Being an artist means for me bringing one’s artistic vision into everyday life. It means harnessing the moments of inspiration and creativity that are right in front of us but likewise trying to embrace all aspects of the process, both the artistic and technical aspects of photo artistry.

In my art, I strive to go beyond the boundaries of the real world and to create imaginative scenes where animals are often the vehicle to shape a story. I want the viewer to find a place of respite in which to take a break from everyday life and perhaps be carried away by the thought “What if?” I strive for beauty and mystery combined. Mood and atmosphere are central to my images. I start in the real world only to transcend into the imagined.

Since the events of 2016, Rich Sheaffer has been developing a genre of art he calls Socio-Political Abstractionism. While political art is common, it has generally taken the form of such things as cartoons and caricatures. Socio-Political Abstractionism, in contrast, is an art form in which hot-button social topics being divisively debated in the political milieu are “abstractionized” and expressed via painting in abstract form, to inspire thought and discussion. Such works are primitive expressions of dreams or visions that express the events and angst of our time in history. His works are experimental and inspired by current events; he never knows from the onset how the final work will appear. Topics covered by Rich have included societal fear and anger, climate change, human rights, assaults against diversity, truth versus “alternative facts”, degradation of kindness and compassion, migration issues, attacks against democracy, risks of conflict and war, self-created chaos, and so on.

I build my paintings the way memory forms, layer by layer, fragment by fragment, never in a straight line. This work emerged through accumulation and disruption, where marks, symbols, and gestures coexist like traces of lived experience. I don’t begin with a fixed image; I begin with movement, with instinct, allowing the surface to guide me as much as I guide it.

In this piece, I explore the idea of internal landscapes, spaces that feel both structured and chaotic. Grids appear and dissolve, writing becomes illegible, forms suggest meaning but resist being defined. I am interested in that threshold, where recognition almost happens but slips away. It reflects how we carry thoughts, memories, and emotions: layered, incomplete, and constantly shifting.
Color plays an essential role in this dialogue. The blues evoke depth and fluidity, while the warmer tones interrupt and ground the composition. There is a push and pull between calm and tension, transparency and opacity. I work to create a rhythm that invites the eye to wander, to pause, and to reassemble its own narrative.

There is also an element of risk embedded in the process. I often obscure what feels resolved, pushing the painting into uncertainty. It is in that act of covering, erasing, and rebuilding that something more truthful can surface. I trust that what remains carries more presence than what was planned.

Ultimately, this painting is not meant to be read, but experienced. It offers fragments rather than answers, inviting viewers to enter, to lose themselves, and perhaps to recognize something of their own inner landscape within its layers.

My work is a reflection on finding one’s place in the world. My landscapes depict scenes often overlooked in everyday life, like seldom walked trails in local parks or fields of grass, giving the viewer the experience of a local inhabitant. It is through my landscapes and still lifes that I seek to find connections between place and identity, the timeless landscape and the temporary light, and beauty in the mundane. I am curious about the natural biology and environment of towns and cities. I find identity in the places I inhabit and explore that aspect in my works. I investigate the ways in which plants, nature, and ecology are intertwined within the ever-changing, yet ever-present landscape, and how the local environment shapes one’s identity. In a fast-paced world, I find solace in connecting with my local surroundings and searching for the meaning of home.

It is through plein-air painting of the landscape that I am able to continuously learn how to see the physical world as a painter and the relationships between light and color, the temporary and the timeless. I am currently investigating my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, and the surrounding landscape. By painting plein-air when the weather permits, and in my studio, I am able to explore the temporary effects of changing light and seasons on the timeless landscape while finding connections between place and identity.

Photography is about reality!

Artists may paint or draw worlds that do not exist, but photographers capture the existing world from their point of view.

In 2017 over 1.2 trillion photographs were taken of the existing world, and it is hard to find a place or thing that has not been photographed.

Therefore, I find myself drawn to the “Edge of Reality”. I enjoy abstract and macro photography, and I have fallen in love with infrared photography. Seeing in my mind, Light that cannot be seen with the human eye.

Hi, my name Is Dylan Wilson. I am a freelance spiritual/visionary artist. Who works towards understanding meaning and questions to myself, and uses them with colors to express them. My works involve my deep meanings of philosophy and psychology. I ask myself a lot of questions when I look at the world around me and wonder what things mean. I created my works as a way of truth, love, and entity to give back to people who feel lost. Over the years of my life of creativity, there have been many phases I’ve gone through. As a kid anytime I’m given homework or a test. I have never hesitated to keep drawing anything on paper that would come to mind. A tree, a house, people, bridges, cars, etc.

Since forever women have been the subject of great art, but rarely were we allowed to create great art. As a female artist living in the 21st Century, I find great inspiration in the female icons of the past. Famous women from Marie Antoinette to Miley Cyrus, have served as profound sources of inspiration for me, due to their distinctive styles and unique spirits. In my art practice, I explore the contrast between the public portrayal of the women I admire and their true selves. My aim is to discover how the images of these influential women, given by pop culture, impact and shape my own artistic impressions of them. Just like the women I paint, I am an unconventional woman in the eyes of my society and with my art practice I want to invite viewers to look past the glittering images and see the depth and complexity of the women I paint, myself included.

Ultimately, my work serves as a reflection and exploration of this complex dynamic. While my intention is to showcase the vibrant and visually captivating image that pop culture has crafted around the women I idolize, I also remain very conscious of the underlying darkness that hides beneath the surface of their seemingly lighthearted images.

As a Finn, I grew up on satire, dark humor, and happy endings and that is well reflected in my work. At first glance, my cartoonish mixed media paintings may depict my subject’s pop culture image perfectly, which is usually colorful, ditzy, and lacking in substance, but I am actually satirizing our perceptions of my female heroines. We are all guilty of prioritizing a person’s image over the narrative. But whether the viewer understands this duality or not, I still want them to have a good time when viewing my artwork.

I choose to work with acrylics, rhinestones, and glitters because their vibrant hues and plastic textures are well suited for creating eye-catching artworks that are unique to me, and perfect for the subject matter.

I have worked with clay, watercolor, stained glass mosaics, collage, acrylic, and decoupage and acrylic on canvas. I teach many types of classes at Vi La Jolla Village. My works have appeared in gallery shows in Palm Springs, NYC, Palm Desert, CA, Escondido, Encinitas, North Park, Liberty Station, and other galleries in San Diego.

I have ribboned in many art shows and have appeared in many juried shows, including the San Diego County Fair Fine Arts shows.

I also teach crafting classes. My passion is to inspire others and to create joyful and beautiful things.

I am as enthralled painting a humble water pitcher as I am painting newborn stars.

At age 62, I consider myself an emerging artist.

Art whispered in my ear when I long ago decided my favorite color – it’s maroon — or drew houses and ships as a kid, or, kneeling in church, studied the orange flames of hell, the white dove of the Holy Spirit, and the sorrowful faces of saints in the stained glass.

And then life went on. I became a journalist, which is a craft but not an art, so poems began to pour out. After 17 years as a reporter, I switched careers, studying historic preservation in courses that forced me to draw a single brick and taught me how to handle charcoal.

I also drew the human form and came to realize that knowing how to draw classically was necessary before I could lay claim to my own artistic hand. I explored, painting on bits of vintage stained glass, sketching weeds and herbs, and flowers, testing watercolor and pencil.

Now, I have a body of work which uses watercolor to explore “star nurseries,” nebulae in which stars are born. These breathtaking events, where light and gas, and dust work out masterpieces, are happening far above our heads, out of sight. I intend to bring them to light, and if I am asked why, my answer is, how can I not?

I’d like people to understand that if I am painting a glimpse of a galaxy, or pressing moss into a painting of a tree stump, or hand-decorating an ordinary object, I am curating my life. I would like you to attend my show.