Rueben's Ramblings

Halloween Dragon Butterfly by Patricia McCracken

Artists Spotlight:  Patricia McCracken is an accomplished fantasy artist who specializes in watercolor and acrylics. Her style of art is influenced by the Japanese wood block prints from the Edo period called Ukiyo-e, which translates to “pictures of the floating world.”  Patricia has been dappling in art since she was a child, as her mother would give her paints, pencils and paper to draw on from a very early age.  When she got into college, she started working in watercolor and has remained in that format ever since; but when she discovered the Japanese wood block prints, she found her niche.  Patricia has two degrees in art: a BFA from the University at Buffalo and an MA from Syracuse University.  She loves combining the wood block prints and fantasy elements into her artwork, and particularly loves to hide the fantasy elements in her paintings so that “one has to look twice to see them”.  In 2002 she began exhibiting in art shows all across the country and has won a number of awards for her Japanese style work. S he currently lives in New York and can be reached at the following email: patriciamccracken@yahoo.com. You can also learn more about Patricia and see more of her artwork at: http://www.patriciamccracken.com.  Her featured piece is called Halloween Dragon Butterfly.

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Red Spider by Sho Murase

Artist’s Spotlight:  Sho Murase is a talented animation artist who was born in Aichi-ken, Japan but grew up in Spain.  Her love of drawing has been with her since she was a child and her inspirations encompass all that she sees, hears and experiences.  Sho studied fine arts and graphic design in Barcelona, Spain and then went to animation school in Vancouver, Canada.  She has been working in animation and advertisements in Europe with a client list that includes brands such as Nike, Virgin, Mattel and Evian as well as companies like Sony and Electronics Arts (among others).  Her work has been exhibited in galleries and shows all around the world, such as the German Film Museum in Frankfurt and the Louisiana Modern Art Museum in Denmark. Currently her work can be seen at the Star Wars Visions Show.  Her first color graphic novel SEI was published in November 2003 by Image Comics.  Since then she has created ME2 and has illustrated over a dozen graphic novels including the adaptation of Nancy Drew, which is currently in Volume 20.  Her animation work has been nominated in various film festivals, including Annecy, Zagreb, Mendrisio and the Chicago International Arts Festival.  Sho currently lives in San Francisco and she can be reached at info@shomurase.com.  You can learn more about her art at www.shomurase.com.  Her featured piece shown to the left is called Red Spider.

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Obsidian, Onyx & Jet by Kat Hardy

Artists Spotlight:  Kat Hardy grew up on the East Coast as the second oldest of eight kids who has been drawing all her life.  Drawing soon became her solitude and a way to escape bullies in junior high.  She later attended a vocational school where she majored in photography and broadcasting, winning a few awards in photography during those years.  She then went to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, continuing with her photography and earned her first degree.  It was at this time that Kat took her very first drawing and painting class ever.  She continued with her work in photography for several years after graduation while drawing and painting on her own.  She soon grew tired of the studio grind and returned to college – this time for graphic design and multi-media imaging.  It was at this time that she got into fantasy art.  After earning her second degree, she began working at a graphics house on a part-time basis, allowing herself time to work on her own illustrations.  Through a friend she learned about Gen Con, which gave her the opportunity to meet a lot of other artists and discovered other art shows.  She has been working in the fantasy genre and convention circuit ever since.  Kat is drawn to the fantasy realm because she thinks “it is full of hope and ideas and imagination”.  She believes art can inspire people to greater things, and fantasy can inspire people to fantastic things.  You can contact Kat Hardy at meadowfritillary@ameritech.net or discover her world of artistry via the following links ladystonehawk.deviantart.com, http://www.elfwood.com/~kathardy and kathardyfantasy.etsy.com. The featured piece is one of Kat’s newest called Obsidian, Onyx & Jet and is about 18” x 24” done in oils on Bristol vellum paper.

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Uriel by Angela Sasser

Artists Spotlight:  Angela Sasser hails from a multicultural family in Atlanta, Georgia, but spent much of her life traveling as a military brat.  She first fell in love with fantasy while in Germany thanks to the collected stories of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.  Her dream was to grow up to follow in their footsteps, telling stories to awe and terrify future generations.  As a child she loved painting rainbows zebras and has been creating characters and stories since she was young; her greatest motivation is to bring these stories to life in a visual way through her drawings.  “Synthesizing words and images in a story in such an interactive way fascinates me, particularly in how this fascination links to cinematic storytelling, graphic novels, and animation,” says Angela.  Her specialty is storybook illustrations; namely, in the fantasy genre with a subject matter dealing with angels and fairy tales.  Her favorite media is color pencil, but she also does watercolor, collage mixed media and digital. She also holds three degrees: a BA in English, a BA in Studio Art and an MA in Arts Administration, allowing her to lavish in her love of writing, illustration and helping other artists.  She will also have an illustrated book out this year. You can learn more about Angela via her website at http://www.angelicshades.com and you can contact her at angela@angelicshades.com. Her featured piece is called Uriel from her Archangel Series.

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Asian Cutie by Lin Pyatt

Artist’s Spotlight:  Jewelry designer Lin Pyatt runs Wicked Apple Jewelry Studio out of Las Vegas, Nevada.  Lin specializes in handcrafted art jewelry featuring dark, historical, pop-culture-influenced designs, including Disney, fantasy, horror and Steampunk.  She also creates and sells jewelry for charity and special events. Lin began making presents for people as a child and 20 years later she makes wonderful one-of-a-kind treasures and cstom pieces out of glass, metal and even eco-friendly “found” objects.  Lin majored in Anthropology and uses her research skills on ornamentation inspired by Ancient Egypt and Asia as well as personal adornments of all types.  You can learn more about Lin and Wicked Apple Jewelry Studio by visiting her Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Las-Vegas-NV/Wicked-Apple-Jewelry/142392117934  You can also contact her at: wickedapple@ymail.com.  The featured piece called Asian Cutie has a distinct retro feel and classic beauty to it and is a fused glass pendant with an Asian inspired design.

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Broken by Vanessa Parra

Artist’s Spotlight:  Vanessa Parra was raised in Indio, California and has been drawing, painting and entering art contests since she was in kindergarten.  Vanessa refined her skills in college, attending the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico where she received an Associate’s Degree in Fine Arts.  Her main focus is on the human figure through fantasy art, centering mainly on angels.  She also does art work featuring mermaids, fairies, pin up girls and comic book characters for events such as Comic Con.  The three different media she specializes in are oil, acrylic and watercolor.

Inspiration comes to Vanessa from different areas of her life; some of her artwork is more symbolic of emotion or personal life experiences while others are from popular culture. Some of her paintings are her own creations while others are metaphors for emotions or ideas that cannot be expressed in words.  Her art is more than just a passion; it is a need to create. You can contact Vanessa at vnss_parra@yahoo.com or see more of her artwork at the following website: http://www.artwanted.com/artist.cfm?artid=28683

The sample piece is called Broken and is painted in acrylic on a 24” x 48” Masonite panel.

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Water Dragon by Lori Anne Shields

Artist’s Spotlight:  Multi-hyphenate artist-actress-script doctor Lori Anne Shields was born and raised in Torrance, California, and comes from a family of artists.  During her youth, she appeared in a lot of school plays at North Torrance High School and at El Camino College, done a lot of local theater and has also appeared in a number of independent films as well as being seen in an episode of The Big Bang Theory.  Her love of art comes in the form of painting, mostly landscapes and fantasy.  She prefers to paint dragons and cats, but she has done Comic Con exclusives such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.  Her usual format is acrylic paint on canvas or canvas board and she also does backdrops for plays on large sheets.  Besides the featured piece, Water Dragon, you can see samples of her artwork at her Facebook page or you can visit her at: http://www.geocities.com/triheartmysteries/.  Feel free to also drop Lori Anne a note at: TriHeartMysteries@yahoo.com.

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