Karen Tarlton began her career as an artist 23 years ago when her husband started his work as an F-16 pilot and test pilot for the United States Air Force. Characteristic of her creativity, Karen’s first works were painted murals on walls and furniture until she began to shift toward painting fine art on canvas about 15 years ago. Since then, Karen has sold her paintings all around the globe, shipping to a different country practically every day. “I paint because I love it. I’m so fortunate to do what I am passionate about for a living.”

Diane Britton Dunham was born an artist, doodling on furniture and walls since she was old enough to hold a crayon. Like most notable folk artists, Diane didn’t rely on formal training. Rather, she nurtured her God given talent as she created over 1000 pieces in the last 30 years.

“The universal spirit of women transcends background, and I believe we are all created in God’s image, so race, size, religion, etc. are not important, as we are all loved in our present form. Women are a diverse potpourri, a bit edgy, fun loving and the sum of many parts. I want to capture that spirit, to empower, celebrate joyfully, the whole woman.” —Jill Neal

Sara Japanwalla is a fashion illustration artist who lives in Dubai. Originally born and raised in Scotland, Sara attended Leith School of Art, taking a foundation course in textiles, fine arts and sculpture. She also has a degree in fashion design and technology.

Our artist this month for the cover painting titled “Enthusiasm” is Scarlett Chou. This piece is part of a series she has been working on for an upcoming exhibit in Japan.

Scarlett got her artistic talent from her mother, who worked as a fashion design illustrator for newspapers and magazines. She finds her inspiration from her life experiences, travels and her Christian beliefs. Often compared to Art Deco artist, Erte, Scarlett’s computer-generated works are influenced by her Chinese heritage, which she often infuses with Western designs.

For Mary Lester, painting is a cosmic journey driven by the longing for a place that feels like home, a place she can’t quite remember and can’t exactly forget, but when she finds just the right composition, the exact color, or the precise shape, she just knows. She can feel it, like the piece of a puzzle that you twist and turn until you finally find where it belongs in the big picture.

As a child, Ed Hose was allowed to draw on the walls. In fact, coloring outside the lines was an understatement and thinking outside the box was expected. Raised in Bucks County, PA, she always loved to draw—almost as much as she loved to make a mess. Never happier than when covered head to toe in paint, ED earned a BFA from Temple University Tyler Art School, where she studied performance art, illustration and design. Quickly learning that the demand for performance art was not as high as one might think in the “real world,” she took a job as art director for an entertainment collectibles company, designing movie memorabilia, packaging and marketing materials. There she discovered no one was impressed with how messy she could be. That’s when she developed her current style of illustration, working with a micron graphic pen, drawing by hand, and then completing all the color and shading in the computer.

Pink Magazine is excited to welcome back internationally successful artist Masha D’yans for her fourth Pink Magazine cover. May features her delightful watercolor “Blown Away”. 

A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Masha moved to the U.S. when she was 14. After high school, which was spent following her artistic muse, she gained admission to the fine arts program at Cooper Union for The Advancement of Science and Art in New York, where she studied painting, printmaking and graphic design. After graduation she worked as a senior art director, focusing on brand identity for a number of design and advertising agencies in Boston. Her client roster included accounts such as Human Scale and Reebok. Despite her professional success in graphic design, she never forgot her love for painting and illustration.

Artist Candace Whittemore Lovely, an Impressionistic painter and Copley Master, is known for her pleasing views of American scenes, especially landscapes of treasured locales and people at play in idyllic locations. Critics have called her the “Grand Dame of Boston Painters.”

Her grandmother used to tell her that the cure for everything was salt water—whether it’s sweat, tears, or the sea. This could be why her paintings are often set in coastal landscapes, or perhaps it’s because she feels happiest when she is near the water.

Trish Biddle grew up in Minnesota, in the world of art, along side her mother who enrolled her in every art class and contest in which she would usually come in second place. This made her work even harder. On her own, she moved to Dallas fresh out of high school, ultimately graduating from the Dallas Institute of Art.

Pursuing her artistic dream, Trish secured a job as a textile designer and a fashion illustrator for a clothing manufacturer. She later moved to the J.C. Penney home office in the design department. After several years in the corporate world, she decided that it wasn’t for her, so she went to work as a freelance artist. She was signed by a textile agent in New York City and continued to freelance for several years.

Esra Røise is a Norwegian illustrator based in Oslo, Norway who is gaining international attention from the fashion world: Esra’s illustration of Liv Ullman, the world-renowned film star, was recently on the cover of a major Norwegian magazine; she has work in the current issue of VOGUE Japan; and she is being sought by international brands like Urban Outfitters and Stella McCartney. Marketing directors world-wide are recognizing that Esra’s art speaks to the very audience their brands are trying to capture. She contributed six artworks to the New Nordic Fashion Illustration Exhibition in Tallin, Norway, where her work is also being celebrated in a solo-show.

With pencil, crayon, or paint brush in hand, Jill Badonsky, M.Ed.—artist of life—serendipitously expresses emotions of desired dreams, strength, wit and whimsy. Jill is the creator of Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Certification Training. She is also an artist, author, inspirational keynote speaker, dazzling improvisational actress, humorist, performance poet, comedienne, and a creativity coach who thinks she can dance. She is a doodler, a lover of cats, the great outdoors and a great cup of coffee. She likes to wear berets, is an excellent confidante, loves to walk and hike and is an introspective thinker.

Claudia Tremblay was born in Amos, Quebec. After studying horticulture,  she left for Guatemala with an non government organization to work with Maya women. She stayed for over 13 years. With no formal training in the visual arts, Claudia began her career by painting these women. Day after day she tried to capture their poignancy and essence. Her paintings represent the melancholic souls and inner strength that motivates the women of Central America. She also likes to explore the universal connection between mother and child as depicted in the painting on this month’s cover titled, Mother and Daughter.

Artist Peter Karis was an expressionist, painting people, flowers, trees and objects as he interpreted them, not as they seem to be. Painting was Peter’s passion and having people see and appreciate his work, his greatest joy. Sadly, Peter, a resident of Hilton Head Island, passed away on January 31, leaving behind a beautiful body of work, a part of his heart and soul.

Vera Levan Espinoza resides in Heredia, Costa Rica where she was born. She is a wife, the mother of one daughter and a French teacher for local high school students. Besides her native Spanish, Vera speaks fluent Russian, French and some English. She loves to travel and is interested in culinary arts.