Brainwashing
Italian, she was born in Napoli in 1970, but she lived in a small city near Milano since she was 15. After a life spent as a professional in the communication field, In 2017.
Roberta Ceudek started painting, as a self-apprentice, taking part in the collective “L’arte contemporanea che emerge” (Emerging contemporary art) by Fondazione Mazzoleni in Alzano Lombardo (BG, Italy) and made her first solo exhibition “ULTRAVIOLET” at La Polvere di Bacco in Legnano (MI, Italy). She is the mother of a beautiful, smart 18 aged girl, Viola, and she loves traveling and tasting wines, for she is attending the second level of a Sommelier Fisar course. She is curious and empathetic and she writes tales and poems.
Self-made artist, Roberta Ceudek is interested in mixing materials and techniques. E.g, photography, and painting in her Photopaings Collections “Water and Light Tales” and “COLORS”. Her artworks are actually focused on social items such as NATURE destruction actuated by human beings (as for the “NATURA/E” solo exhibition in San Pietro Terme, Bologna, during the 2022 summer period), and a critical point of view on virtual reality and its social and personal implications as for the “QR-CRACY” artworks. She joined many exhibitions in 2017-2022, she won the Gutenberg 2020 Calendar Prize and in 2019 she was selected by NNC in London to be part of their Collective.
Break Free
J. Vadala is an abstract artist working in acrylic and mixed media. Her practice centers on constructing tactical, layered surfaces where density, interruption, and contrast create a strong physical presence. Through dynamic mark-making and deliberate interventions, she exposes vulnerability, builds compositions that emphasize structural tension, dimensional depth, and material integrity.
Primarily self-directed, Vadala developed her visual language through sustained studio discipline and experimentation. Her approach reflects a commitment to compositional clarity and material investigation, balancing instinct with restraint. Gestures remain visible; revisions are not concealed. Each surface holds evidence of decision, resistance, and refinement.
A pivotal life event in 2017 marked a profound turning point in her journey toward survival and self-reclamation. Her work is shaped by lived experience, states of pressure, endurance, and recalibration. Rather than illustrating these conditions directly, her paintings embody abstraction grounded in psychological depth, without reliance on representation.
Music is inseparable from her process, shaping rhythm, density, and emotional atmosphere. Variations in temp influence movement, guiding her gestures between chaos and calm, instinct and reflection.
Based in Pennsylvania, Vadala remains active in her studio, continuing to evolve both artistically and personally. She has developed a passion for exploring what may never be fully understood – translating the unknown into a story through music, canvas, and paint.
She has also begun expanding efforts to support others in their growth. Through J. Vadala Unrefined, she shares works from her collection and occasionally offers limited reproductions, making her art accessible to a broader audience. Her work has been featured in juried exhibitions and recognized across multiple venues. Notable achievements include ‘Growing Birch’, selected for the Botanicals Exhibit at Light Space and Time; ‘Wonderland’, awarded Second Place in Abstract 2026 by the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania; and ‘Adapt’, selected for the juried exhibition Melancholy 2026, by Gallerium’s Art Exhibition.
Though self-taught, Vadala’s work reflects a journey forged through adversity. Her paintings consistently embody a reclaimed approach to life – unfiltered, unbound, and free.
My work is rooted in disruption – moments that fracture perception and redefine identity. In 2017, a single moment altered the course of my life, challenging my sense of ability, independence, and self. That moment became both my deepest fear and the course of my creative force.
My work emerges directly from lived experiences – from the moments that test capacity and demand transformation. Painting is not an escape; it is confrontation. It is a language for what cannot easily be understood: tension, uncertainty, endurance, and resolve. Through abstraction, I translate internal states into texture and spatial movement. Emotion becomes material.
I explore the space where vulnerability and strength coexist – where breaking and becoming unfold simultaneously. Resilience is not linear or refined; it is uneven, layered, and charged with contradiction. Disorder presses against structure, and the resulting tension is not resolved, but sustained.
Instinct governs my process. I resist formulas and allow each work to evolve through response rather than control. Interruptions across the surface function as evidence of experience rather than embellishment. What feels fractured remains visible. What feels unstable carries weight. Layering and surface disruption become metaphors for integration – not erasing damage but absorbing it into form.
Music plays a critical role in shaping the emotional atmosphere of my studio. Sound establishes rhythm and intensity before the first mark is made. It heightens sensation and allows feelings to lead. Shifts in temp and tone influence movement and pacing across the canvas.
For me, influence is not aesthetic lineage but accumulation, the imprint of lived moments that reshape perspective. The canvas becomes a site of reclamation. Emotion – embedded, not softened. Disruption – illuminated, not concealed. Each composition carries endurance and the structure of survival.
My work mirrors life’s complexity and invites viewers to encounter their own thresholds within it. Creation transforms internal rupture into material force. What once threatened to break me now defines me. Unfiltered, unbound, free – this is me.
Breaker Of Chains
Tricia Faulkner is a self-taught artist who began at around age 5. Perhaps her greatest childhood influence was living in New Orleans where she first experienced many art cultures. When not moving about from city to city with her family, her time was spent on a farm in North Alabama. Tricia sketched from books for entertainment, relaxation, and as her greatest coping mechanism. However, she never truly believed in her abilities. As the years passed Tricia earned a Doctorate Degree in Pharmacy while raising two children. In April 2020, Tricia left everything behind and took an online painting course in Bold Color Art.
Her heart drove her to a passion for portraying strong emotions in faces. In her first 18 months of painting, she finished over 60 commissions. Although grateful for the work, her soul felt suffocated from the lack of her own inner voice and put commissions on hold. She then began painting from photographs she had taken over the years from serving as a missionary pharmacist in Central America. She also had a strong Spiritual upbringing and began portraying the visions of Angels she often had in her dreams (works that are still in development). The feeling of good versus evil plays a big role in her concept artworks; an art form she sketched out during some of her most passionate struggles.
Tricia has been advertised in Vanity Fair Magazine UK Editions for Artist to Watch, Interviewed on Bold Art Podcast December 2021, Featured in Nashville (TN) Voyager Magazine in the Inspiring Stories Segment, won Best In Show, and 1st place in a Regional Juried Exhibit, 3 National Juried Exhibitions, 3 International Juried Exhibitions, and awarded the Certificate of Artistic Achievement by the Pinacothe’que Museum in Luxembourg for the Angel portrayal “Breaker of Chains”.
I sketch and paint with pens, pencils, markers, and high-quality heavy-body acrylic paints. One of my first and most passionate forms of art is the human struggle and/or joy in facial expressions. I am a huge empath and 10 years before I ever picked up a paintbrush I bought a professional camera and just photographed faces when I could. My soul always nudged me to get ready to paint!
When I am not photographing my subjects I am dreaming! I recall some of my most vivid dreams and many are nightmarish. I believe the Spirit that binds us all moves through us if we are open to receiving the messages. Many of those messages come to me in my dream state. With the binding spirit comes nature! I love the evolution I have come from; human faces to animals and wildlife in nature. My hope is to continue into the lane of concept art and fantasy that will combine both.
In my bold color art style, I use many textures, and heavy body acrylics layered in a dry brush technique and may include gel matte, spray paints, pastes, inks, or pens to give more dimension and emotional pull.
Breathe In The Light
Susan Bagrationoff is a professional surrealist whose body of work focuses on mythology and mysterious creatures. Faeries and folklore are the subjects of her creations using the beauty of nature for realistic reference. She works with multiple layers of acrylic paint in brilliant hues, using metallic mediums to give a magickal ‘vibe’ to her creations.
Susan graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2002 from Florida International University in Miami, Florida. In 2013, Susan started her own art education studio, Artsy Fartsy Art Lessons, which relocated to Kent, WA in 2016. As an active member of her community, she designed the “Hands of Unity” mural in Downtown Kent. Susan is a member of ARTrails, which is an annual art show that takes place in Centralia, Washington in late September. Recently, Susan has displayed works in exhibitions at Gallery B612 in Seattle. She also exhibits her art online through various organizations such as Biafarin, and HMVC Gallery New York.
In a world of so much chaos, a brief trip into the realm of faeries brings beauty, peace, and magick into our dimension. I find our world to be a magical and mysterious place. Faeries have always held my fascination and I believe they thrive within our realm. Like us, they have many faces and many cultures. I utilize my artistic talents to summon these creatures so that everyone can experience their beauty and magick and inspire others to believe in what they cannot see.
My work is conjured onto canvas using acrylic paints with multiple layers and washes, often with metallic hues. Brilliant colors are used to enable the faeries to give off the feeling of their `vibe`, inspiring the viewer to discover the essence of these beings. The texture of their skin, hair, and backgrounds are vital to conveying the elemental qualities of each fae. I am constantly discovering new ways to bring my faeries to life so they can gaze upon us humans as we admire their portraits.
Bridesmaids Bouquet
Sylvia Bandyke, Royal Oak, MI, USA, is largely a self-taught photographer, having taken studio and art history classes in college. She began her art career by displaying photo collages in ArtPrize, an independent international art competition in Grand Rapids, MI, from 2014 to 2018. Subsequently, she has been juried into more than 100 group exhibitions in 24 states and accepted into numerous online international exhibitions. An awarded artist, she keeps an eye open for interesting views of a subject while looking for hidden beauty every day. Most recently, she was a caregiver to her elderly mother and was able to create some memorable, unique art as a result of this experience.
I prefer using the collage format to integrate associated images into a cohesive unit that is even more compelling because of the embedded story. Having been a playwright and technical writer, I am accustomed to delivering content with a message. So now, as a visual communicator, I continue to provide meaning via the structure of the collage format, wherein the four photos confirm, augment, or even contradict each other if warranted. I enjoy offering the richness that the multiplicity of images provides, along with the impact gained through thoughtful positioning of them. Ultimately, I intend to have my work act as a doorway to the viewer’s own mental and emotional framework regarding the collection of images, perhaps finding their own very personal meaning in them.
Bridge
Tricia Rissmann is a contemporary abstract artist. She employs the power of color and texture allowing images to emerge and reveal themselves in her paintings that are full of unexpected balance, depth and harmony.
Rissmann was born in San Francisco and lives and works in Sonoma, CA. She began painting at a very early age when she traveled with her grandmother to Europe. The old doors with years of paint inspired Tricia toward her artistic process.
She attended the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design and enjoyed a successful career as a designer only to return full time to her greatest passion, painting.
She has been collected, published, and exhibited internationally.
My drive to paint is innate. I simply must paint. I am inspired by my writings, music, and life! I want to keep pushing the boundaries to find out what is there. I am inspired that through what I do, I may enable another person to open their mind, to remove the blinders, and reach their possibilities. I strive to create work that moves others and myself. In the end, I believe in staying true to what inspires me and allowing myself to open my soul and dive into the canvas.
My love of painting is also very much connected to my love of design, architecture, and music. Ever since I was a child, I have been drawn to color, balance, shape, and especially to texture and form. I use these things to find unpredictable harmony and balance.
The paintings create a portal for the viewer to go through what I went through first. Each piece encompasses the complexities of human emotion presented and contained within the composition.
My job as an artist is to excavate mystery. The mystery is that which cannot be explained, the alchemy beyond technique and preconceived modern imagery.
Presently, I am using paint, chalk, putty, oil, and pastels on wood panels finished with art resin. I paint layers on layers to create and unify other dissimilar elements that might otherwise not stand alone.
Bridge Beams And A Red Balloon A Williamsburg Bridge Moment
Steve Ember is a photographer, writer, and voice actor based in the Washington D.C. area.
While partial to capturing the brawn, sinew, vitality, and drama of large cities including the spontaneity of “street” moments, he is also drawn to the charm of small town and countryside motifs, as well as nature’s always stimulating variety.
Steve has never lost his appreciation for shooting film and continues to do so alongside his digital work. Aside from its equipment-tactile pleasures, he finds film shooting “a ‘comfort food’ in a sometimes too coldly technical milieu. It calms and keeps me connected to all the elements I had to learn back when I started out with film in my teens. I like to feel that the deliberateness that goes with shooting film also manages to inform at least some of my digital shooting.”
In exhibiting his work, whether online or in galleries, Steve derives special pleasure in sharing with others the fruits of those usually solitary moments looking through the viewfinder, as well as some of those images’ back-stories and adventures, whether in articles (https://medium.com/@emberphoto) or in “PhotoMoments” audio productions (https://soundcloud.com/steve-ember).
Galleries of Steve’s work, by subject category or location, may be viewed at https://500px.com/p/steveember?view=galleries
For me, photography has always been a rather Januslike pursuit, for while the activity of shooting is usually a solitary one, there is always the strong desire to share the fruits of such work – and even the adventures that often are the “back-stories” of favorite images.
That desire has led to displaying in galleries or on various websites and entering competitions.
While a photograph can often tell the “whole” story, I do often enjoy “taking viewers along” for the shoot with a bit of narrative accompanying the visual.
1. “Bridge Beams and a Red Balloon – A Williamsburg Bridge Moment”
Perhaps, like its namesake in the 1956 French film “Le Ballon Rouge,” for a time it
delighted a little boy in Williamsburg before deciding it preferred to soar heavenward…
Or maybe it was the symbol of lost childhood and the love that would prove tenuous
(“Will he hold the string or let it go?”) in the bittersweet song Gordon Jenkins wrote for Judy Garland…
As it glided upon a gentle breeze, high above New York’s Williamsburg Bridge on this
inviting June afternoon, it evoked both scenarios, as well as setting the needle down
on Judy’s recording in the ever-present and ever ready to play “Gray Matter Gramophone” situated somewhere behind the eyes and between the ears of a visiting photographer.
The other two images express a photographer’s never-ending fascination for NYC’s dynamic verticality, whether above or below the Gotham street grid.
2. “34th Street – Herald Square Station Multi-Level”
3 “Construction Lift – A Lower Manhattan Impression”
Bridge Of Flowers
I accidentally became an artist late in life. After my husband of 35 years passed away in 2004, I found myself in deep despair.
A year passed, and I gave myself the assignment to find joy. I had no idea HOW I would do that. Since I had done a lot of drawing and some painting when I was young, and had a career as a decorator consultant, I realized I was very fulfilled when seeking a creative endeavor. With that thought, in late 2006, I enrolled in oil painting courses. I thought at best it would be a distraction, but it became so much more. I discovered she had talent.
After a few years, I started to submit my artwork to juried art exhibits. I have exhibited my oil paintings in many art shows and galleries throughout Southern California and international online exhibits and have won some awards. One painting even won FIRST PLACE in the 2017 City of Los Angeles Senior Art Exhibit! (And I am happy to report, that I did find joy!).
After my husband passed away in 2004, I found myself in deep despair. A year later, I gave myself the assignment to find joy. I had no idea HOW I would do that. Since I had done a lot of drawing & some painting when I was young, & had a career as a decorator, I realized I am very fulfilled when doing something creative. With that thought, in late 2006, I enrolled in oil painting courses. I thought at best it would be a distraction, but it became so much more. I discovered I had talent. After a few years, I started to submit my artwork to juried art exhibits. I have shown my paintings in many art shows & galleries throughout Southern California & have won some awards. One painting even won FIRST PLACE in the 2017 City of Los Angeles Senior Art Exhibit!
Retired. Introspective. My artwork is a reflection of my life. It makes me feel grounded and fully present. My paintings are inspired by a celebration of the human spirit, and an appreciation of whimsy and beauty.
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Debby Dakini, a working Artist, Van Gogh inspired, largely self-taught, I was blessed to have two significant gifted mentors in the last thirty years, both leaving their legacy, just do what you do and not change a thing’. My pieces are described as ‘childlike’ and ‘pure’, free of constraints of learned techniques. London-born, I have exhibited in the UK and Ireland, which I chose as my spiritual home back in 2007. My work is mostly seen as part of Arts Festivals, both individually, jointly, and in groups. Post-COVID, I largely self-promote online and via social media.
I create a daily living, a solitary life on the periphery of the mainstream. My inspiration and spiritual guidance come from a never-ending search within. I studied four Esoteric Sciences nearly 30 years ago, taking a specialty in deep soul-oriented Esoteric Astrology, and am a daily spiritual practitioner of the Mayahana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. My work is a constant delight to me, be it figurative or abstract. Inspiration comes purely with non-thought mysteriously channeled directly to me from an unnamed and untamable source to beautify our world.