Crisp
As an artist, I have chosen abstraction as my expressive language, pouring my creative energy into acrylic and mixed media works. My process is a constant evolution, fueled by an insatiable curiosity for all things textural, sculptural, and organic. Drawing and composition remain lifelong companions, informing my exploration of where art and science converge – a beautiful intersection I’m driven to understand.
Having called New England home for most of my artistic journey, the local landscapes and historical contexts have left an indelible mark on my work. At my core, I’m fascinated by the human spirit’s longing for authenticity and what transpires when that authenticity eludes us. While immersed in the act of creation, I often find myself pondering our spiritual kinships as a species.
Art has been my constant companion from the earliest days, though my path was dramatically reshaped when I suffered a traumatic brain injury as a young mother. The long road to recovery required relearning the most fundamental skills – speaking, writing, walking – while simultaneously caring for my two young children. This arduous period necessarily put my professional art practice on indefinite hold for decades. Yet now, having regained my full faculties, I view this experience as a profound “gift” that has enriched my perspective on the world and the human condition.
With a BA in Visual Arts and Art History, complemented by an advanced degree in Art Education, my passion for creative expression has taken me across the globe. From the ancient wonders of Greece and Italy to the artistic meccas of France, I’ve immersed myself in studying art’s vast histories and philosophies. My work has garnered attention in print and television spheres, with critics lauding my abstract ocean-colored paintings as a pioneering new movement.
“Maguire’s swirling, undulating canvases envelop the viewer in a hypnotic aquatic realm, ” praised one critic”. Layer upon layer of blues, greens, and earthy terracottas intermingle, evoking the ever-shifting mysteries of the deep sea. Her mastery of texture and her bold, gestural brushwork create works that are simultaneously serene and tempestuous, tranquil and turbulent.”
Through my art, I strive to capture the essence of the natural world while exploring the depths of the human psyche. It is a lifelong endeavor, one that continually reveals new insights into the wonders that surround us.
I am an abstract painter based in Kittery, Maine. My work explores themes of authenticity, spirituality, and humanity’s connection to nature through expressive brushwork and an intuitive painting process. By abstracting elements from the New England landscape that inspire me, I aim to create works that are emotionally resonant and evoke a sense of the sublime.
My process is very organic and in the moment. I build up layers of paint, scraping some areas away while allowing others to remain, creating a dynamic surface with depth and movement. Paint is allowed to drip, flow, and merge in unplanned ways. This spontaneous method taps into my subconscious and unlocks personal symbology from my own psyche and emotions.
Ultimately, my goal is to communicate universal truths about the human condition and our spiritual relationship to the natural world. My paintings serve as a gateway for viewers to access their own introspection and find their own personal meaning within abstract forms and gestures.
Croma Sylph
Adriana Azevedo was born in 1970 in Natal, Brazil. During the Covid pandemic lockdown, she’s unleashed her artistic passion and embraced it. As an immigrant artist based in Florida, her unique Brazilian perspective and cultural background inspire her creative expression.
She worked as an architect in Brazil for 2 decades before moving to the United States. She is proud and honored to contribute to the vibrant and diverse artistic community in the Orlando area.
I find my deepest inspiration in the fascinating worlds of Cubism and Surrealism. These influential movements have ignited my creative spirit, guiding me to explore the intricate interplay between reality and imagination on canvas.
My work is a reflection of the multifaceted nature of existence. Through the lens of Cubism, I deconstruct the ordinary, breaking down conventional forms into a tapestry of geometric shapes and angles. This allows me to unveil new dimensions within the familiar, encouraging viewers to contemplate the essence of what they see.
Crosstown Traffic
Anna Mathai is a multidisciplinary artist based in San Francisco with a practice spanning from mixed media and painting to sculpture, decorative residential wall installations, and writing. She creates sculptural and textured works that use color, light, texture, and shadow to tell her story, and frequently works with plaster, textile, and metal. Her goal is to create things that hold some strange magic. It’s why she likes to experiment with and create new methods (like her “canvas kintsugi” and hardened silk origami). She makes works that interact with their viewers and the light around them, reflecting, shifting colors, and jumping off of the wall to mingle art and enjoyment, to transcend viewing into experiencing. She feels that the aesthetics (and a touch of whimsy) are paramount. However, on the “series level,” her work often references deeper themes from her life, such as rebellion, feminism, “otherness”, and the immigrant experience. Her work, however, is not overtly political. In her mind, her art generally reflects on boundaries, both real and imagined and blurs them.
Mathai was born in the UK to Indian parents but spent most of her childhood in the rural Deep South. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Rice University after graduating from the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and Arts, then went to medical school, and eventually law school, later practicing as an entertainment lawyer. Since pursuing her art professionally, her work has been featured in international art magazines and exhibited nationwide. In her other time, she writes lyrics and screenplays, enjoys nature with her Australian Shepherd, and Cowboy, and tests jokes on friends and family.
I create sculptural and textured works that use color, light, texture, and shadow to tell my story, and frequently work with plaster, textile, and metal. I want to create things that hold some sort of strange magic. It’s why I like to experiment with new methods and create works that interact with their viewers and the light around them, jumping out of the canvas to mingle art and enjoyment, to transcend viewing into experiencing. I feel that the aesthetic (and a touch of whimsy) is paramount, though on the “series level,” my works sometimes reference deeper themes from my life, including those of rebellion, feminism, and the immigrant experience. My work is not overtly political, and it would be unlike me to have one meaning for any single work—in fact, the exploration of dualities and the blurring of them is conceptually central to most of my art. Even in my poetic writing, I find beauty in the multiplicity and ambiguity of meaning. So, I prefer to avoid prescribing meaning to each work and let the viewer interact with it themselves, adding to the art with their own interpretation. It’s a sort of acceptance of all meanings: each one is true as it applies to you—I call it my “quantum art” philosophy. All that being said, in my mind, my work generally reflects on boundaries, both real and imagined, and blurs them.
Crown Him With Many Crowns
Marla Jean Clinesmith is a Louisiana-based painter whose work engages the visual and conceptual depth of the ancient Paleo Hebrew pictographic language within a contemporary abstract framework. Her practice examines how early symbolic systems functioned as both image and language — carrying layered meaning through form, structure, and gesture.
Working primarily in acrylic and often incorporating metallic elements, Clinesmith constructs luminous fields of color that serve as both atmosphere and architecture. Ancient letterforms emerge within these layered surfaces, not as illustration, but as structural components that inform composition, tension, and visual rhythm. Her work explores how symbolic language continues to shape perception and spiritual imagination across time.
A two-time recipient of the Denis Diderot Grant for residency at Château Orquevaux in France, Clinesmith also has four paintings in the Château’s permanent collection. Her paintings have been included in regional and national juried exhibitions, including the Adonai Global Art Fund Exhibition, where she was awarded First Place.
Through an ongoing studio practice, Clinesmith continues to investigate the intersection of abstraction, language, and sacred text — creating paintings that invite contemplative engagement while remaining grounded in contemporary painterly concerns.
Creativity rarely emerges in isolation; it is shaped by the influences that quietly form an artist’s way of seeing. My work is profoundly informed by a sustained engagement with the Ancient Hebrew—Paleo Hebrew—pictographic language, a visual system in which each letter functions not merely as text but as image, gesture, and bearer of layered meaning.
These primordial forms offer more than historical intrigue; they preserve a mode of thought in which language and symbol were inseparable. I am drawn to their ability to communicate complex spiritual ideas with striking visual economy, allowing ancient perception to speak into contemporary space.
Biblical texts remain a steady influence in my work, especially those that speak of God’s presence within human life. The ancient pictographs deepen my understanding of these themes, revealing layers of meaning that shape how I build each painting. I do not aim to illustrate scripture, but to express its depth and mystery through the painting itself.
Working primarily in acrylic and frequently incorporating gold leaf or metallic elements, I build layered fields of color that serve as both atmosphere and architecture. Color remains central to my process — a sensibility first awakened through formal study of color theory and continually refined in the studio.
By uniting luminous color with sacred pictographs, I seek to create paintings that operate as contemplative spaces — places where ancient consciousness and contemporary experience meet, inviting viewers into reflection rather than conclusion.
Cruising Altitude
Yue Zeng is a Chinese-American self-taught artist, mother, and wife, who has been living in the United States since 2008 and currently resides in Woodbury, Minnesota. Zeng’s artistic practice focuses on oil painting, with her subjects mainly being mythical creatures and imaginary landscapes. With a style between impressionism and fantasy, she explores the vividness of their spirit in saturated colors and organic forms. Zeng’s interest in the arts started in elementary school, sparking her desire to create later in life. In her twenties, she obtained her Master in Science from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York. In 2017 due to physical complications, Zeng had to leave the chemistry industry. Transformed by the experience, she decided to revisit her art practice and make it her career regardless of the obstacles she would face. Since then, Zeng has flourished in her artistic expression, finding her true passion in oil painting. Although Zeng explores other painting mediums such as gouache, pastel, and digital, oil and canvas feel the most natural. This medium allows her to relax and be free with the changeability of the material and exploration of color within the subjects she paints.
My paintings are an outlet to express the imagination I have inside my head that I can not put into words. After trying many mediums, I always find myself coming back to paint and brushes. In my current artistic practice, I use oil paint and mainly create portraits of mythical creatures and animals transfixed in the shifting colors of seascapes and landscapes. There is a natural spirit and magic to these creatures and their energy draws me in. Choosing to paint these creatures as real living wildlife rather than abstractions, I use bold and vivid colors to express the imagination intertwined with reality, finding magic between the seams. Using a saturated color palette, I create bold and striking imagery, contrast between foreground and background, subject and landscape, and light and darkness. Weaving their bodies and the surface of the landscape into each other through organic forms and flowing brush strokes, I find beauty, strength, and innocence in these creatures that reflect my inner world.
Crushed
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.”
Crystal Palace, Madrid
Toti Cuesta is an award-winning watercolor artist who creates stunning portraits inspired by nature. Through her work, she hopes to bring awareness to the importance of environmental conservation and share the beauty and peace she finds in the natural world. With her profound love for mother nature, Toti Cuesta’s pieces are a must-see for anyone looking to connect with the environment.
After years of working in the international arena as a lawyer, she decided to pursue her great passion – art – and live a meaningful life. Art has always had a healing power for Toti, and she trained as an Art Therapist to help others heal with art.
Toti strives to create pieces that connect the viewer to the subtle worlds of the universe. Through her art, she invites her viewers to partake in a magical and transforming experience by combining several planes of reality. Her pieces seem connected to an infinite flow of energy. Toti Cuesta’s work is a tribute to the beauty and power of nature, and it is a reminder of the deep connection between us and the world we inhabit.
Toti Cuesta has created a remarkable portfolio of beautiful watercolor portrait art that reflects her deep love and admiration for nature. Her work has earned her recognition and international awards, as well as exhibitions in places such as New York, Venice, and Zurich. Her art has also been featured in several international books and magazines, including ArtTour International magazine’s TOP 60 Masters list.
Toti’s pieces are not only captivating to look at but also serve to bring awareness to the importance of environmental conservation. Through her vibrant and dynamic portraits, Toti can show the peace and beauty found in nature if we take the time to appreciate it.
As a surreal portrait artist, I use watercolor to create paintings that merge symbols and vibrant colors, inviting you into a new world filled with light and life. Through these elements, I communicate universal stories that resonate within your subconscious, connecting you with the divine and the eternal. My art offers an alternative view of the world that inspires you to explore more profound levels of consciousness and rediscover human divinity.
The female figure, central in my works, symbolizes life, maternity, creativity, resilience, and love. She represents Mother Earth, embodying love and respect for everything around us, including nature and the urban environment, which deserve our care to create a more loving and just world.
My colors convey energy and emotion, utilizing a mix of cool and warm tones to symbolize the connection between heaven and earth. They evoke emotions and reflect the human experience. The eyes symbolize our window to the world and the ability to perceive truths beyond the visible.
Through my series of paintings on “urban art,” I seek to share inspirational phrases that invite reflection and connect us with our true essence, reminding us of the immense potential we all carry within.
Through my art, I aim to capture the beauty of the universe and the human experience, prompting reflection on our interaction with the environment and the importance of preserving the natural and cultural beauty surrounding us.
Curiosity
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 within the Pacific Northwest for realistic reference. She creates her works with copious amounts of modeling paste, multiple layers of acrylic paint in brilliant hues, and metallic mediums to give a magickal ‘vibe’ from 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. Susan is a member of ARTrails, which is an annual art show that takes place in Centralia, Washington in late September. Since 2023, Susan has displayed works in various exhibitions at Gallery B612 and The Fishbowl in Seattle. In 2024, some of Susan’s works were published in ArtistTalk and Novum Artis magazines. She also exhibits her art through online organizations such as HMVC Gallery New York, Biafarin, and Arteom Gallery.
In a world of so much chaos, an escape into the realm of faeries brings peace and glamour into our dimension. Faeries always hold my fascination when I encounter them within our realm. I utilize the magic within my artistic soul to summon these creatures so that anyone can experience their charm and be inspired to believe in what they cannot see.
My work is conjured onto canvas using copious amounts of modeling paste and acrylic paints with multiple layers of various brushstrokes and the use of palette knife techniques. Brilliant colors and metallic hues are used to enable the faeries to emphasize 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 perpetually discovering new ways to bring my faeries to life so they can gaze upon us humans as we admire their portraits.
This piece, “Just Venting”, sums up the release of various stressors that have been brought to the world’s attention over the past year.
Curtain Call
At 65, after decades of not creating art, Lisa Joy Newcomb reinvented herself as an artist.
Ms Newcomb has been honored with one best-of-show, four first-place awards in photography, a second-place award in abstract photography, and a third-place award. She has had three one-woman shows. One through Artel Gallery, one through the University of Delaware, and now one through HMVC Gallery, New York. Her work has been seen from coast to coast, including several times through the HMVC Gallery in New York and the Las LaGuna Gallery in California. Pictorem, based out of Montreal, Canada, has Lisa as a featured artist. Ms. Newcomb’s work has been seen in public arenas including New York’s Times Square electronic billboards, Montgomery International Airport, the Regions Bank Corporate Gallery in Montgomery, Alabama, the Sanger Theater in Pensacola, Florida, and the Hilton Hotel Pensacola Beach, Florida. Two books have also been presented to Lisa Joy Newcomb. They are: “Nobis II, 2023” and ”Emerald Coast Review, 2023”.
The photographs she creates are abstractions in fluidity, rich in joy and filled with color, pattern, curiosity, and a gentle message. The dance of light that for most of her life she sought in the ocean, she is now looking for in the melding of glass and fabric, with occasional surprise elements. Lisa’s work is usually printed on aluminum using high-definition ChromaLuxe sublimation.
Ms Newcomb’s highest degree is a master’s in social work. Professionally, she worked as a social worker and as a realtor. She was raised in the Mid-Atlantic, experienced her young adulthood in New England and the Midwest, and for the last 28 years, the Deep South has been home with her husband. It was in the Deep South that she raised an interesting, dynamic, kind-hearted daughter. Lisa was a docent sequentially at the Pensacola Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Art for over 17 years. She is currently a national member of Pen Women.
Ms Newcomb’s uplifting work can be seen on her website at Pictorem. You may order there to your specifications.
I create photos as peaceful, playful, healing stimuli while I make observations of humanity and the environment. Drawing upon different objects, I explore melding them into a unified whole. Part of my process is setting up compositions, in the form of an assemblage, visually weaving together beautiful glass, flowing fabric, with vibrant colors and patterns into integrated fluid formations, seeking to reshape light, pattern, and color into a visual oasis. I then tightly crop and photograph. My intent is to transcend and transform objects into images that visually excite while calming the soul, often with a gentle message.
A lifelong passion for art and artists influenced my work. I nod to Miriam Schapiro, a leader in the Pattern and Decoration Movement. Having lived much of my life by the shore, I have always loved the play of light in watery reflections. I am drawn to artists who capture light. Sand Stephen Rolfe Powell’s glass delights me. Mark Rothko believed in the visceral effect of color. He wanted people to have an experience within his pictures. I seek to have my work viscerally effect the viewer.
CromaLuxe high definition images printed on aluminum are my preferred substrate. The reflective surface enhances and enriches the dynamics of the glass used in my imagery. Images can be ordered in small jewel-like prints or large dynamic pieces.