lives and works in Los Angeles and Washington

Henrieta Maneva

USA

Daniel Agra

Spain

Joanne Gravelin

USA

lives and works in Mountain View , California , USA

Art is selective re-creation of reality ” Ayn Rand , The Fountainhead . The best way of expressing yourself , your inner I , your thoughts , your beliefs , your values , your worries , your feelings , your hopes , your fears , your love , your hate , your soul , your everything is with art . Any kind , any form of art , just find the one that best matches you . For me , painting is an intimate act , particularly when you do it with love . Sometimes you may want to show the world your love , other time you fear your feelings and prefer to hide them deep inside . I adore painting , especially with watercolor and ink ( sepia ). In particular , I enjoy the process of my mini-recreation , which for me is actually more a discovery , because watercolor is something relatively new to me . I admire the delicacy , the ethereality and the transparency of aquarelle . I look at a watercolor painting as a breathing , mystical creature that wants to be discovered . As Picasso said , “ Painting is just another way of keeping a diary ”, and this quote 100 % applies to me . I love to travel to different countries ( mostly European ), meet different people , and explore different cultures . I love the architecture , the atmosphere and the spirit of the old cities .

From an early age I have been attracted to exhibitions and books of painting , photography and art in general , although my first real experience with photography began at the age of 20 , when , with my first savings I bought my reflex camera . Always on a personal and self-taught level , I began to explore this universe passing through different stages , including one in 2005 , but by circumstances I decided to stop for some time . In 2010 I felt that I could contribute something more , it was then when my personal environment knowing what I had done , I was convinced to make known my work . For me photography is a language of its own , a personal perspective with thematic diversity . My preference is nature , urban environments , anything conceptual but above all I try to tell stories , portray ideas that come into my head , look for images to questions , beliefs , thoughts that I pose , and lastly develop concepts through photography .

The balance of abstraction and representation definitely impact how you view the landscapes . The places are always some kind of recognizable landscape simply through creating distinct horizons , plant life , even buildings in some works . And with that as a footing in reality I feel it is my color scheme that adds a lot of the abstraction . With the addition of unnatural and neon colors I achieve a dreamlike quality . I use a lot of pastel colors to paint hazy skies reminiscent of sunsets or late afternoons and add pops of neon amongst the scenery . I tend to keep the same hazy and fading brushwork throughout . Having bushes and shrubs all blend together with subtle layering creating a depth . It ’ s almost that lack of outlining and distinct shapes that keep the scene dreamy . I want the places to be relatable , but they are entirely my own creation . It ’ s about capturing a feeling more than precisely representing a location and the mix of representation and abstraction allow me that .

lives and works in Flemington , NJ , USA

lives and works in Warsaw , Poland

lives and works in Portland , Oregon , USA

On the cover

, a work by

Special thanks to Haylee Lenkey , Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar , Joshua White , Nicolas Vionnet , Genevieve Favre Petroff , Sandra Hunter , MyLoan Dinh , John Moran , Marya Vyrra , Gemma Pepper , Michael Nelson , Hannah Hiaseen and Scarlett Bowman , Yelena York Tonoyan , Haylee Lenkey , Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar and Robyn Ellenbogen .

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