My name is Anna Mihailidou and I was born in 1975 in Athens, Greece. My painting journey began at an early age more as a refuge due to difficult years in my life. During the course of my life, it became an internal necessity, something that continues to this day. The life of an artist is not easy especially when you have to survive. So, because my need for painting was irrevocable but I couldn't survive just on my artwork I had to take other jobs to support myself financially.

I developed a burning curiosity for drawing and started engaging myself with painting comics and images of interest to me at the time and through exploring various mediums, I developed my practice over time. I did not initially set out to be an artist, only after earning my BSC in Plant Biology from the University of Benin did I come to the realisation that art was my true passion as I set out to pursue my art career in 2018.

I am a painter living and working in a small Midwest (USA) university town with my husband, two children (18 and 20), and pets. I earned a BFA in Painting and BA in Art History from Indiana University in 1997. I have pursued museum work as a day job but have never stopped painting. Once my children were older, I recommitted to my painting career, adopting a daily studio practice.

My advice is “don’t tell your big dreams to small-minded people.” If you suffer from low self-esteem as I do, negative comments can be the death knell of your art project. I only listen to criticism that is constructive (i.e. helps me problem solve or challenges me to improve) and I only share my artistic ideas with people who I know are open-minded.

I am a full-time professional artist, living and working in a small coastal town in England. Since a child, I have always drawn and painted and although they recognised talent at my school it was not considered the 'normal' thing to go on to university.

“What inspired you”, again, is the the crux of my artistic struggle and I’m still sorting through it! I do recall the first ‘sculptural’ thing I ever made. It was in Mrs. Pets’ 7th grade art class. We were experimenting with papier mâché. I was nudged to make something highly specific: a seed-like form, painted red on the outside, like an apple but more like a pomegranate seed, and inside was to be a long stairway leading to a special city with lots of tall, silver skyscrapers. I was inspired to call it, “The Apple Island”, and it stood in our school’s foyer display cabinet next to popsicle stick houses and painted rock paper weights for the rest of the year as an object of curiosity.

My name is Gabriella Wyke and I am a 26-year-old freelance photographer and the owner of recently established, Gifts from Gab Studios Limited- an art-based company that provides various creative solutions such as photography, videography, graphic design and much more.

Music takes a very important part in my career as an artist. I love listening to many beautiful songs and symphonies, and I find it amusing to title my artwork after these compositions. I used to play the guitar before, but I ceased any music-making in favour of creating fine art.

My name is Stephanie Garner and I am an Australian contemporary visual artist based in Victoria. I received my BCA Honours in 2016 from Deakin University and later completed my Masters of Contemporary Art from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne in 2020. My practice explores themes of environmentalism, femininity and mysticism in the varied mediums of painting, photography, drawing and collage.

I am a Mexican artist and Art Therapist. My career as an Art Therapist proved to me that by engaging in the expressive arts I could safely explore memories, alleviate distress and be mindful. Art has always been part of my life since I was a child, it is a safe and soothing space that gives me an opportunity to constantly reflect upon my emotional experiences.

I’ve been a creative person my whole life and my career has seen many iterations of that creativity. I started training as an architect before moving to art school and studying graphics. In my career, I’ve been a copywriter, graphic designer, storyboard artist, illustrator and illustration lecturer. But through it all, I was always drawing and painting. When this love of the human form collided with my fascination for the artists and craftsmen from the stone age I  started on my current path – to express primaeval human experience through the majesty of rock! 

Years ago (late 1980’s I think), my old roommate came home with this enormous book on John Singer Sargent. I was mesmerized by how Sargent could convey so much information with such few marks on the canvas. That week I put together my first large canvas, picked up some oil paints and a “How to Paint in Oils” book and painted my first Sargent inspired painting for my living room.

It took me almost three decades to begin my life as an artist. The threads were there all along, from my artist grandmother permitting me, a toddler, to splash around messy paints in her basement, to being told during my yearly graphic design scholarship review that I should consider a career as a fine artist. I did almost anything to subconsciously avoid the inevitable truth that I was an artist.

I think one of the main things I have learnt so far as an artist is to ultimately create dialogue, not only between the audience and myself but also between the audience themselves. For example, the crumpled landscape composition invites interpretation and aims to create discomfort and hopefully, insight. This insight could lead to a shift in perspective and then, behaviour.

I love different kinds of photography, but to be able to create something from my imagination is what really excites me. I find that going beyond the boundaries of reality is what best allows me to translate feelings and concepts into a visual story.

I want to inspire a sense of wonder, and for my viewers to develop stories about what they’re seeing.  Fantasy has always been important to me, whether it be in the form of movies, books, or games.  There are so many stressful things going on in our lives, especially recently, and fantasies can allow us to take a break, relax a bit, and recharge ourselves.  Sometimes we lose sight of the more enjoyable parts of life when we’re too focused on the frustrating ones.

I am Sripriya Mozumdar, an ex-marketing professional turned self-taught artist, based in Mumbai, India. While I have always been drawn to art since childhood; my academic and professional backgrounds led me to marketing communications and to a busy corporate life. Becoming a mother forced a sabbatical and gave me the opportunity to chase my true calling and my work today as a full-time artist.

My wife was my inspiration. I had started to get back into painting with acrylics but was taking almost a year to complete a single painting. At the same time, my wife had discovered pastel and was creating amazing photorealistic paintings in a fraction of the time. So one day, I decided to give pastel a try and the rest is history!