The Overall Winning Artists Category consists of the 10 Best Entries received from the 3 media categories of the Painting & Other Category, Photography & Digital Category and the 3 Dimensional Art categories. 

The winning artists will now be featured on the Light Space & Time website for 10 weeks, from July 25th through October 2nd and thereafter, the artworks and links to the artist’s websites will remain online in the Light Space & Time Archives.

The overall winning artists’ category of the "10th Anniversary" Art Exhibition will receive extensive worldwide publicity and promotion.  In addition, the overall winning artists will also receive extensive worldwide publicity in the form of email marketing, 550+ press release announcements, event announcement posts and social media marketing. 

Winning artists will also have their art exhibition results posted and promoted on ArtJobs/ArtWeek. Artweek/Artjobs produces 800,000 page impressions per month, 280,000 website visitors per month and has 30,000 newsletter subscribers.  

Congratulations to our artists who made our “10th Anniversary” Art Exhibition so successful. At any time, we invite our winners and other interested visitors to link their websites to the Gallery’s Archive section for further ongoing promotion.

The Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery will have digital “10th Anniversary” Award Certificates, Event Postcard, and Press Releases sent to the winning artists within the next week or so. Thank you to all of the artists who participated and for being a part of the gallery.  To return to the “10th Anniversary” Home Page click here.

1st Place - Sarah Simmonds - “Camel Driver”

I am a self-taught Artist working in pencil, charcoal, pastel, watercolour, oils and occasionally acrylic. I was always happiest drawing as a child and won a Pavement art competition at the age of 7. Unfortunately my skills and love of art were not recognized at school ,where I would get severely reprimanded for handing in homework which I could not possibly have done myself? Instead, I studied Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge University, and have been fully devoted and committed to my rewarding veterinary career. This is sad, as I would rather have devoted my life to my Art, however financially unrewarding that might have been. I am never happier than when I am painting, and I am now making up for lost time, concentrating solely on my art.

I have a lifetime of Art to create and lessons to be learnt, to cram into a third of a lifetime. Where there's a will and passion there's a way! I have backpacked extensively to remote places and my photography of the beautiful people that I had the good-fortune to encounter was probably my main inspiration to start portrait painting.

Obviously, my love of animals (especially horses) inspired me too. Eyes are the windows to the soul ...but horses’ eyes also connect to your own soul. Something takes over when I get absorbed in my painting and "it" manages to capture an exact likeness, which is a huge thrill for me. However, my overarching desire is for every piece of my artwork to be 'beautiful' in its own right. My art has won many major awards, been exhibited in London, and published.

I am on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.simmonds.775 and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artofsarahsimmonds/. 

Sarah can be reached via her email.      

2nd Place - Sharon Eng - “Forgotten”

Artist Sharon Eng categorizes her style as "representational abstract.” She explains that, in her paintings and abstract photographs, she usually needs to be able to visualize something from the natural world - a landscape, beach scene, forest, etc. Although she had a period where she deviated toward a more traditional style, she is returning lately to what she enjoys most – a more abstracted view of things.

Eng and her husband have lived primarily in the southeast, but did enjoy a couple years in Salt Lake City. While there, they visited a number of the national parks and monuments. Their favorite vacations, however, are spent on Cape Cod. The artist always has her camera handy while traveling and looks for old, weathered wood, rusty relics and other oddities where she might discover another macro image she can use to create one of her mixed media photography/digital paintings.

For the most part, Eng is self-taught although she has attended workshops and classes occasionally. She was influenced early on by her late mother-in-law, Fort Myers artist Pat Eng LaVigne, to begin exploring mixed media over 25 years ago. Prior to that photography was her creative medium - primarily abstract macro photography. Sometimes she now uses one of her photographs as the background of a painting and builds on it. Generally, she creates landscapes and seascapes, but occasionally will end up with something a little different. Eng says she is now exploring the world of digital editing to enhance her photographs and create new images.

The artist works in a variety of media, including traditional painting with acrylics, as well as digital photo painting from her original abstract and macro photographs. Most of her work is small to medium sizes with subjects varying as she travels and comes back filled with images to put to paper.

Eng’s works are in collections throughout the country. She is currently a member of several art associations in the southwest Florida area and her paintings, photographs and mixed media photography/digital paintings have won numerous awards.

Sharon’s website is www.sharon-eng.pixels.com.  

3rd Place - John Diephouse - “Capitol Profile”

Mr. Diephouse is a primarily self-taught photographer who migrated to digital photography about fifteen years ago. This transition marked a qualitative shift in both his interest level and satisfaction with the results, due to the advantages of digital over traditional film photography. The ability to take a large volume of images without the expense of film and the ease of edits in the “digital darkroom” has encouraged John to experiment and expand his skills significantly. After retiring from a professional management career, Mr. Diephouse has taken advantage of his time in retirement to more fully explore the technical and creative sides of this media more fully.

At this point in his development, John seeks to share images with which he has a strong and instinctive personal connection. Images may be simply documentary, invoke a sense of time and place, or resonate as an abstract blend of color, shape or form. Others provoke an indefinable question that does not readily yield answers without further study and reflection.

His creative process follows an intuitive yet patterned path, from capturing a digital image through the process of interacting with and refining the image, searching for the combination of elements that produces an instinctive but undeniable connection. Most often, the images that provoke the strongest connection are those that do not produce an immediate reaction but provoke a response through repeated contact and consideration over time.

Mr. Diephouse has exhibited widely in local and regional exhibitions and have been published in Nature Photographer and Black & White Magazine. His photographs have won over 50 commendations for merit ranging from Honorable Mention to Best in Show. John’s photographs were also selected to hang in the Michigan Governor’s Mansion as part of a yearlong exhibition highlighting the State of Michigan.

John can be reached via his email.     

4th Place - Thalie B. Vernet - “Enigma”

Thalie is a living force. Talking about her work is talking about her. Inhabited by tremendous energy, his work is visceral. All in breath and in blood. She seeks to express her deep impulses, never satisfied with appearances.

She speaks a universal language of the senses, as if she felt the pulse of Life, the World, the Cosmos... and haunted by the most timeless elementals and archetypes, she gives them form and voice, searches for herself through them. Thalie does not fit into a concrete framework, she crosses time - incandescent, invincible, and consumes her inexhaustible intensity in her images, in the characters she creates and these, in turn, would like to leave their framework.

Thalie tirelessly seeks to reveal a secret, tries to re-establish a link between heaven and earth like the heliotrope like light wanting to divest itself of matter.

Thalie’s website is www.thalie-b-vernet.com.  

5th Place - Diane Morgan - “Hot as a Heartbeat”

Diane Morgan is an award-winning artist working in watercolor and oil. Her work has been featured in American Art Collector, International Artist, Southwest Art, American Artist, Artist Magazine, Sunset Magazine, Art Patron, Palm Springs Life, The Art of Watercolor and Watercolor Artist. After managing the Public Art Program for the City of Palm Springs from 1992-2003 she now paints full-time. She has won numerous awards including, Best of Show, Painter of the Year - Coachella Valley Watercolor Society. She was a 3-time finalist and ten-page feature article, International Artist Magazine. First Place, Poster Artist and Best Local Artist - Indian Wells Arts Festival.

Diane has also had two paintings in the PaintAmerica Top 100 Exhibition. Her work has been published in the Splash 13, Splash 16, Splash 19, and Splash 20 best of watercolor book series and she is featured in the California Contemporary Art Collection at the State Capitol.

Diane was awarded a mural project for City of Palm Desert’s Art in Public Places program in 2019. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the University of Michigan. Her favorite subjects are large florals, still life and vintage cars.

Diane’s website is www.dianemorganpaints.com.

6th Place - Shelley Benjamin - “Asiana”

Shelley Benjamin, a resident of southeast Florida, is an award winning digital artist. She has been published in “Living the Photo Artistic Life”, Somerset Digital Studio and “Awake Photography magazines. Her work has received Best in Show, and top 10 in the “Fusion Art” online gallery and top 10, Honorable, Mention and Special Merit in the Light Space and Time Gallery. She has exhibited in group shows at the Louvre, the Cornell Museum, and Grounds for Sculpture. She received a BS in Textile Design from Cornell University.

After a career as a textile designer and weaver, she became interested in mixed media, and ultimately, photography. Ms. Benjamin’s experimentation and involvement with digital photography began after she purchased her first DSLR camera. During the learning process, she joined an international group of digital artists. With the advanced training, she was able to develop her skills, which has allowed her to transform her images to reflect her vision. The inspiration from the group opened up the possibilities of taking photos into a new realm.

Shelley is motivated by the art she sees in museums and galleries. From the time she was young she has always been an avid museum visitor. Her background in weaving exposed her to the art of fine crafts and the masters in those fields. Shelley uses her photos as the foundation for a digital painterly approach, utilizing modern technology to enhance and transform the original image. Drawing upon her textile design background, she imparts a tactile feeling to her work. She is inspired by color, reflections, light, the changing seasons, nature and architectural elements.

Shelley is always searching for extraordinary visual imagery in very ordinary environments. Ms. Benjamin states that her goal is to share the beauty around her and impart the uplifting feelings to the viewer that are the source of her inspiration.

Shelley’s website is www.shelleybenjamin.com.

7th Place - Denise McDermott - “Thoughtful”

Artist Biography: Denise McDermott is an Australian photographic artist. She was born and raised in Canada and moved to Australia as a young woman. She has been a photographer most of her life. She is equally comfortable shooting the night sky, the underwater world, landscapes, animals, studio work and macro subjects. She does not have formal qualifications in photography and is largely self-taught.

She has been successful at National and International Competition level, having recently won a Gold Medal in Vigex 2018 Digital Salon of Photography, a Bronze medal in Sydney Harbour International Exhibition of Photography and a Solo Exhibition on Light Space and Time Gallery. Recent themes that have inspired Denise’s work are science fiction and steampunk. Her works are often surreal and impressionistic.

Denise has participated in exhibitions with 2 friends in an art gallery in her area for the past two years. Plans for the future include 2 more exhibitions this year. Denise believes the possibilities for creativity are endless once our imaginations are engaged.

Artist’s Statement: Photography is my passion and I like to take it beyond the usual, often into the surreal. My work often begins with a single image and grows to explore the possibilities of a theme. I like to create mythical scenes and place costumed models within those scenes.

I recently completed two online courses called Photoshop Artistry and Awake, run by Sebastian Michaels. Because photography meets computer skill, I have become proficient in Photoshop, which is my toolbox for taking photographs beyond the ordinary into the surreal. When an idea is forming, I will gather some costumes and props and engage a model to help create part of the story. The story is then completed with the addition of other elements, which I have also photographed, and the result is a work, which allows the viewer’s imagination to travel through the image and draw their own ideas into what they are viewing.

I am inspired by fantasy literature and art, fairy tales and history; but prefer to present an impression of a time and place rather than a literal interpretation. My work is a starting point for the viewer so that many interpretations are possible.

Denise’s website is www.imagesbydenise.net.      

8th Place - Michele Bourdeau - “Woman with Scarf”

Michele Bourdeau does not have a formal education in Art or Sculpture. Her scientific background may help explain her fascination with the three-dimensional form and sculpture. She likes the texture of clay and enjoys feeling a form take shape under her fingers. She gets inspired from a variety of sources and tends to favor stylized, abstracted figures and forms. Apart from representing the figure, the artist is much inspired by the wildness of nature and un-tameness of the ocean in creating abstract forms. Her sculpture pieces do not result from careful planning. She tries to experiment with something new each time. The artist lets the idea evolve as she works along and likes to leave the sculpture speak for itself.

Michelle can be reached via her email.     

9th Place - Claudia Araceli - “Red Bus”

I am an artist with a passion for watercolour painting. I prefer to paint ‘plein air’ (in situ) and do so all year round, which is not a problem if you are prepared accordingly. There is no doubt that watercolour is the most challenging of all mediums but I admit this is exactly what attracts me to it. I feel watercolour is at its best when you allow it some freedom to do what it wants to do naturally, by contrast it’s at it’s very worst when forced to behave. I have found it is a matter of learning and understanding how to walk a fine line between both.

I started out as an artist in the late 1980’s but it all came crashing down around me when I was forced to stop due to chronic illness. Illness has bad timing as I was doing well and had been accepted and exhibited at the Royal Academy. I returned to painting a few years ago as a form of therapy, but only paint as my health permits. I am often asked what inspires me. The simple answer is the energy, atmosphere and light of somewhere or something! I can only say that I have no clue what will inspire me in any given moment, I don’t think about subject matter because I am not bothered about this. I simply wait for whatever it is catches my attention.

I feel extremely honoured to have won 34 awards for my painting over the last few years. I was also very chuffed to have been one of 100 artists worldwide to be selected to appear in ‘Contemporary Artists of Excellence 2016’ coffee table book available from Amazon and all public Galleries and Museums. I was one of 2 artists selected to represent the United Kingdom in the worldwide International IWS Watercolour Societies 2017 biennial convention and exhibition, hosted in India.

I was one of a few British artists selected by IWS England to represent the UK by exhibiting my painting at Fabriano Convention and Exhibition in Italy May 2018, 2019, and incredibly honoured to have been selected to represent the United Kingdom again this 2020. My health will never improve but am very grateful to have my art, which keeps me sane.

Claudia’s website is www.claudiaaraceli.com.  

10th Place - Barbara Mierau-Klein - “Red and Green Trees”

Barbara Mierau-Klein is a digital artist recognized for her multi-layered, imaginative and colorful fine art images. A native of Germany, Barbara lives in the Washington, D.C. area but often travels the world as a passionate landscape and nature photographer since her teenage years.

Barbara discovered digital art several years ago and became so fascinated that it turned into a full-time pursuit. Much of Barbara’s work is highly stylized and focuses on beautiful moments and evocative moods across a wide range of subjects. The inspiration for her images comes from many sources, often her own nature photography, but also books, song lyrics, movies, and works of other artists, old masters as well as contemporary digital artists.

Barbara’s work has been exhibited in several galleries in the US and Europe and was awarded numerous awards. Her images also appear regularly in international art magazines. Barbara is represented locally by Waverly Street Gallery in Bethesda, MD.

Barbara’s website is www.barbaramierauklein.com.