Magenta Frenzy

Joanne M. Meurer is the creative director and founder of ReInvent Strategies, Inc., a boutique marketing and branding firm located in NYC. She brings over two decades of corporate branding and strategic marketing expertise to New York City’s entrepreneurial landscape. As Creative Director, she ensures businesses authentically represent themselves in print and online, fostering their unique identity.

Joanne’s impact extends beyond marketing; her Acrylic Mixed Media works have been displayed at several galleries across NYC and Brooklyn, solidifying her presence in the artistic community.

Joanne’s commitment to the arts is evident through her involvement with BWAC and “Art on The Terrace,” which demonstrate her dedication to fostering artistic expression. Currently represented by NYC Arts Empire, her artwork has been displayed on the NASDAQ Billboard in Times Square, Big Screen Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, and several KIOSK throughout NYC, further underscoring her significance in both the marketing and art spheres.

I am Joanne Meurer, an artist who thrives on the interplay of mood, music, and materiality. My creative journey is a fusion of passion and precision, where the rhythms of rock and jazz-funk electrify my canvas, igniting a symphony of color and texture.

As a graphic designer by trade, my work is defined by meticulous detail and deliberate composition. Yet, beneath the surface lies a wild spontaneity—an untamed energy that pulses with the complex cadences of electric guitar solos and soulful jazz melodies.
Music is my muse, infusing each piece with an ethereal vitality that transcends the ordinary.

Whether inspired by the pulsating beats of global events or the intimate whispers of my innermost thoughts, my art reflects the world as seen through the lens of my consciousness.

Exploring beyond the confines of traditional art, I embrace the challenge of sculpting three-dimensional forms that mirror the depth of my personality and aspirations. Like a master craftsman, I mold form and substance into expressions of dimensionality, inviting viewers to journey beyond the surface and uncover the hidden layers beneath.

When you encounter my work, what may initially appear as a distant tableau soon reveals itself as a vibrant tapestry of complexity and nuance. With each brushstroke and every note, I invite you to delve deeper into the kaleidoscope of my soul—a realm where light and shadow dance in harmony, where chaos and order merge to form a symphony of expression.

In every moment, in every creation, I rediscover myself—a seeker, a storyteller, a dreamer of boundless possibilities. Through my art, I invite you to join me on this timeless voyage of discovery, where the journey is as infinite as the creative spirit itself.

Magick In The Water

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.

Man Hole Art 1

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.”

Man In A Sombrero

When I was in grade school and high school, I did a lot of art. I like to think it offered me an incredible foundation for what would come much later. In high school, I studied under Walt Bartman, doing oil painting primarily. I was accepted into the Maryland College of Art and Design on a figure drawing scholarship program that they offered to high school students when I was 16. After high school, I went on to pursue my other passion — helping people. I’ve spent the last 25 years working as a psychotherapist. Sometime in the middle of all of that, I had kids (twins), and eventually came back to drawing in 2017. What I do now is primarily self-taught, though I do feel my training and education as a child have created an invaluable foundation for my work today. I’ve watched countless hours of slowed-down YouTube videos and tutorials, and have spent thousands of hours drawing, practicing, and improving. It’s been a wonderful and challenging journey, and I’ve loved every minute of it! My goal moving forward is to continue to learn and challenge myself as I transition to art full-time. I feel the next step is to get my name out there to the art world. I have just recently started applying to calls via café, and have been accepted into a small handful of international juried shows. My goal as an artist is the same as my goal as a human — connection. I work to find the place where we all meet; that place where our differences recede, and we can settle in. That’s why I draw, to find that snapshot moment where someone can look at my art and go, Oh, yes. I know that feeling.

My artistic practice centers on portraiture—on drawing out the unseen essence of a subject and translating it through the delicate control of graphite. I explore the quiet power of detail—each mark is an invitation to slow down, to look closer, and to witness what is often overlooked. Every drawing is a form of deep listening, an act of attention that honors the emotional and psychological presence of the individual.

I believe hyperrealism, when pursued with discipline and sensitivity, becomes more than a replication of the visible world—it becomes a mirror, a bridge, and sometimes, a wound made visible. I’m fascinated by the complexity of the human face and the subtle interplay of light, texture, and expression that gives a portrait its emotional charge. As a psychotherapist, I’m naturally attuned to nuance, which shapes my artistic philosophy: that realism can reveal as much about the internal world as the external one. It allows me to build tonal depth slowly, almost sculpturally, honoring the patience, presence, and attention each subject deserves.

My goal as an artist is the same as my goal as a human — connection. I work to find the place where we all meet; that place where our differences recede, and we can settle in. That’s why I draw, to find that snapshot moment where someone can look at my art and go, Oh, yes. I know that feeling.

My style has evolved over the last eight years to a refined form of realism that balances technical control with expressive intent. I see art as a language, and my goal is to create a sense of atmosphere and feeling. I’m currently exploring new directions, including the integration of charcoal for its expressive depth and contrast. I’ve just completed my largest piece to date—a graphite portrait measuring three feet tall and two feet wide—which has expanded both my physical and emotional engagement with the medium, allowing space for story, intimacy, and connection.

My goal is to create drawings that don’t simply replicate life but evoke it—quietly, powerfully, and with honesty.

Many Moons Ago

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.

March Of The Lunartic

My work has received recognition from ArtTour International Magazine (ATIM’s Top 60 Masters Award 2022), American Illustration, 3×3 Magazine, the Society of Illustrators (NYC), the Society of Publication Designers, Print, Art-Competition.net, the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, Artavita and Applied Arts. My paintings have been displayed in many galleries including the Museum of American Illustration (NYC), Gallery-Henoch (NYC), the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum (Washington D.C.), Gallery 110 (Seattle WA), The Studio Door (San Diego CA), David Anthony Fine Art (Taos NM), Arte Ponte Gallery (NYC), Whatcom Museum (Bellingham WA), Gallery 25N (Online gallery), Viridian Artists Inc. (NYC), Greg Moon Art (Taos NM), Contreras Gallery (Tucson AZ), Tubac Center of the Arts (Tubac AZ), H Gallery (Ventura CA), Naples Art Assoc. (Naples FL), Axis Gallery (Sacramento CA), The Center for Contemporary Political Art (Washington DC) and Blackboard Gallery (Camarillo CA).

As a fledgling illustrator in Brooklyn during the 1980s, I took on any project thrown my way. I refer to that time as my “snack or famine days”. Eventually, I zeroed in on editorial work and soon scored assignments at publications like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NY Newsday, and The Village Voice (primarily covers).

Since the early 2000s, I’ve concentrated on gallery work with an editorial, satirical slant….. essentially larger oil paintings with conceptual content reminiscent of my illustration years. Lampooning politicians, pundits, or spiritual leaders who specialize in alternative facts, manufactured outrage, false equivalents, convoluted conspiracy theories and tunnel-visioned tribalism (whew) is my form of protest and provides a satisfying outlet (i.e., it minimizes shouting at the TV, reduces those pesky nightmares & eliminates my quest to prove Jeff Sessions is actually an interloper from The Shire).

Market Find

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.

Mary Poppins

Meet Sue Anderson, the creative force behind Susan Locke Photography. Susan is a talented photographer with a passion for capturing the beauty of the world around us. Her work is a celebration of the natural world and the moments that make life special.

Susan’s love of photography began at a young age when she received her first camera as a gift. Over the years, she has honed her skills, experimenting with different techniques and styles to create stunning images that capture the essence of her subjects.

Susan’s photography is characterized by its timeless beauty and attention to detail. Her images are infused with a sense of wonder and awe, and they transport viewers to a world of beauty and tranquility. Whether she is capturing the majesty of a mountain landscape or a surreal world, Susan’s photographs are a testament to the power of art to evoke emotion and inspire us to see the world in new ways.

My dreams and the fantastical world of my imagination serve as the sources of my inspiration. I enjoy capturing the essence of my playful view of the world and transforming it into fun photographic compositions that are both captivating and thought-provoking. I invite the viewer to explore the depths of their imagination and to embrace the surreal and magical aspects of life. I aim to produce magical, enchanted, and wonder-filled images that take viewers to a realm where anything is conceivable.

Mask

Paul Pinzarrone studied classical piano, biology, and chemistry. He explored playing the keyboard in various rock & roll bands, playing piano for musicals, singers, and dancers, and also worked as an orderly in a trauma center emergency room and surgery. He studied art history and painting at the University of Illinois, earning a BFA in Painting with Highest Honors. Graduate work was done in painting and drawing at Northern Illinois University and the University of Wisconsin.

Paul taught drawing and design at Rockford and Rock Valley Colleges and exhibited at juried contests and galleries in Chicago, Miami, Louisville, Muskegon MI, Ohio, and New Orleans. Exhibitions include the Art Institute Biennial, Butler Institute of American Art, Gilman Gallery, Horwich Gallery, Union League Juried, and Zhou B Art Center [Chicago].

Earlier work included photography, acrylic, and airbrushed lacquer constructions on Plexiglas. Matching the process to the imagery, Pinzarrone pushed the science-fiction look of spraying bronzing powders with acrylic lacquers for an inaccessible, reflective presentation. Film photography transitioned to digital and airbrush turned into an electronic version with Photoshop and other painting methods. To be “art”, Pinzarrone contends that it must be a new…. new version of a Vermeer or Michelangelo or Titian using digital photos, photoshop, and fractal software, printed on Plexiglas or aluminum. It must have a new look, using new materials, presenting a new approach to how great masters saw life.

Current work includes numerous texture-free digital layers, photographic manipulation, and a high gloss machined-looking flat piece. The viewer tries to solve puzzles of why the figures are emotionless and passive, all expressions have been wiped away with most wrinkles and blemishes. The figure’s skin is Pinzarrone’s canvas now, drawing from Titian and other master themes and poses. Tensions are explored to pull the viewer to wonder if it is a photograph or a fabricated reality. Craftsmanship counts.

This work is a study of how nature and power rhyme. It is a study of candy-colored puzzles displayed on high gloss aluminum or plexiglass and metallic paper. The viewer is drawn in to feel comforted yet disturbed, pulled towards the work but paused at the detachment. All are invited in to play and explore…. and wonder if these are mirrors, this science fiction, some other-worldly situation, or nightly dreams.

Process Remark:
This work is digital…. I use Flame and Amber software, fractal software for patterns, painting software for digital airbrush & air erasure, and digital photography to show you my world. Images are built up using transparent layers. After they are compressed, I wrap them around figures and build up additional transparent layers. The figure skin is my canvas presented as though photographs of tattoos, painted figures, or something else. Darker pieces are printed on high gloss aluminum while higher color work is printed on metallic film and bonded to the reverse side of clear plexiglass.