Swing Dancing

Karen Romani is a watercolor artist living in the Midwest. She’s originally from New York, but decided to go to St. Louis for college and decided to stay. She married after college and has 3 wonderful grown children and 5 grandchildren. Her art journey started after retiring from a career as a Physical Therapist. Always creative and looking for something fun to do, she came across a watercolor class. From that moment, she was hooked. Her career in art has allowed her to meet a wonderful group of people and taken her to places she only dreamed of going to in the past. Karen joined several art guilds, became a Signature Member of several Societies around the country, and has entered and won awards in some of the country’s most prestigious societies.

As a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, Karen has attended the annual conference, enabling her to take classes with some of the best botanical artists around the world.

Karen is presently teaching and sharing her art with galleries in St. Louis and around the country. Karen couldn’t think of a better way to spend her retirement years, which includes spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Botanical art has been my focus for several years, working in watercolor and encaustic wax. I’ve dedicated my energy to education and practice of all forms of flora, mostly representational work. The more detailed, the better. My work is vivid, with a focus on intense colors, especially lights and darks. Vegetables, especially cabbage, have caught my attention. These ornamental cabbages have a variety of colors and interesting forms. These paintings are so fun to paint.

Swirl Of Warmth

I started painting after a career crisis in 2020. I was working as a healthcare professional and went through burnout, which led me to switch my career to business and finance. During the crisis, I needed something to let go of and process my feelings so I registered for a painting course. I just fell in love with making art! I love that I can do something with my hands, work with beautiful bold colors and express myself. Art saved me.

I create artwork that is meant to be a moment of inspiration and joy. My process is intuitive, I start by using bold colors and let my feelings guide me from there. I love the colors magenta and turquoise, and metallic paints. Bright and beautiful colors make me happy. My way of using contrasting details and multiple layers add texture that is unique to my artwork. With my artwork, I want to convey the message that we all need to love ourselves, take care of ourselves, and appreciate life! Everything happens for a reason and we should just travel within life`s current and trust. I want to bring beauty into homes and remind us of our own strength and the importance of love and gratefulness.

I paint with acrylic colors and my process is very intuitive and spiritual. My inspiration arises from many sources and strong colors are a big part of it. While painting, I let myself go and just paint without thinking too much and let the colors and my feelings guide me. I like to play with contrast and duality, texture, and add details to my artwork.

Swiss Chard

As a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, Karen has attended the annual conference, enabling her to take classes with some of the best botanical artists around the world.

Symmetry

Jody Nelson is a Palm Desert, California-based mixed media artist whose layered, luminous paintings have been featured in juried exhibitions and both group and solo shows, with original work available through Saatchi Art and held in private collections across the United States and Canada. Drawn to expressive color, richly built-up surfaces, and the emotional resonance of still moments, her paintings transform the quiet textures of everyday life into bold, joyful works. Working in acrylic, pastel, and collage, Nelson builds each painting through layers of torn paper and mark-making, creating surfaces that carry their own history before the figure arrives. Each piece balances energy with calm — an ongoing invitation to pause, to notice, and to find beauty in the ordinary.

I paint women in the quiet moments — not the moments the world sees, but the ones that happen in between. The exhale after the effort. The stillness that arrives when we finally stop moving long enough to feel something.
My work is built in layers — torn paper, acrylic, pastel, and mark-making — each surface carrying its own history before the figure arrives. The women I paint are never performing. They are resting, remembering, belonging to themselves and to each other. Emotion, for me, lives in the body before it reaches the face. In shoulders that relax. In feet sinking into warm sand. In a chin lifted toward the sun.

Symphony In Color

John was born in Columbus Ohio, graduated from Ohio State, and lived in Southern California for 30 years. Although John learned to draw and paint as a young boy, his degrees are in the computer science field. It wasn’t until 2010 when his wife bought him a large easel and encouraged him to start painting again, that he began to take his art career seriously. Since then John has been selected in over 200 gallery shows and juried contests, including the National Oil & Acrylic Painter’s Society 2014 Best in America show. John’s Carousel Horse #1 was featured in the June 2014 issue of the Artist’s Magazine Competition Spotlight, and he was featured in the ‘Artists to Watch’ section of the Southwest Art March 2016 edition. John’s acrylic paintings have been included in AcrylicWorks Best of Acrylic Painting volumes 1 through 10 and his paintings have been voted FAV15% in Bold Brush on a number of occasions.

I was sitting at the bar at a local restaurant one evening and noticed the cascading reflections from the dozens of bottles of liqueur on the glass shelves. I knew immediately that I wanted to paint the scene. As I started gathering photo references my thoughts coalesced around the idea of glass bottles as precious objects. The shapes sizes and colors of the glass and the liquid inside all meld together to sparkle like gemstones.

I had painted several works that featured reflections in water, but never glass bottles. My goal was to get the viewer to see something more than bottles of booze. Some shiny objects that glitter and sparkle.

Symphony Of Infinite Hues: A Soulful Journey

I’m a paper artist deeply inspired by nature, culture, and personal connections. Using the ancient art form of quilling, I transform strips of paper into intricate, vibrant compositions that tell meaningful stories. Originally from India and now based in the U.S., I blend traditional techniques with modern aesthetics, often collaborating with illustrators to add depth and emotion to my work. Each piece is a reflection of my journey—rich in color, texture, and intention. From wall art to fine jewelry, I create with the hope that every design evokes joy, curiosity, and a sense of wonder. My work has been part of gallery exhibits, art shows, and cherished as personalized gifts that celebrate love and identity. Whether it’s a Tree of Life, a mandala, or a custom initial, my art is a quiet offering of beauty in a fast-paced world. I believe in the power of handmade and in making art that connects people deeply.

In a world teeming with patterns, where chaos and structure intermingle, my dual passion as an engineer and artist is ignited. Fascinated by the harmony that emerges from shapes and colors, I found my medium of expression in the ancient art of quilling. Through Paper Sweetly, born in 2016, I embarked on a creative journey that began with paper jewelry and expanded to encompass a diverse range of art forms, from earrings and necklaces to wall art and sculptures.

Within the confines of my San Jose home studio, I immerse myself in the process of translating my perceptions, moods, and glimpses of inspiration into tangible creations. With each sketch, color selection, and delicate curling of paper, I witness the transformation of intangible ideas into exquisite reality. The entire journey, from inception to completion, fills me with an overwhelming sense of joy and relief from stress.

Symphony Of Reflections

Maries Joseph is a California‑based self‑taught artist whose passion for painting has been reignited following a professional journey in medicine. Inspired by “the unrivalled beauty, perfection, and aesthetics of the Divine Creator,” her work bridges abstract expressionism and nature‑inspired themes.

Today, Maries offers a diverse collection of original artworks in acrylic and oil, as well as premium canvas prints—each designed to bring hope, energy, and spaciousness into daily life. Her pieces range from immersive abstracts like Whispers of the Deep and Celestial Awakening to dynamic nature compositions such as The Kingfisher and Black Horse.

Maries believes art should not just be observed—it should be felt. It’s an experience that invites viewers to pause, reflect, and connect. Her work is perfect for collectors or anyone searching to transform a room with color, emotion, and divine resonance.

Art, for me, is a language of the soul—a way to express the emotions, energies, and divine beauty that often transcend words. My work draws inspiration from the natural world, the cosmos, and the quiet spiritual rhythms of life. Through vibrant color palettes, layered textures, and intuitive mark-making, I aim to create abstract compositions that evoke feeling, reflection, and connection.

As a self-taught artist and a former physician, I bring to my practice a deep sensitivity to the human experience—its fragility, resilience, and mystery. Each painting is a journey of discovery, guided by a reverence for light, movement, and the sacred interplay between chaos and harmony.

I believe art has the power to transform spaces and stir the heart. Whether it hangs in a home, gallery, or office, I hope my work brings a sense of clarity, warmth, and inspiration—an invitation to pause, breathe, and reconnect with what truly matters.

Talitha Cumi Rise Up Young Woman

Leombruni is a Connecticut-based painter whose work explores the emotional and psychological dimensions of human experience through a lens of expressive realism. Janet Leombruni is President Emeritus of CT Women Artists. She is an Elected Member of the CT Academy of Fine Art, New Haven Paint &Clay, West Hartford Art League, and her work is part of multiple collections in the US and Europe.

Solo shows: Celeste LeWitt Gallery at UCONN Health Center, Arts of Tolland CT, the Monastery Gallery in West Hartford, Atrium Gallery at Raymond Library EH CT, FIAT LUXE at the Art League of New Britain, Workspace Manchester, CT. Leombruni has held artist talks at Kehler-Liddell Gallery in New Haven and the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, and was a featured artist for the CWA Art Chat Series. Her work is currently in the Hillstead Museum, Farmington, CT.
Group Shows: Jorgensen Gallery, UCONN, Mattatuck Museum Waterbury, Monastery Gallery, West Hartford, Slater Memorial Museum, CT, Barnes-Franklin Gallery Tunxis, CT, Flinn Gallery with the Greenwich Art Society, Theaterworks, Hartford, CT, CAFA at Lyme Academy of the Arts and Sill Gallery, Old Lyme, the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Haven Paint and Clay, SOHO20 Chelsea, NYC, KBM Gallery Riverside, CA, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, San Fernando, CA, dodomu Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, and San Rafael, CA.

Leombruni received a BA from Hartford Art School, an MA in Education from UCONN, and a Master Plus 30 in Painting and Art Education from CCSU.

In my work, I tell the stories of my experiences in the classroom. I also explore relationships, sometimes utilizing tropes or idioms in the form of children’s literature, myths, films, or portray stories as told to me by my students. I like to examine themes of hope, impulsivity, family, fantasy, innocence, and coming of age. My colors are powerful. Figures often occupy charged, ambiguous spaces, where gesture, symbolism, and narrative intersect to reveal underlying tensions between individuals and their environments. I seek to draw the viewer in, to elicit an emotional response. I like to ask the viewer to determine: What is really going on here?

Tea Time

Cher Pruys, ASAA SCA, IGOR, AAPL, CSAA, AMS, LMS, OSA, MAA, CFA, NOAPS, PSOA, AWA., AAOA.
“To take my inner visions with my hands and create a work of art for you the viewer… That is the ultimate in self-expression.”

Cher Pruys was born in Regina. Over the years she lived in many places including Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Fort Frances, settling into her present home in Devlin, on the banks of the Rainy River with her husband Mark, 4 dogs, and 2 cats.

By age three, Cher was seldom found without a drawing tool in hand. She worked in pencil, charcoal, and ink over the years, until, she picked up a paintbrush at the age of 35. Beginning with oil paints, she found her chosen mediums in acrylic, watercolor, and gouache.

Although self-taught, her dedication and talent have seen her work juried into 463 International exhibits, as well as exhibits in numerous non-juried shows. She has won 718 awards for her work in the International Juried Exhibits.

Her work has graced the covers of 3 books, and 36 magazines, including The Best Of Acrylic Fall 2021, the cover of the May 2022 Arabella Magazine, #20 Hyperrealism Magazine with “Girls Girls Girls”, & #21 with “The Young Cowboy”, & the latest, Artists & Illustrators March 2024. She has been featured in over 350 International publications. Cher’s works have found a permanent home in private and public collections worldwide.

I am a self-taught artist working in water-based mediums, mainly acrylic, but also at times gouache and watercolor. I am a hyperrealism painter fascinated by the world around me. I am very drawn to shiny surfaces as well as transparent objects, especially when the lighting brings them to life. I look for beauty in everyday objects that most people take for granted or just don’t truly see as they are. The seemingly boring and mundane subjects can truly be like magnets if portrayed in the right light. The shiny metal is one of those materials that can host endless visions….the light hits it and the reflections are captured on the smooth, sleek surface…people and animals especially the eyes…an artist’s dream! My future art plans are to paint the countless subjects I have chosen to become paintings and to share my art with as many people as I can.

“To take my inner visions with my hands and create a work of art for you the viewer… That is the ultimate in self-expression.”