Sensei Vision is a custom Naruto character created in collaboration with Kenan Ozalp and his YouTube channel: Sensei Vision. The eyes on his clothes represent Sensei’s vision and his exceptional ability to see through the instances. Him having blue and green eyes resembles his spirituality and intelligence. The giant sword The ōdachi 大太刀 represents his distinctive skill-sets and tools he utilizes. I dressed the character with Hakama. Hakamas are regularly worn by practitioners of a variety of martial arts, such as kendo, iaido, taidō, aikido, jōdō, ryū-te, and kyūdō. Vision is the state of seeing and the ability to think about and plan the future with imagination as well as wisdom. The great sword ōdachi or nodachi 野太刀, field sword is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword 日本刀, nihontō used by the samurai class of feudal Japan.

SENSEI VISION

SPIRIT OF DRAGON FRUIT

I created a character representing the spirit of dragon fruit. The hair and the outfit resembles the shell of the dragon fruit. The body resembles the inside of the dragon fruit.

Dragon fruit may look exotic, but its flavors are similar to other fruits. Its taste has been described as a slightly sweet cross between a kiwi and a pear. Dragon fruit is a tropical fruit native to Mexico and Central America. Its taste is like a combination of a kiwi and a pear.

The dragon fruit has an appealing appearance, bright red, purple, or yellow-skinned varieties, and prominent scales. The fruit is elliptical. The flesh has a subtly flavored sweet taste or sometimes slightly sour taste. The inside is either white or red, with edible black seeds dotted all over.

SPIRIT OF DRAGON FRUIT

I joined the Ten Hundred Shape Challenge a.k.a. Random Shape Art Challenge in 2018, where I had to turn a random shape into art!

To put it simply, you take random shape outlines, coffee stains and turn off your brain and begin filling the shapes with whatever you can fit into them. It’s a great activity to do as a warm-up before a big drawing session or to get some new ideas when you’re in a jam from an art block.

There are no set rules to achieving it; take the image and let your creativity take over, turn the page any direction you wish, and you will begin seeing a mixture things than you would just looking at it head-on. You don’t need to get stuck drawing portraits either; try drawing mini environments, vehicles, architecture, anything!

Ten Hundred Shape Challenge

Image Credits

Images are by Anisa Ozalp – All Rights Reserved

Guest Artist Bio
Anisa Ozalp

Anisa Ozalp is an artist who was born and raised in New York, USA. She taught herself how to draw and paint at the age of three; her first drawing was “Elmo” from Sesame Street. She enjoyed animation and stop-motion films and was intrigued by how they were made behind the scenes. She loved reading imagination-provoking books which gave her the ability to create art today. Those who love art in its entirety would be great admirers of her work.

She mastered creating handmade dolls from imagination using her Singer sewing machine at a very young age. She is also assisting on art-related e-commerce projects which involve handmade products. Her artwork is a mix of handcrafted and digital. For her education, Anisa will be majoring in Art Animation. She holds a Fashion Design Certificate which she obtained in early 2021. She currently receives ongoing art training from her art teacher Song Binghu on still life drawing, oil painting, calligraphy, and watercolor. She obtained certificates in Adobe Illustration, Photoshop, InDesign.

Anisa completed several challenges, such as “Inktober,” “Continuous Line Challenge,” “100 Days of Sketching”, “100 Heads Challenge”,” Ten Hundred Shape Challenge,” with great success and praise from her followers. She is determined, focused, and continuously evolving in her work. Anisa always pushes the boundaries and experiments with various art verticals. She incorporates her artwork inter-culturally, representing different parts of the globe.

Websites: Anisa Ozalp & Anisa Ozalp – Medium

Follow Anisa on: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

The surrealist Spirit of Time captures the reality of life in the 21st century. It shows the impacts caused by humans’ treatment of the world and each other. Disrespect for the earth, human health, racial, gender and economic equality have resulted in climate chaos, destruction of biodiversity, the advance of COVID 19, accompanied by fear , all which are skillfully presented using religious symbolism. While a disturbing image, the message may be one of hope and an opportunity for change.

Patrice Dechavanne – Spirit of Time

Lithography, reprography art paper printed in 5 copy.
Each copy is numbered and signed by the artist. Size 60/80

Material about the work indicates the image is questioning of the Western world which has lost moral, political, economic, religious, and ecological values. As with all art and, more so with surrealist art, the meaning cannot be defined by one person as the artwork provides different messages for each viewer. With this in mind, you the viewer can comment on the work and what it means for you.

The artist´s biography can be viewed by following this link: Patrice Dechavanne Biography

Image Credits

Image is © Patrice Dechavanne

Guest Author Bio
Charalee Graydon

Charalee Graydon was born in Alberta, Canada. She is a writer, journalist, academic and past lawyer. She works in the areas mediation and collaboration and is currently a faculty member at EUCLID University.

Charalee holds degrees in Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science, and a Juris Doctorate in Law. Following receipt of a Rhodes scholarship in 1982, she pursued legal studies in Oxford, England where she obtained a B.C. L degree. She held academic positions in England, New Zealand, and Canada and is presently a faculty member at Euclid University. She completed her Ph.D. in Mediation and Conflict Resolution in June 2020. She has also practiced law in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

She has published three books of literary fiction  and one of which has been translated and published in Spanish.

She developed programs for students, judges, and the corporations on legal issues and published academic works in environmental law, sentencing and commercial law.

Blog / Website: Charaleeg.com

Through rich symbolic use of undulating, ribbon-like forms that flow and intertwine, I embrace the world around me and invite the viewer to enter.

Four Winds, Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40in

The painting “Familia” is the expression of the essence of interconnectedness. Our lives, souls and acts are all connected. Nothing in life is incongruous, though it’s purpose may remain a mystery to us.

Familia, Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 30in

“Prayers’ Power” seeks to capture the light and joy of the human spirit. The power of our minds is uniting the Universe and us.

I was thinking to title this work as “Togetherness”, but my galleriest suggested the “Prayers’ Power”. In my opinion, both names represent the message I wanted to send. I hope that my hard work and professional skills led me to achieve the result.

The main media for this painting is acrylic. In addition, I applied a variety of modelling pastes to create depth and texture.

Prayers’ Power, Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48in

Image Credits

All Images Are © Valeriya Khomar

Artist Bio
Valeriya Khomar

Born in Kiev, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. Art bathed me as I grew. My father, a talented, multidimensional artist had a huge influence on my artistic development. He was always working on some piece of artwork, using different medias, sharing his knowledge and love for art. Being inspired by my dad, I got my education in art. From the young age, I studied painting, drawing, composition, sculpture and history of arts. This exciting and unforgettable learning has matured my skills and has shaped me as an artist. I had been participating at the local and regional exhibitions in Ukraine till my arrival to Canada in 1995.

Soon after coming to Montreal, I started a successful business in the fashion industry as a graphic designer and illustrator. In the midst of heyday, I made the life changing decision to go back to my roots and build a creative career of my own as a visual artist. During the last five years I have won many international awards and have been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows. My works have been collected by private and corporate collectors in Ukraine, Canada and the United States.

Trained by four Mentors: Fine Arts, Commercial Art, formal education and my father, I am creating artworks using different media and techniques learned through my life. After a hiatus in my artistic pursuits, it feels so amazing to come back to my roots, to become myself. I am so blessed that I was able to recognize myself as an artist and so grateful that others responded so positively. 

Website: Valeriya Khomar

Follow Valeriya Khomar on: Facebook

“Homage al Huichol”

Moving back and forth from the mandala work to my other paintings allows me a visual flexibility in my art practice that spills over into my life helping me to become more spontaneous in my daily experiences.

Image Credits

All Images Are © Linda Laino

Guest Artist Bio
Linda Laino

Linda Laino is an artist, writer and teacher who has been making art in one form or another for over 35 years. Holding an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, she enjoys playing with words as much as form and color. Since 2012, she has resided in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where the surreal atmosphere and sensuous colors have wormed their way into her paintings. She is available for mandala mural commissions. Finding beautiful things on the ground is a favorite pastime.

Blog / Website: Linda Laino Paintings

Follow Linda Laino on: Instagram | Facebook | Linkedin | Twitter

Daybreak over Mount Baker

Daybreak reminds me to live life with gratitude. Each day when I rise I breath in deeply thankful for another day. My Eastern horizon is dominated by Mount Baker and the Coastal Mountains which provide me endless inspiration.

Image Credits

All Images Are © Peter Van Giesen

Peter Van Giesen Artist Bio

Peter N. Van Giesen grew up in Ontario and completed university degrees in Psychology & Religion in British Columbia where he currently resides. Inspired by “The Eternal Aura of Nature”, for him, the act of creating art is “a mystical process, a spiritual work…”

Van Giesen describes his painting style as one that hovers between representation, impressionism with a dash of abstract. “I attempt to reach into the fabric of the world exploring the dynamics of tension and elasticity. I create images based on the interplay between darkness and light, the interconnected aura of the natural world.”

Blog / Website: Peter N Van Giesen Artist

Follow Peter Van Giesen on: Twitter | Facebook

Judges 9:48, latex paint, colored pencil, micron pens, 8″x11″ © Samuel Robertson

(Judges 9:48) “And A-bim’-e-lech gat him up to mount Zal’-mon, he and all the people that were with him; and A-bim’-e’lech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.”

Judges 11:36, latex paint, colored pencil, micron pens, 8″x11″ © Samuel Robertson

(Judges 11:36) “And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Am’-mon. And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.”

Deuteronomy 24:5, latex paint, colored pencil, micron pens, 8″x11″ © Samuel Robertson

(Deuteronomy 24:5) “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.”

This surrealist and provocative depiction of the King James’ version of the Old Testament, blends absurd beauty with the most widely read historical text ever.

With over 100 illustrations in his psychedelic new illustrated interpretation of The King James’ Old Testament, Samuel Robertson has recently finished illustrating book nine: 1 Samuel.  Having begun one year ago, Samuel aims to complete the project with over 300 illustrations by Christmas Day, 2017.

Image Credits

All Images Are © Samuel Robertson

Samuel Robertson Artist Bio Samuel is a multimedia artist living in Minneapolis. In his illustrative work, he studies people and their relationships to appetite, commodities, technology, nature, and each other. He explores both the darkness and the humor in our efforts to find fulfillment and comfort through consumption, drawing his inspiration from sources where he finds symbolic representations of human appetite, including industrial equipment catalogs, tourism magazines, obscure wilderness and hunting publications, and outdated encyclopedias. He refrains from explicit judgement or commentary, attempting instead to imbue his scenes with atmosphere, humor, and allegory.

Blog / Website: MisterRobertson.com

Follow Samuel Robertson on: Facebook | Instagram | Tumblr

Pink Pitcher And Bananas 2008 oil on canvas 28×22”

It seems second nature for people everywhere to offer each other small gifts, tangible and intangible — food, gestures, music, laughter… 

Fruit and Flowers In Moonlight 2006 oil on canvas 36×36”

Many are also inclined to lay offerings down in their environment, for receipt by the non-human dwellers in the surrounding world — visible and invisible.

Perirrhanterion, Gamboge 2015 oil on canvas 42×36”

Sometimes the offerings are so subtle that they go unnoticed by anyone else nearby; the silence of the exchange making it all the more heartfelt.

Yellow Urn 2014 oil on canvas 40×30”

Image Credits

All Images Are © Laurie Goodhart

Laurie Goodhart Artist Bio Laurie Goodhart has been painting and working in mixed media for 40 years. A prolific and multi-faceted artist, her work is in hundreds of private collections throughout North America, as well as a smattering in Europe and India. Since 1989 she has simultaneously operated an organic goat cheese farm, which both imbues and interrupts the artwork.

“Backstage of the overt activities of both painting and farming, I am sifting through the remaining evidence of ancient worlds – how people of lost cultures met their basic survival needs and how they responded to the universal human urge to create beauty, meaning and story. It’s a scavenging for resonant clues about where we might have been before taking the particular forks in the road which led to where we are now.”

Blog / Website: LaurieGoodhart.com

Art making is my fire. I work intuitively, using intense color to create abstract paintings that reach for the light. It seems the more I lose myself in the work, the more it blazes onto the canvas.

Fire’s Kiss, oil on canvas 24″ x 36″

Image Credits

All Images Are © Siobhan Bedford

Siobhan Bedford Artist Bio

I am an artist living in the heart of Phoenixville, PA. Art is my passion. For me painting is an intuitive and emotional experience. I’m inspired by the raw energy of creation and nature. I share my art making journey through my blog “Behind The Studio Door”. My work has been displayed in galleries and shows. I received a BFA in Illustration/Painting from Marywood College in 1995.

Blog / Website: “Behind the Studio Door”

Follow Siobhan Bedford on: Facebook

Needless to say I was devastated. I felt as if I was betrayed by the person I trusted the most. My attempts to communicate were only met with hostility. Knowing the stress that having a baby could have on a woman, I decided to leave her alone. Just because I was not calling her or texting her did not mean I could just forget about the whole situation. Actually, it was all I could think about. I fell into a deep depression. I lost weight, lost friends, lost connection to who I was.

Kernel of Love

I also lost my job. Not that I was incredibly upset about losing that particular job, but I needed a source of income. I decided I was not going to let myself be defeated. I am a person with goals and determination and not even I could stop myself from succeeding.

I took pen to paper and sketched the days away to distract myself from my sadness. While I was still very depressed about the whole situation, I could not stop creating new art. I went all in. I purchased a domain, styled the website, and produced a portfolio. Everyday I work on different aspects from growing my business to improving my design skills to taking on new projects helping others with their dreams.

Usurp The Crown

There is no excuse not to follow your dreams. In following your dreams you find who you are, or in my case who I was. I was able to regain the joy in my life that had escaped me. I became my own best friend. I started dating art. We have a great relationship now. We have many children.

My unborn child will know a man who never gives up no matter what life may throw at him. I hope to instill my love of art in her as well. I’ve never met her but she already fuels the fire in my heart. I’m already looking forward to producing her first coloring book.

Image Credits

Art by Joel Bonilla – All Rights Reserved

Guest Author Bio

Joel Bonilla
Joel Bonilla is a 24 year old graphic artist and web developer. Born in New York City, he enjoys the finer things in life: Pizza, beer, staying up late, and skateboarding.

When he isn’t drinking a beer while eating pizza while he stays up late on a skateboard, he studies various skills to further his career aspirations. Short term goals are to become a back-end web developer by January 2016. Long Term goals: Unification of South America into a global superpower. But that comes later.

Blog / Website: Not Safe

Follow Joel On: Twitter

The Dark Hedges, Antrim, Northern Ireland, 2011 © Bret Culp

Among the first to believe in the eternal nature of the human spirit they constructed monuments to death, rebirth and the cycles of the seasons and stars. These vestiges of the past continue to resonate through the countryside today.

Temporal And Eternal, Poulnabrone Dolmen, The Burren, Clare, Ireland, 2009 © Bret Culp

Castles, fortresses and ruins are evidence of untold invasions and conflicts throughout a tumultuous history. Beautifully poignant in the process of decay they tell their own story and possess their own mortality. Nothing that belongs to the earth is ever free from it. The sacred connection between the landscape of Ireland and its people has not disappeared over the centuries.

Dunluce Castle, Antrim, Northern Ireland, 2012 © Bret Culp

Image Credits

All Images Are © Bret Culp

Bret Culp Artist Bio

Bret Culp’s haunting black and white photographs convey the beauty of impermanence, the central theme of his work. Through his diverse travels Bret seeks scenes of a transitory nature. From the ruins of Ireland, to a 9000-year-old cave town in southern Italy, to the mist-covered hills of Tuscany during the harvest – his poetic vision is akin to scenes from a film. It should then not be a surprise that Bret is also a Director and award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor, recently acting as second unit director and Visual Effects Supervisor on The Tudors, for which he has received two Best Visual Effects Gemini Awards and two more nominations over the four year run of the show.

The recipient of numerous awards and honours, Bret’s photographs have been shown in solo, juried and special event exhibitions in galleries and museums in Canada, the United States and abroad. His work has been internationally published in magazines such as LensWork, USA, and Photographers’ Companion, China, and is held in public and private collections around the world.

Bret was born in Dunnville, Ontario, Canada. He studied Film and Photography at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada.

Blog / Website: Bret Culp Photography – The Beauty Of Impermanence

Follow Bret Culp on:  Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin