Rueben's Ramblings

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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Garnet by Emily Warren

Artist’s Spotlight:  Emily Warren is a native of central Missouri who has been drawing for as long as she can remember, and finds inspiration from surfing art on the internet and from artistic friends.  She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago.  Shortly after her graduation, she attended Wizard World in Chicago, selling her art in the Artist’s Alley. A colorist from Marvel recognized her work and introduced her to some editors from Marvel.  Being persistent, Emily kept in touch with them and was able to land a job with Marvel as a colorist.  When her boyfriend completed school, they moved to Los Angeles, where they currently live. S he has worked for several other companies besides Marvel, including Jay Company Comics, UDON and Dark Horse. She is currently working on X-Babies for Marvel and Darkstalkers covers for UDON.  She also works on personal illustrations like the featured piece called Garnet. If you would like to see the art of Emily Warren, please visit her website at http://www.frozenlilacs.com/ or you can contact her frozenlilacs@gmail.com for more details.

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Bride by Laura Tigu

Artist’s Spotlight:  Laura Tigu, a diversified artist, who grew up in an artistic Romanian family in Adrian, Michigan. Art is in her blood and drawing is her passion, but she also enjoys doing portraits, cartoons, paintings, graphic design and ceramics.

Her featured piece is entitled Bride – inspired by a picture found in a bridal magazine with added designs of her own creation – is done in graphite on medium tooth drawing paper in the realism style. Laura states, “this particular bride looked so peaceful and beautiful that she inspired me to capture her beauty in a drawing.”

Drawing for Laura is “relaxing, peaceful, and brings me joy. I am a perfectionist which, makes getting certain projects done stressful, but the finished piece of art is always rewarding. With every piece of art I create I go through a journey and grow in my technique.”

If you would like more information about Laura Tigu’s artwork, please contact me at ruebenpreymate@gmail.com or visit Laura’s Facebook page at estera_vegeta@yahoo.com.

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Daydream by Alethea Robertson

Artist’s Spotlight: Alethea Robertson is a blossoming artist who is passionate about art and seeks to unveil the beauty of the world she sees around her. Her featured piece is called Daydream and is painted in oil on canvas. It reflects a woman on a Greek Island watching the waves crash beneath her balcony window and what she feels deep in her heart as she daydreams with lust and longing as she awaits a dark handsome lover. Alethea is intrigued by the idea that women are comprised of many layers of emotions and, as each layer is peeled away, it reveals another level of a woman’s heart and desires. If you would like more information about Alethea’s artwork, please contact me at ruebenpreymate@gmail.com.

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