they are all gray alien children.
Black and white drawing with a circular frame drawn in, of a black cat and its friend, a gray alien, peering over some rocks and looking at some fossilized fish skeletons.
Black and white drawing of an onion sprouting in a glass container in front of a circular window, showing a space scape outside with a spiral galaxy.
Black-and-white drawing of a Mobius strip. Sitting inside the Mobius strip is a gray alien, and it is tapping on the surface above its head where there is a black cat, the aliens friend on the other side, the top.
Black and white drawing of a sketchy style sun, being orbited by a small flying saucer that is in silhouette in front of the face of the sun.
Black and white drawing of a flying saucer, being piloted by a laughing Grey alien, with its friend, a black cat, peeking out from a port hole in the side of the flying saucer with a bull horn yelling and just being rowdy in general. in the background is a night sky with stars and a crescent moon.
Black and white drawing of a flying saucer landed in a large field at night with a crescent moon in the sky. Inside the flying saucer are a gray alien and it’s Friend, a black cat, who are marveling at all the fireflies ascending from the grass into the sky.
Black-and-white drawing of a small button mushroom growing out of a mossy hill in the foreground and in the background are a gray alien face and it’s friend, a black cat, staring at it and both faces much larger than the tiny mushroom.
Black and white drying of a flying saucer with a boom box suspended and it’s beam and below that are a gray alien and it’s buddy a black cat dancing. There are many musical notes emanating from where the boombox is suspended above the dancers.
Black and white drawing of two flying saucers, one piloted by a black alien and white cat & the other piloted by a gray alien and black cat. Each saucer has a tractor beam to the same suspended mushroom they are both trying to levitate to their ship. There’s a cluster of mushrooms below, where the suspended mushroom came from, and pine trees in the background, with stars in the sky.
Photograph of a cute gray cat sitting on top of a sketchbook, interrupting the artist.
Black and white drawing framed in a triangular shape, of a flying saucer, landed on an iceberg in the sea of iceberg with mountains in the distance. Piloting the flying saucer are a great alien and a black cat, and there is a polar bear standing on its hind legs, greeting them, leaning against the flying saucer.
Black and white drawing of a black cat’s paw, shaking the hand of a gray alien with a collective speech bubble for both of them that expresses the “No Kings”sentiment in an image of a crown with a line drawn through it.
Black and white drawing of a flying saucer, piloted by a gray alien and a black cat, making an intricate sacred geometry design with its contrail.
Black and white drawing of a piece of cherry pie that has been smashed by a cat, and there are paw prints of cherry pie, leading away from the piece.
Black and white drying of a big ragged hole in the clear sunny sky, showing a black space escape with a Saturn like planet inside the hole. Zooming out of the hole is a flying saucer, piloted by a gray alien and a black cat, leaving a black speckled contrail in its wake.
Black and white drawing of a flying saucer hovering above the ocean at night with a beam coming down that is lifting a trunk that’s closed and covered in seaweed and dripping. Inside the flying saucer are the two pilots, a gray alien and a black cat.
Black and white drawing of a clear daytime landscape with rolling hills and some clouds. Ripping four tears in the sky are four black cat claws, and the tears reveal a black night sky with stars behind.
Black and white drawing of a grey alien and black cat. Shown from behind, they are sitting with a small table between them, looking out the window of their spaceship to the view of a spiral galaxy in space, and each raising a glass of wine to salute the view.
Black and white drawing of a grey alien and its buddy, a black cat, studying a book-field guide to the bees of earth-behind a large beehive sitting on the grass, with many bees buzzing around.
Black and white drawing of a gray alien in a room, holding a broom about to sweep up, spilled catnip, while a black cat lies on the ground, obviously high on the catnip. On the wall behind them is a framed photograph/selfie of the alien and cat.
Black and white drawing of a flying saucer, piloted by a black cat and a grey alien, lifting a huge pumpkin in a net, which bears a ribbon that says “Biggest in the Milky Way”. The background is rolling hills and a black/night sky with stars and a crescent moon, in a circular frame, with some pumpkin vines creeping out of the frame.
Black and white drawing of a ufo piloted by a grey alien, flying in an upward spiral towing a black cat outside, who is having lots of fun being flung around. There are clouds in the background, in an otherwise clear daytime sky.
Black and white drawing centered within a drawn circular frame, of a grey alien and black cat in diving in dark/black waters in scuba gear and full clear helmets. The cat is peeking over a rock to observe three starfish.
Black and white drawing of a flying saucer with a grey alien and black cat as occupants, beaming light beams through the clouds below. The background is an inverted black triangle.
Black and white ink drawing of a grey alien, seated on a tree stump, feeding a deer an apple. At the alien’s feet is its friend, a black cat.
Black and white drawing of a flying saucer landed in a misty swamp. The occupants of the saucer, a grey alien and its black cat friend, look out from inside the clear dome on top.
Black and white drawing of a grey alien and a black cat, each wearing a crown and the alien wearing a cape, standing at a window in their spaceship, looking out at a floating castle in space.
A black ink drawing of two disc shaped UFOs weaving their contrails together. One UFO is piloted by a black cat, raising its paw in a peace sign, and the other is piloted by a grey alien, also giving a peace sign with its’ hand.
A black ink drawing of an gray alien dressed in a hat, mustache, tie, pants, and shoes, putting a hat on a black cat friend of theirs, who is seated on a stool next to the alien.
Selfie photo of a woman standing in front of her artwork on display, hanging on a pegboard. There are framed black and white prints of drawings of grey aliens and cats, as well as framed color prints of Twin Peaks fan art.
A younger dead tree lies on the ground in a black and white photograph.
A brown morel mushroom grows out of the ground that is full of stick and evergreen duff litter.
Purple orchids blooming with leaves surrounding the blooms, in front of a wooden outdoor cabin wall.
A light green lichen lies on a bed of tan oak leaves in varying shades of brown.
Photo taken from inside, of a window display with black vinyl records as the backdrop, and the number 50 in gold, and red gold and black de orations and balloons celebrating the 50th anniversary of a record store.
A photograph of woman standing in front of a wall adorned with various framed watercolor paintings of birds and mushrooms.
Photo of a plant in bloom with turquoise flowers.
Photo showing a sign for the Art Of Nature exhibit, hanging above a framed painting of a shorebird.
A watercolor painting of two rusty colored hummingbirds (called Rufous Hummingbirds), one, the male which has more rust coloring, in mid flight and the other, the female who has more green and muted white, with only small patches of rust color, sitting on a grey branch. The background is splotchy blues and greens, dotted with rusty tinged bubbles floating throughout.
Two tabby cats lie on the concrete patio floor, and one tabby lies on a patio chair.
Band with a female lead singer and guitarist performing on stage.
Band with a female lead singer and guitarist on stage playing music.
A gray cat reclines in the sun, on a gray mat.
A bright white moon shines in a night sky full of fluffy clouds, with black tree silhouettes around the edges of the image/photograph.
Photograph of an orange and yellow flower blooming, on a green plant full of buds ready to bloom.
A row of brownish black flower-like mushrooms (black trumpets) grows alongside a green mossy log, with rust colored redwood needles and brown oak leaves scattered around.