Face It
I am a first-generation Ecuadorian American artist, born and raised with a passion for creativity. From a young age, I was drawn to the vibrant world of graffiti, a love that not only shaped my artistic vision but also led me to win multiple competitions, including mural contests. In high school, I was honored to be voted “Most Artistic,” an acknowledgment that fueled my desire to pursue art in all its forms.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, I developed a strong foundation in design and structure, which seamlessly blends into my work as both an artist and a third-generation stone mason. I am the owner of Art in Stone Masonry and Design, a company that specializes in creating one-of-a-kind stone works, combining my architectural skills with my family’s craftsmanship traditions.
Painting has always been an integral part of my life. While I’ve explored various styles, my current focus is abstract painting, where I express emotion and energy through color, texture, and form. My art is a reflection of my journey, influenced by my cultural roots, my experiences in the world of
As an avid traveler, my work is deeply influenced by new experiences, unfamiliar landscapes, and fleeting encounters. I am drawn to abstract faces—sometimes inspired by people I meet along the way, but more often, reflections of myself. Each piece becomes a visual diary, capturing emotions, moments, and memories that words cannot fully express.
My process is intuitive and unrestrained. I begin by emptying my mind, allowing color to lead the way. The shades and tones I choose are often those that stood out to me during my travels—vivid hues from a bustling city, muted earth tones from a quiet desert, or the unexpected contrast of light and shadow. Using brushes, spray paint, or scraping techniques, I layer and distort until a face emerges, raw and undefined, yet deeply familiar.
I believe my best work comes when I stop thinking and simply let it flow. In that space of pure instinct, I find truth—not just in the faces I create, but in the connection between movement, memory, and emotion.
Faces #2 – A Man Of Vision
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.
Faces #3 – Love Of Labor
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.
Faces #4 – A Grandmothers Lament
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.
Faces In Full Spectrum
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.
Faded Blue Door, Yemen
Karen Safer is an international, award-winning photographic artist and poet with a musical bent. A Los Angeles native, born to creative, scholarly-minded parents who encouraged her world travel (230+ countries/territories visited).
Early on, she was greatly influenced by movies, music, books, and plays, and as a student of art and history, inspired by ancients to moderns – Assyria to Cindy Sherman. She has a bachelor’s/master’s degree in Art from UCLA and California State University. She is a member of the Los Angeles Art Association, IAA-USA, Women United, Praxis Gallery, LACMA, MOCA, IAA-USA, in Who’s Who of Professional Women, ArtTour Magazine (NY), AATOLAU interview, Artist Talk Magazine (UK), Lens Magazine, etc. She was given a camera and crayons at 3 and exposed to/inspired by California motifs: light, trees, the ocean, music, and vernacular architecture that defined/influenced her left-handed aesthetic. She began taking pictures of family and friends, progressing from painting to developing black-and-white photos in college. She was fortunate to begin a life of travel as a teen that shaped her love of the exotic paired with an eye for the formal, accidental, and unusual while subliminally seeking the “beautiful” that jiggles the lens/frame of my eye.
She is featured in magazines, catalogs, and books and exhibited internationally in over 80+ galleries/museums with over 370+ exhibitions from London, Rome, Berlin, Glasgow, Budapest, Athens, Prague, Paris, Barcelona, Florence, Venice, Sao Paulo, from California to New York, winning 360+ First and other awards – most recently: Black & White SPIDER Awards nominee, 21st Julia Margaret Cameron Awards in Abstract and in Architecture categories, Botticelli International Prize in Florence, LA Art Show 2024, 17th Annual Color Awards and soon in Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Art Expos in Basel and Armenian Modern Art Museum in Yerevan.
“A photographer has the whole world big or small to capture.” – kjs
Influences: I am a student of art, architecture, history, literature, film, and music. I have been heavily influenced by so many sources but here I’ve chosen to highlight art and photography influences from Hopper to Cartier-Bresson and from Atget to Cindy Sherman. So many influences on life from cities to nature to music and art. I love color and all its vibrance while I venerate black and white. I embrace all the many influences that have touched my art and my life deeply.
Faerie Dusting
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.
Faith
Hélène de Tyndare is a French artist of Ukrainian origin.
She was born in what was a pleasant city on the shores of the Sea of Azov called Mariupol. Her taste for painting was expressed very early. She has been trained by Ukrainian painters and she attended art courses in the Arkhip Kuindzhi art school located in Mariupol.
She went to Kyiv University before acquiring experience in engineering and development in Siberia, Ukraine, Italy, and France. After she moved to France in the year 2000 she progressively became fully dedicated to her artistic activity. Her studio was first in the Paris area and is now located in the French Riviera.
Her most recent exhibitions were in Paris, Monaco and Milano.
Then the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia started in February 2022. Among other war crimes against civilians, Mariupol was turned into ruins and death.
As an artist, Hélène de Tyndare has expressed her overload of deep emotions generated by this brutal war through a series of paintings called «Invasion». The paintings presented here include « Besieged Mariupol », « Exodus », « Deportation of Children», « War Crimes in Villages», « Destruction of Cities», « Ecocide, the Destruction of Nature», « From Holodomor to water cutting », « Criminal flag ».
https://aatonau.com/helene-de-tyndare-a-portrait-of-resilience-and-creativity/
LATEST EXHIBITIONS
2019 – Collective exhibition organized by the Arcades School of Art
2019 – Participation in the artist studio’s open-door event and the market of artworks organized by the city of Boulogne-Billancourt
2020-Collective exhibition in the Landowsky Cultural Center, in the town of Boulogne-Billancourt
2021-Collective exhibition at the City Hall of Boulogne-Billancourt
2022 – Personal exhibition « PORTRAITS D’HUMANITE » à la galerie “L’Entrepôt” au 22 rue Millo à Monaco
2022 – Exhibition in Parma Italy at the International Art Forum
2023 – Exhibition in Milan Italy with Mega Art Gallery
2023-Exhibition Art Graulhet sixth edition
2023-Exhibition GlobArt ville Fayence
2023-Exhibition ville Boulogne-Billancourt
I have always practiced painting. After a career as an engineer, I have been practicing my artistic activities full-time for ten years in my studio located in Boulogne Billancourt until 2019 and in Cannes since 2020.
I can now live my emotions through an artistic expression whose originality of style is now well affirmed. My gaze is nourished by the diversity of my past experiences in environments such as Siberia, Central Asia, and Central Europe and my many trips to France, Europe, and North America.
I have my artistic style which I call cartographic expressionism. My works have in common the use of living colors. In the portraits, I try to translate the humanity that emerges from the gaze and the attitude of the model. In landscapes, I reproduce the emotions that particular atmospheres and luminosity inspire in me. The relationship between nature and human beings is the basis of the common reflection that inspires me in these two themes of portraiture and landscape.
For the portraits, my models are either relatives or photographs that have triggered my emotions and my creative energy. The emotions and attitudes reflected in my work are as varied as serenity, wisdom, tenderness, fragility, melancholy, curiosity, empathy, reflection, energy, courage, or pride.
I work on different media (mainly on canvas frames) in different sizes (mainly between 50 X 70 and 100 X 120) and formats (standard, square, figure, landscape, etc.).
Now I work with large formats from 4 meters long and 2 meters wide, both on canvas and on paper
Faith
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.