Uploaded September 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Franklin Booth, (July 8, 1874 – August 25, 1948) was an American artist known for his detailed pen-and-ink illustrations. He had a unique illustration style based upon his early recreation of wood engraving illustrations with pen and ink. His skill as a draftsman and style made him a popular magazine illustrator in the early 20th-century. Creator of the Nicholson plate, he was one of the first modern ex libris designers in the United States.
Using watercolor, Booth created book illustrations, such as James Whitcomb Riley's The Flying Islands of the Night. During World War I, he created posters for recruitment, fundraising, and other efforts. As Art Deco style illustrations became popular, his work in latter years was found in commercial publications and catalogs. Although he "believe[d] in schools to a certain extent" at one point in his career, he co-founded the Phoenix Art Institute and was an educator for 21 years. He was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.
His skilled draftsmanship and unique style made him a popular illustrator.He was considered "the best pen-and-ink man in America" by an editor of a leading magazine.Despite the laboriousness of his technique, Booth's compositions were characterised by a grand sense of space. As a result, his drawings were often well-matched to poetic or editorial entries. With the advent of the "clean, smooth, and continuous lines" of the Art Deco style illustrations, his works in latter years were found in commercial publications and catalogs.
[from Wikipedia]
Music: Maurice Ravel "Kaddish"
Franklin Booth, (July 8, 1874 – August 25, 1948) was an American artist known for his detailed pen-and-ink illustrations. He had a unique illustration style based upon his early recreation of wood engraving illustrations with pen and ink. His skill as a draftsman and style made him a popular magazine illustrator in the early 20th-century. Creator of the Nicholson plate, he was one of the first modern ex libris designers in the United States.
Using watercolor, Booth created book illustrations, such as James Whitcomb Riley's The Flying Islands of the Night. During World War I, he created posters for recruitment, fundraising, and other efforts. As Art Deco style illustrations became popular, his work in latter years was found in commercial publications and catalogs. Although he "believe[d] in schools to a certain extent" at one point in his career, he co-founded the Phoenix Art Institute and was an educator for 21 years. He was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.
His skilled draftsmanship and unique style made him a popular illustrator.He was considered "the best pen-and-ink man in America" by an editor of a leading magazine.Despite the laboriousness of his technique, Booth's compositions were characterised by a grand sense of space. As a result, his drawings were often well-matched to poetic or editorial entries. With the advent of the "clean, smooth, and continuous lines" of the Art Deco style illustrations, his works in latter years were found in commercial publications and catalogs.
[from Wikipedia]
Music: Maurice Ravel "Kaddish"
![Catrin Welz-Stein
As a child I loved to draw and liked to be creative. I almost was born with a pencil in my hand.
I knew I wanted to do something related to arts. I have graduated from Graphic Design in Darmstadt, Germany and then worked for different advertising agencies in Germany, USA and Switzerland.
I stopped working in agencies after becoming a mother, and after a short time of being self employed I decided to quit work until my children grew older. Because of my children (4 and 6 years old) I can go through childhood again and I can enjoy the world of fantasy and fairy tails. I like to look at childrens books and let them inspire me. „Where the wild things are“, from Maurice Sendak is a favourite book of all of us. Through the children books I rediscovered the love to illustration again.
As a professional graphic art designer I often had to make compromises for the clients. There were a lot of rules in visual communication and I often felt that I could not express my whole creativity. Now I enjoy creating art that does not explain itself from the beginning. My images have a dreamlike and surreal quality. They speak from inner feelings which we often hide in our daily life.
[from: http://catrinwelzstein.blogspot.com/p...]
Music: Alio Die & Lingua Fungi Giardinaggio Interiore Catrin Welz-Stein](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BiMSv-7OD_k/mqdefault.jpg)
![Jeanie Tomanek
Born in Batavia, New York, in 1949, Jeanie grew up in the rolling pasturelands of the Genesee Valley. She drew and painted all of her life, but she took these skills for granted and created art only infrequently while working at (and hating) real jobs in accounting, real estate, and other fields.
In 1969 she married her husband, Dennis, in Cleveland, Ohio. They had one daughter, Mara, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1983. For many years, Jeanie used poetry as her primary creative outlet, publishing in a variety of literary journals. Yet still she knew she hadnt yet found her true path and her souls vocation.
In 1999, she tells me, after searching for many years for that creative thing that would be my passion, I started drawing again and eventually realized it was painting that I was supposed to do all along. By 2001, Id escaped corporate life and was painting full time, developing my style and voice. My little baldies started emerging on the canvas, telling whatever stories they needed to tell. I began to show my work in places such as the Atlanta Artists Center, The Atlanta College of Art, and Trinity Gallery. People said my paintings spoke to them which is something I still find hard to believe.
I paint to explore the significance of ideas, memories, events, feelings, dreams and images that seem to demand my closer attention. Some of the themes I investigate emerge first in the poems I write. Literature, folktales, and myths often inspire my exploration of the feminine archetype. My figures often bear the scars and imperfections, that, to me, characterize the struggle to become.
[from: https://www.terriwindling.com/mythic-arts/jeanie-tomanek.html]
https://www.jeanietomanek.com/
Music: Alio Die The Divine Source Recall Jeanie Tomanek](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bj5ca13OD1s/mqdefault.jpg)
![Dusty Ray
Dusty Ray is an American painter who works in gouache, oils and anything else he can get his hands on. His nightmarish, visceral work brings to life surreal mutant beasts. Wolves, pets, insects and the occasional faceless human are re-spawned as multi-dimensional beings and terrifying gods, sliced up, faceless, or growing slimy, hellish appendages. These creatures invite the viewer into a visceral world that, whilst raw and threatening, is also imbued with an unsettling, humorous charm.
[from:https://beinart.org/collections/dusty-ray?srsltid=AfmBOooYqHaCJSRnWKNYOipN4RaWa6xYg64-ThsPUcOPdTg61il5Yhm0]
Your images are always full of pathos and violence. What’s your relationship with violence in art? Do you feel a catharsis while painting?
I don’t always try to portray violence in my work, nor do I see most of my work as inherently violent. I am trying to portray beauty in a different way, the bold colors in our guts and the subtle beauty in light reflecting off of wet surfaces. The violence people see in my work isn’t always reflective of actual violence, just my own idea of beauty, maybe that’s because I am desensitized, or we are all desensitized. My animal paintings lean more towards a deliberate portrayal of human violence against nature, though that’s not always my explicit intent. I certainly feel a sort of catharsis when painting, a sort of release that I can’t get any other way than from painting. Lately I have tried to work more slowly and mindfully, so even getting myself to sit down and actually do the act of painting is a catharsis in itself, the funny way depression gives you these little victories.
You work in a digital environment, but with traditional painting methods.
Do you think that material components are part of the creative process?
Certain materials are important to me, but I think you can be creative and produce heavy work within any medium. I don’t strictly work with traditional materials, I love making digital collages and recently have begun using parts of many different paintings and incorporating them into large digital edits. It’s a way of seeing my work in a new light and gives me inspiration for my traditional work. Traditional will always be my favorite though, I have tried digital painting and it’s not really for me, I am extremely tactile and need to feel the texture and paint. I appreciate digital art but mostly when it knows it is digital and flourishes in its own medium without trying to imitate traditional. Moving as a mostly traditional artist in a digital space can be interesting, since most of my audience will never actually see a physical piece, only a digital version on their phone. I try to play with this disconnect, working very small, trying to confuse the eye as to how large my work actually is or if it even exists at all.
[from:https://impeachedmag.com/artist-feature/in-conversation-with-dusty-ray/ where you can find the whole interview with the artist]
Music: Terrace Of Memories – Of Silent Crossings Dusty Ray](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BoHCZykwL5E/mqdefault.jpg)
![Marie Čerminová Toyen
Marie Čermínová (1902 – 1980), was a Czech Transgender Artist mostly known as Toyen in the art world. Born in Smíchov, Bohemia, she lived much of her life in Paris. She left home at the age of 16 and worked at a soap factory in Zizkov while putting himself through school.
During her 60-year career she has created a huge body of work including paintings, drawings, collages, illustrations and a selection of book covers that she designed. She was also a prominent member of the surrealist art movement.
A prominent female member (even as a man) of the prewar Czech avant-garde, the painter Toyen had a richly various career that took him from Cubism, through the painterly abstraction of “Artificialism, “to an extended Surrealist period.
Toyen rejected his name (Marie Cerminova) and chose to pursue his career as an artist under an assumed name – a mysterious name without a gender.
He broke all links to his family in favour of several friends who were “bound by choice”. Toyen protested against bourgeois tendencies and endorsed the anarchist movement.
He disclaimed any suggestion that he play a traditional woman’s role by leading an independent way of life and, on the other hand, displaying no compromise for the quality of his work.
Toyen regarded painting as a natural need free of any ambition and painted whatever came into his mind, often to what would have been a shock had people known he was a woman.. Another great hint in the little-known complexity of the artist’s long career.
After his death in 1980, an exhibition of his work and of the collaboration with his Czech colleagues was shown at the Centre Pompidou, and in the following years, a number of important retrospectives were held.
[from:http://www.tresbohemes.com/2016/04/czech-transgender-artist-toyen-aka-marie-cerminova/]
Music: Chihei Hatakeyama Ferrum Marie Čerminová Toyen](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CM7-OC4pj2Y/mqdefault.jpg)
![Andy Kehoe
For me, the grandeur of nature is truly what inspires a large and profound sense of wonder in me. I’ve personally witnessed a lot of wonders that have made a lasting impression on me: The Redwoods, exploring Yellowstone, and the Grand Teton national parks. I’m also awed by landscape and nature photography and, of course, photographs and images of deep space. There is a great power in the stark reminder of being very small in a large, vast world. I wanted my world to capture some of that sense of scale, so I began featuring the world itself as the main character. Although, I do still love painting the characters and creatures that inhabit these lands, so I make a conscious effort to mix in more character-based paintings with the more grand nature paintings.
[from:https://wowxwow.com/artist-interview/andy-kehoe-ai]
In art, creatives often either capture the beauty of their surroundings or render worlds of their own invention. Artist Andy Kehoe is one artist who brilliantly merges the two. He continues to depict alluring fantastical environments occupied by “human-animal hybrids and spirit creatures.” Each of his digital paintings offers a glimpse into a vivid setting complete with intriguing characters and narratives.
Kehoe is greatly inspired by art from Romanticism—the 19th-century art movement that emphasized emotion and drama. He tries to create a similarly magical atmosphere in his landscapes. “With a focus on imagination and emotional response as the source of aesthetic experience, my fantastical imagery evokes a sense of wonderment by emphasizing the mystery and grandeur of nature and the cosmos,” Kehoe tells My Modern Met.
While the artists body of work is united by a theme of supernatural lore, each individual piece contains its own unique storyline. As the viewer admires the details of Kehoes complex depictions, they can unpack an array of fascinating details that contribute to the mystique of Kehoes paintings.
[from:https://mymodernmet.com/andy-kehoe-digital-paintings/]
Music: Alio Die Dissolved in the Grace of Presence Andy Kehoe](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CO6ZRLrVmO0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Narraciones extraordinarias by John Coulthart
A series of 33 pictures for Narraciones extraordinarias illustrating stories by Edgar Allan Poe.
[http://www.johncoulthart.com/pantechnicon/poe.html]
John Coulthart is a World Fantasy Award-winning artist, designer and writer. His illustration and design work has been exhibited worldwide, and includes commissions for Abrams, Angry Robot, Granta, Harper Collins, Savoy Books, Tachyon, Tor and many others.
His work as a comic artist is contained in two books: The Haunter of the Dark and Other Grotesque Visions, a collection of Lovecraft adaptations which features a unique collaboration with Alan Moore; and Lord Horror: Reverbstorm, a graphic novel written by David Britton.
His work as a writer includes essays and reviews for Andre Deutsch, Arrow Academy, Communication Arts and Eye Magazine.
[http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/about/]
Music: Harold Budd The Room of Ancillary Dreams Narraciones extraordinarias by John Coulthart](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CO8tcZEIvXE/mqdefault.jpg)
![Nicoletta Ceccoli
Nicoletta Ceccoli is a San Marinian artist who is known for her richly detailed, dreamlike work. She was born in and still lives in the Republic of San Marino and studied animation at the Institute of Art in San Marino, Italy. She has illustrated many books, including Cinderella and The Girl in the Tower, written by Lisa Schroeder. Her work has been exhibited and sold internationally. Ceccoli has won the Andersen Prize, honoring her as the best childrens book illustrator in Italy.
[from Wikipedia]
[http://www.nicolettaceccoli.com/work.php]
Music: Alio Die Lo Scrigno Del Cuore Nicoletta Ceccoli](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CVhoRJbuXQQ/mqdefault.jpg)

![Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (French: [mɔʁo]; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a major figure in French Symbolist painting whose main emphasis was the illustration of biblical and mythological figures. As a painter, Moreau appealed to the imaginations of some Symbolist writers and artists. He is recognized for his works that are influenced by the Italian Renaissance and exoticism. His art work was preserved in Paris at the Musée Gustave Moreau.
He was born in Paris, France, at 6 Rue des Saints-Peres. He came from a middle-class family. His father, Louis Jean Marie Moreau, was an architect for the city of Paris and his mother, née Adele Pauline Desmoutier, was an accomplished musician. Gustave Moreau lived a sheltered life growing up. Having visited Italy at age 15 he began his love for art. At age 18 he entered École des Beaux-Arts to study under the guidance of François-Édouard Picot and left in 1850. He then began to study art under his new mentor Théodore Chassériau, whose work strongly influenced his own. Moreau participated in the Salon for the first time in 1852.
Moreau had a 25-year personal, possibly romantic relationship, with Adelaide-Alexandrine Dureux (b.Guise, 8 November 1835), a woman whom he drew several times. His first painting was a Pietà which is now located in the cathedral at Angoulême. He showed A Scene from the Song of Songs and The Death of Darius in the Salon of 1853. In 1853, he contributed Athenians with the Minotaur and Moses Putting Off his Sandals within Sight of the Promised Land to the Great Exhibition.
Oedipus and the Sphinx, one of his first Symbolist paintings, was exhibited at the Salon of 1864. Moreau quickly gained a reputation for eccentricity. One commentator said Moreaus work was like a pastiche of Mantegna created by a German student who relaxes from his painting by reading Schopenhauer. The painting currently resides in the permanent collection at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
On 28 March 1890, Alexandrine Dureux died. Her death affected Moreau greatly, and his work after this point contained a more melancholic edge. She was buried at the same cemetery that Moreau himself would be laid to rest (see below).
Moreau became a professor at Paris École des Beaux-Arts in October 1891. Among his many students were fauvist painters Henri Matisse and Georges Rouault. Jules Flandrin, Theodor Pallady and Léon Printemps also studied with Moreau.
Moreau died of stomach cancer and was buried at the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris in his parents tomb.
He was made a Chevalier de la Legion dhonneur in 1875 and was promoted to an Officier de la Legion dhonneur in 1883.
During his lifetime, Moreau produced more than 8,000 paintings, watercolors and drawings. His work influenced the next generation of Symbolists, particularly Odilon Redon and Jean Delville, a leading figure in Belgian Symbolism in the early part of the twentieth century. Many of Moreaue works are on display in Paris Musée national Gustave Moreau at 14 rue de la Rochefoucauld (9th arrondissement). The museum is in his former workshop, and began operation in 1903. André Breton famously used to haunt the museum and regarded Moreau as a precursor of Surrealism.
The Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano, known for works such as Final Fantasy, Angels Egg, and Vampire Hunter D, was inspired by Moreaus style. Amano said in an interview that when he was first experimenting with styles to try to find his own, he would try to mimic the works of Moreau.
[from Wikipedia]
Music: William Basinski Cascade Gustave Moreau](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DI8HiVYTJZk/mqdefault.jpg)
![Colette Calascione
Inspired by books and images of earlier eras, particularly the Victorian era, Calascione invents a world that is her own. Images of women and children in old photographs are transformed in the artist’s hands. She never literally copies a photo or its background. When she sees a figure she likes, her vision forms around it. Clothed figures in photographs are sometimes undressed by Calascione in her paintings, and placed in a mise-en-scene she creates. Rarely does the environment surrounding the figure come directly from a book or photo, as a ‘quote.”
[from: https://www.artistaday.com/?p=3479]
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Valse Sentimentale Colette Calascione](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DfeIYtiGc1g/mqdefault.jpg)
![Daniel Bilmes
Daniel Bilmes is a contemporary painter, working in Los Angeles. His approach is characterized by deep personal exploration, combining realism with elements of symbolism and abstraction. Through tactile textures and delicate expressions, his paintings weave together the magical and mundane. His work is at once hopeful and brooding. Realistic and symbolic. Somewhere between the vitality of the Russian circus and the gravitas of a Churchill speech.
Daniel began his art education at the age of 8 under the tutelage of his father, the respected artist and educator, Semyon Bilmes. Being immersed in art from such an early age had a profound impact on his personal growth and creativity, laying a lasting foundation of curiosity that continues to drive and inform his work today.
[from:http://www.danielbilmes.com/bio]
Music: Alio Die Yearning In Beauty Daniel Bilmes](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DtD0yspZa2M/mqdefault.jpg)