★★ Autumns Paintbrush ★★

Gayle is a Textural Acrylic Artist using palette knives in conjunction with acrylic paint, gels, and modeling paste. She becomes very immersed in the creative process and has a “conversation” with the painting in order to create a place that speaks to her and the viewer. Her paintings are full of colorful textures and invite the viewer to walk into the landscape to discover a memory or a new favorite place. She wants everyone to stroll about, smell the flowers, watch the sunset or sunrise, lean against a tree, and just breathe.

Gayle is currently represented by Amsterdam Whitney Gallery in New York, Artifact New York, and Jones Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri, and is on the Circle Arts website. Her work has been published in numerous magazines including Art in America, Observica, Exhibitzone, Spotlight, and Artistonish. In May of 2023, Gayle was published as an Icon artist by Art Tour International and was selected as a Top 60 Master. She has also been included in the book Current Masters 6.

Paintings by Gayle are included in corporate and private collections around the world.

I have termed my paintings Textural Acrylics and I get very excited as I watch the paint come off the palette knife in a variety of textures and combinations of color. Every painting is full of emotion and in-the-moment creativity. I start with an idea and a very loose drawing, usually 5-6 lines of composition, and then become immersed in the process. I have always said that a painting is like a child that you nurture, have conversations with, and work through the teenage angst with love and patience and what emerges is a beautiful adult. When I paint, I put on the music (louder than I would have let my children play it), dance to the beat, and even sing, which is a terrible sound. I want my joy to come across to the viewer and I want them to share the beautiful place that I have created. All are invited to enter the painting, smell the flowers, listen to the rustle of the leaves, lean against a tree, and just breathe.

★★ Bustling On Bourbon Street ★★

Katrina is a Professional Artist specializing in Acrylic Paintings with more than 25 years of experience and she Illustrated several children’s books as well.
Katrina comes from an artist family of several generations and to become an artist was pretty easy for her as colors, brushes, and canvases followed her all the way around since early childhood.

She’s been participating in exhibitions since sweet sixteen and won several awards, the most important was the opportunity to spend some time in Vienna City, Austria where she discovered F. Hundertwasser’s art which really inspired her. Other inspiring names in art for Katrina are Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Gustav Klimt, and Pablo Picasso.

For the last nineteen years, she’s been living in Leeds City, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. The beautiful scenery of Yorkshire widens her creativity, here is some kind of mix of different natures, like Italy, France, Spain, and Latvia all in one.

In my paintings, I devote much attention to the play of colors, lines, and plot. I convey my vision of the world with colors and images, but the plot plays a special role. The paintings were created mainly during my travels. I try to perceive the world not only in my native Latvia but also in other countries. Each painting has its own story. It tells about the scenic mountains of Tuscany and the magic cathedrals of Italy. Perhaps, there are stories about Britain’s magical gardens or a cat that brings warmth and peace to home. A woman waiting for the love of her lifetime…

I wish to spread beauty in the world and bring happiness to people through my paintings. I wish everyone looking at my paintings will feel the love I can give. Who knows, any person can share this love with others…

★★ Calm Journey ★★

Elizabeth Moscoso is an artist who does not limit herself to one medium. She started her career as a fine artist and has also worked as a graphic designer. Whether she is drawing or painting she exudes her love of life passionately into her art!

She is a native South American from Bogota, Colombia, and started drawing at age seven! Her curiosity for art began with drawing cartoon characters, which initiated her natural illustration ability. These characters paved the way for creating more life-like images developing her realism style of painting. She loves mixing different artistic mediums and feels her technical skills facilitate her creativity and fuel her passion.

Elizabeth was presented with an Honorable Mention Award, in the Animal category, at Teravarna Gallery’s 2023 International Juried Art Competition, in Los Angeles, CA. She was also presented with a second Honorable Mention Award, in the Portrait category, at Gallery 4 Percent’s 2023 1st Faces & Features International Juried Art Competition, in San Francisco, CA.

“I believe in working at something you love and are passionate about. I’m very blessed to be able to do that. Art, in all forms, is what drives me and is what I’m about. My work embodies a higher purpose, it translates my intention, reflecting that which I am feeling. My goals and motivations are many, but there is only one intention – the truth that lives inside of me. By living it, this truth is embedded in my work. If my work doesn’t represent who I am and what I’m living, how can the viewer feel anything else? For this reason, I delve into my work, so I can create an extraordinary piece of art, out of the most ordinary moment.”

★★ Catania Fish Market ★★

Even at an early age, Marissa has shown an enthusiasm for illustration. She can recall spending hours creating and illustrating stories inspired by the many books her parents shared with her. That inspiration has led her to some of her greatest artistic passions, including children’s book illustration and portraiture.

Marissa earned her BFA in Illustration at the Hartford Art School in Connecticut, where she found new inspiration in her professors. While there, she received many distinctions for her work, including the best portfolio in each of her departmental portfolio reviews. She has also had the honor of having her work featured in numerous exhibitions, including the Society of Illustrators Annual Student Scholarship Competition in New York City.

Since graduating from Hartford Art School, Marissa has continued to follow her passion as a freelance illustrator and portrait artist. After completing her first children’s book illustration project, she went on to be featured in numerous publications and television appearances. Her projects have included collaborations with ESPN, as well as creating illustrations for Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s yearly concert production “Tales of Halloween”.

My artwork is very much inspired by visual storytelling. The thing I love most is capturing my subject’s likeness through vitalizing details – both on the surface of the artwork, as well as the narrative behind it.

I often use a mixed media approach combining acrylic and colored pencils. Working this way combines the freedom of laying bold washes with the tight control of drawing. As the piece is built up in many thin layers, I can carefully explore all the details. Quilting these details together as a visual story is where I find my greatest artistic passion.

★★ Cloud ★★

Jason Shih was born in 1972 in Taiwan. In 1991, he began to specialize in metal sculpture when he was a sophomore in the Fine Arts Dept of Taipei National University of the Arts. In 2001, he graduated from the School for American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA, and majored in Metal Sculpture. And then, he served as the metal sculptor Albert Paley’s assistant, involved in crafts and public art work practices. Furthermore, he earned his Ph.D. in Art from the China Academy of Art, China (2015). Now, he lives in Taiwan and consistently engages in both areas of sculpture and public art.

Jason Shih’s artistic vision is shaped by a diverse array of influences, from contemporary dance to avant-garde fashion. He cites German choreographer Pina Bausch and British designer Alexander McQueen as significant inspirations. Bausch’s explorations of time and space resonate with Shih’s interest in sculpture’s capacity to embody kinetic energy and spatial imagination. McQueen’s innovative approach to contemporary imagery and themes provides Shih with a broad canvas for creative expression.

Shih’s work is also influenced by the aesthetic principles of Futurism and Constructivism, movements that emphasize dynamic energy and continuous motion. These influences are evident in his pursuit of capturing the beauty of movement and the elegant restraint of natural forces. Shih’s sculptures often depict moments of defying gravity, capturing the fleeting beauty of motion in a static form.

As a professional sculptor, Jason likes to experience the taste of life with perceptual observation in the subtle moments, and also likes the ever-changing situation of game shapes in the poetic imaginary space. For Jason, art creation is to share various moods and stories in daily life.

Sculpture is to interpret the beauty of light and shadow, rhythm, and volume through the visual techniques of color, shape, and texture. The qualities that the creators of sculpture pursue to touch people’s hearts are actually as abstract as temperature and smell, but rich in profound, penetrating power. This aura that directly points to people’s hearts and the aesthetic sense that makes people enter the drama in resonance may also be like nostalgia, embodied in the nostalgia of seeing things and thinking about them, and the timid expectation of being close to the hometown.

Sea breezes, mountain mist, morning sun, sunset, and, in addition to shape and color, there is also the memory of temperature. Cooking smoke, hot soup, wooden tables, pottery cups, and the echo of the smell are the gradual tone of nostalgia. In people’s daily aesthetic experience, the memory of temperature and smell accompanied by touch often becomes a kind of fuse to revisit the journey of old dreams. The work involved in sculpture creation is to “condense” and record all kinds of beautiful presence in this beautiful time and space in an appropriate way and with true emotions.

★★ Clownin’ Around ★★

Born and raised in a diverse cultural environment, Mills developed a keen eye for capturing the subtle nuances of human expression and the hidden beauty in everyday objects from an early age. Her family’s creative background and encouragement significantly influenced her artistic perspective, allowing her to see the world through a unique lens.

Mills’ journey as a photographer began with a Canon EOS Rebel G film camera, a teacher who understood her, and a deep fascination for fleeting moments and undercurrents that often go unnoticed or are purposely overlooked and hidden in our everyday lives. Her education in visual arts, combined with her natural talent for observation, has shaped her into a thoughtful and precise image-maker. She fancies herself a life-long learner and continuously hones her skills, exploring new artistic paths through workshops and classes with renowned photographers and visual artists.

Mills draws inspiration from the contrasts in her surroundings and human nature. Her work seamlessly blends elements of documentary-style photography with conceptual storytelling, creating images grounded in reality and imbued with a sense of the extraordinary.

From intimate portraits to studies of overlooked objects, she often explores themes of introspection, transience, and the poetry of the mundane.

Ultimately, I aim to create images that pique the viewer’s curiosity and encourage them to form their own interpretations and connections. Having primarily created in black-and-white for much of my journey in photography, I believe my ability to see in black-and-white led to a better understanding of the depths of color contrast and their impact on creating an image.

In my portraiture, I strive to capture genuine emotion and candid-like moments, even in staged settings. My approach is characterized by a deep respect for my subjects, allowing their true selves to be seen, understood, and welcomed.

A deliberate concept credited to the models, Clownin’ Around captures a brief moment in an authentic friendship dripping in color and movement.

★★ Colorful Celebration ★★

Joy Saha is a Bangladeshi photographer who focuses on human stories. His work has been featured in over 100 leading international publications, including The Guardian, National Geographic, and TIME. Being a photo enthusiast, he has been traveling near and far to depict interesting human stories for the last few years. His passion is to explore the different aspects of human life and document them. Capturing the human element is the key to his photography. Through his photos, he wants to share his unique perspective and experience with all.

Happiness, to me, is found in the vibrant moments that bring people together. In my photo, I captured young girls joyfully playing with colors during the Spring Festival in Bangladesh—a celebration of renewal, hope, and togetherness. The blazing yellow hues, traditional attire, and festive spirit reflect the pure joy of welcoming a new season. Through this image, I want to share how happiness transcends boundaries and finds its voice in culture and nature. It’s a reminder that joy is often found in the simplest, most colorful expressions of life.

★★ Dreaming Of Jerusalem #1 ★★

Melanie Kline is a master silversmith and painter whose career has been defined by a deep reverence for Jewish tradition and a lifelong devotion to craftsmanship. Best known for her handcrafted sterling silver Judaica, Kline created ceremonial objects that have been featured in numerous State of Israel Bonds campaigns and are held in the permanent collections of Hebrew Union College and Park Avenue Synagogue. Her work has also been widely collected by synagogues and private patrons across the United States. In recognition of her artistic contributions, she was honored with a solo exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C.

After retiring from metalsmithing, Kline shifted her creative focus to oil painting in her studio in Montrose, Colorado. Continuing her fascination with materiality, she enriches her paintings with gold and copper leaf, mixed media, and occasional gemstones, echoing the precision and detail of her decades as a jeweler.

Kline’s artistic vision is rooted in the mystical stories and symbolism of Judaism. She approaches both painting and metalsmithing as pathways to illuminate spiritual narratives, striving to bring forward their deeper meanings with elegance and clarity. Whether working in silver at the jeweler’s bench or layering oils and metallic leaf on canvas, her goal is to reveal “the light of understanding.”

Her transition to painting began in 2021 after a diagnosis of macular degeneration altered her depth perception and brought her metalsmithing career to a close. Rather than diminish her creative spirit, the shift opened a new and exhilarating chapter. Painting—with its vibrant color, expanded scale, and freedom of expression—quickly became a source of joy, renewal, and gratitude. She describes the process of combining oil paint with copper and gold leaf, semiprecious stones, and pearls as both thrilling and transformative, a natural extension of the intricate work she always loved.

Today, Kline continues to explore storytelling through texture, luminosity, and layered materials, creating works that honor her heritage while embracing the possibilities of a newly discovered medium.

This painting is a visual journal of my journey through Jerusalem, composed not as a single viewpoint but as a tapestry of memories stitched together through color, light, and space. Each vignette captures a different moment of the city as I experienced it: ascending stone stairways, wandering through sunlit courtyards, pausing in quiet cafés, and exploring the archeology digs. Rather than recreating a literal map, the work collects fragments of experience and arranges them in a way that reflects how a traveler remembers a place—imperfectly, emotionally, and with special attention to the details that linger in the mind.

The warm tones of the stone arches echo the ancient architecture of the Old City, their textured surfaces layered like the history beneath them. Bougainvillea climbs along balcony railings, softening the stone with bursts of pink and magenta. In the midst of domestic calm, the Israeli flag rises, a symbol of present-day identity and continuity. Birds perch on walls, musicians appear in open spaces, and narrow corridors unfold like paths waiting to be explored.

The work also carries the weight of deeper time. My visit to the City of David archaeological site revealed a Jerusalem beneath Jerusalem: tunnels carved by early inhabitants, pottery fragments resting in dust, and foundations older than recorded history. These encounters informed the composition of the painting, reminding me that every modern moment exists above centuries of human life. As a visual journal, the piece captures the interplay between everyday experiences and the enduring presence of the past. It invites viewers to walk through the city with me, to feel its warmth, and to see Jerusalem as I did—alive, layered, and full of stories.

★★ Easter Prayer ★★

As an elementary art teacher, Alston has been grounded and blessed by the vastness of art that “bubbled up” from young students. “It was like being a Rock Star teaching art alongside little people. They opened my artist’s eyes like no other life experience”

It is now, Alston’s opportunity to give back this spark that students gave to her. Weaving a lifelong passion for painting, Alston Beckman has planted roots in her native South Carolina heritage with renewed energy in depicting a generational icon: Quilts. Having always loved painting textiles, connectivity in 2022 with a crafting Prayer Quilt ministry helped to marry these two gifts.

These Pawleys Island artisans have given Alston a new mission. Capturing stitches, patterns, and color in watercolor and colored pencil, Alston is hopeful in documenting the soul and warmth in quilt portraits.

The collection, The Ties that Bind Us is an ongoing body of “peace work”, with reinvestment back into random acts of kindness.

My watercolor and pencil series is a journey, a mission really, that was born out of a need for connectivity in 2022. A lifelong artist, and elementary art teacher, a soulful discovery of local SC prayer quilters spoke to my heart. A spark to capture unique portraits of these textile treasures was divine intervention. In making a quilt, now painting them, I am privy to a history of connectivity that highlights milestones and family, uplifting in spirit, with a purpose of comfort. I have been humbled and energized by the opportunity to capture these heirlooms as they pass from person to person. Giving away time and talent in stitches, now in an opportunity to spotlight these stitches that bind so many of us.