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 the month of May 2020 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 Annual "Botanicals" 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 Annual “Botanicals” Art Exhibition so successful this month. 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 “Botanicals” Award Certificates, Event Postcard, and Press Releases sent to the winning artists within the next few weeks. Thank you to all of the artists who participated and for being a part of the gallery.  To return to the “Botanicals” Home Page click here.

To view the artwork in the image gallery’s below, click on a thumbnail image and that will take you to the Slide Show, which will then contain larger images. Artists can now post their images directly to their social media networks (See lower left-hand side of the Lightbox).  In order to leave the Slide Show at any time, just click on the X at the upper right side of the Lightbox in order to escape and that will take you back to the thumbnails images.

1st Place – Stephen Mimms - “Beacon”

Biography: Stephen Mimms resides in Silver Spring, Maryland with his wife and two dogs. Stephen's photographic skills are self-taught through decades of patience and practice. Stephen is energized in exploring images of what he sees around him. Stephen's images are designed to inspire and create art.

Artist Statement: I have enjoyed photography with a passion; it has the ability to exploit what I see. I began with film photography as a hobby for many years, learning traditional film development through self-study, books, magazines and practice. Upon retiring as a computer system project manager, I discovered digital photography and Adobe

Photoshop and my passion for photography has continued to develop. The goal for each and every one of my photos is to make you stop, look and be moved to think. I want to create images that not only have a story to tell but have depth and feeling and serve as reminders of the breadth of all of our emotions and senses.

Stephen’s website is www.mimmsphotography.com.

2nd Place – Laurie Snow Hein - “A Little Nuts”

Laurie Snow Hein has been painting all her life. Like many young artists, she was doubtful that she could make a career of her passion. Laurie's parents had convinced her that it was impossible to make a living as an artist. When her kindergarten teacher asked if she was going to be an artist, she replied, "No, I want to be a doctor.” Her talent was inescapable, though. It was in her DNA...both parents, a grandmother and a brother were artistic. At age 12, Laurie started studying with Graham Ingels, a retired illustrator and portrait painter in Lantana, Florida. In her senior year of high school, Mr. Ennis–her art teacher–encouraged Laurie to apply for art scholarships. She received a full scholarship from Columbus College of Art & Design.

After a year of college and winning a scholarship for her second year, Laurie married and began combining art with being a wife and busy mother. She found time to paint portraits and enjoyed her art part time. Then, at age 40 when her 6th child was born and her oldest was heading to college, Laurie's husband lost his job. Her talent as an artist was now needed as the source of the family's income. She began teaching classes and accepting portrait commissions. When Laurie's paintings were noticed by a national publisher, her successful career in art publishing and licensing was launched.  She says, "I was blessed to be able to support and raise my family of six children solely on my art income."

Laurie Snow Hein, award winning Florida Artist, paints the contemporary Florida subjects she loves. Old world Florida landscapes, bold botanicals, inspiring oceans, inviting beaches, tropical orchids, and eye catching wildlife images come alive on the canvases she paints.

Laurie’s website is www.lauriesnowhein.com.

3rd Place – Xin Xu - “Morning Dew”

Xin Xu is a Chinese artist born in 1974. She has studied Chinese traditional painting since 2013. Over the years, she studied watercolor painting under Huang Youwei at Tsinghua University. She has participated and won several national awards for her work including her works "To Love" in Huang Youwei's Watercolor workshop; "Morning Dew" in Huang Youwei Realism Watercolor workshop; "Sprout" in the Leiden National Watercolor Works Exhibition and "Starry Sky & Mountain Stream" won an excellence award in the Rubens Starfield National Watercolor Competition.

For more information on Xin and her work, she can be contacted via her Email.      

4th Place – Lynda Sauls - “Camila”

Lynda Sauls creates in oil and encaustic. Using these materials individually and simultaneously to express her wonder and faith. Rich bold colors in oil paint magnifying the details of a plant and draws her audience into a place of stillness. Her encaustic works are discernible with an ethereal form, stirring up the subconscious.

Why do I paint flowers? “I am fascinated with the form, fragrance, diversity and shades of these delicate, vulnerable, voiceless beauties. Flowers have been used to represent love, wealth, loyalty, honor, faith, purity, envy. They appear in the most unique places as wonderful, generous, gracious gifts. If you stare into their beauty you can hear the whisper into your soul…” You are loved, you are seen, details are my specialty… love is vulnerable, unexpected, yielding and humble… it is offered to you!” With all striving to be seen and valued, I think flowers can assure us that we are!”

Lynda lives in S. Florida and is a self-taught artist. Her desire to create has led her into many different mediums and venues such as loss wax jewelry making, etched glass, watercolor, acrylic, faux finishing, murals and picture framing of historical documents. Her passion lies mainly in oil and encaustic works and are displayed in private homes and businesses.

Linda is president of the Weston Art Guild. Her duties include finding new venues, overseeing their quarterly newsletter, organizing and curating exhibits. She has been featured in the Sun- Sentinel newspaper community section, "Creation Expression” 2015, the Miami Herald newspaper "At Home With Art 'Cultural Feeding' " 2017 exhibit, and other local magazines such as Our City Weston and Pembroke City News. She was featured in VoyageMIA an online magazine in 2018 and was the featured artist in Artist Portfolio Magazine’s 20 Artist Competition in 2019.

She has participated in over 60 group exhibits. She has had two solo exhibits, the most recent “Heaven Declares Series” held at South Florida Symphony in April 2019 and "Prerogative of Creating" in November 2017 at Art Serve. Lynda Sauls' works have juried into exhibits: "Inspired by" Coral Springs Museum, "Art Bravo" Art Serve and Art Ft. Lauderdale “On the Water Way”. She is an award-winning artist in many local exhibitions. Lynda is a member of National League of American Pen Women.

Lynda’s website is www.lyndasaulsartist.com.

5th Place – James Hurley - “Nurture Nature”

James is a photo digital artist who captures landscapes photographs as well as painterly portraits either in the comfort of his home or on location. He is based in Huntingdon, near Cambridge, and has a passion for incorporating his emotions and frustrations into surreal artwork.

James is a self-taught photographer who has learnt Photoshop by taking a number of online courses. His current focus is to further explore and enhance his photography skills and further develop his own photo digital artistic style, which can incorporate lots of colour and textures employing a Chiaro-oscuro style but also a darker monochromatic approach, as with his self-portrait series. The aim is to produce artwork and photographs that lean more towards a painterly or surreal feel than a realistic photograph.

James’s website is www.mycreativeimages.com.

6th Place – Elizabeth Rickert - “Seclusion I”

Travel has always been important to Elizabeth Rickert’s inspiration. It has allowed her the continuous growth of developing new series and techniques throughout her fifty-plus years as a professional artist.

She was accepted at five different artist colonies around the United States and Mexico. At each of these opportunities she discovered new subjects and the time to refine them, using new techniques. She started as a sculptor and worked in ceramic, followed by pastel drawings, and now oils. Even now, as a painter, she approaches nature with a sculptor’s eye, seeing the way shapes and light and darkness interact. Everything she paints starts with the magnificence of nature.

Elizabeth uses different methods of painting for each series she creates. For example, her friends give her birds’ nests from which she works directly. She uses an unusual method of painting, which is, to cover the board with paint and to wipe off the image she wishes to create. Aside from using her fingers, she utilizes a variety of tools such as dentist tools, scouring pads and forks. After the background and the newly painted nest is dry, she goes back and paints eggs, leaves, flowers, and any other detail she wishes to add.

Rickert says, “All things in nature move, change, and evolve and the same is true for me.” Sometimes she defines a work with pencil lines and stays within those lines as she paints. This is especially true of detailed paintings like her series of Water Gardens and Grasses. Recently, she has started to dispense with lines, letting the subject and colors define where they want to go. For example, in her koi paintings, Rickert paints the background, and once it id dry she then applies paint to the koi, which are the focal points. Elizabeth Rickert says, “I am in awe of nature, and I express my love with a brush, canvas, an artist’s eye and my heart.”

Elizabeth’s website is www.elizabethrickert.com.

7th Place – Henrique Souza - “BLOOM4”

Souza’s works draws upon natural elements found in the fragile world we live in. His digital images of landscapes, flora and fauna are transformed with his diverse and masterful photo technics. His creative vision is often displayed in mixed media, always conveying the mysterious and exotic with charm and wit.

Souza feels he is continually learning and, for him, it is all about the journey and the road remains unending. He often quotes Salvador Dali, the surrealist icon who said, “Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. It is really the surplus of longing that cannot find expression in life or in other ways.”

This, for Souza, is a succinct description of why he makes art.

Henrique’s website is www.henriquesouza.com.

8th Place – Allison Rogers - “Sunflower”

Allison is an artist living and working on Long Island in New York. She graduated with a BFA from Long Island University with a concentration in painting and ceramic sculpture. She grew up admiring the gardens of flowers in her back yard and pets inside the home. She enjoys painting in acrylics and is always inspired by the colors and textures in nature.

Allison’s favorite themes to paint include flowers and animals. She enjoys bringing these flowers to life by illuminating the petals and bringing out their delicate details. She brings the viewer into another word by zooming in to the otherwise private and overlooked features of these blooms.

Allison’s website is www.themilkboxstudio.com.

9th Place – Michael Minella - “Lilly”

Michael Minella is a photographer out of Naperville, IL passionate about travel photography. His excitement for photography began at a young age when his father would let him use his Minolta SRT-202 around the house. Blurry and poorly exposed images on film aside, the fascination for creating art through photography is something that has stayed with him ever since.

As an introvert, Michael enjoys disappearing to the solitude of his camera, tripod, and beautiful locations to experience the beauty that our world beholds.

Beyond his photographic interests, Michael is a software engineer by trade, who spends the rest of his time with his wife and daughter as well as hobbies that include woodworking and info sec.

Michael’s work can be found on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/michael.minella/) and 500px (https://500px.com/michael160).

10th Place – Lisa Freeman-Wood - “Sunny Rose”

I have always felt deeply connected to nature. I live in the woods in the Sierra Nevada foothills. While on walks, I collect stones, feathers, and anything else I find interesting, and many photos. I have been a gardener for many years growing herbs, vegetables and flowers. I love flowers. I love the graceful lines of flowers, the way they grow in space. They have a presence. As Henry Beecher Ward said, “Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.” There is beauty and function in a flower. Flowers play a vital role in the continuity of nature and yet are ephemeral.

I have explored many creative avenues in my life, sewing, embroidering, macramé, altered books, writing, growing herbs and making herbal products, cooking etc. I have had a part time jewelry business for over 16 years, making handmade one-of-a-kind pieces using semi-precious gems and stones, minerals, bone, coral, pearls, fossils and other natural materials. I started this during the time I was not painting.

My work has been sold in shops, craft fairs and festivals, and at the Gem and Mineral shows twice a year in Chico. I have taken some basic art classes as electives in college and additional classes taught by other artists. I consider myself mostly self-taught as I have worked to create my style. My style is called Hyper-Realism or Photo-Realism. I also like to work in the traditional Botanical style. I take my own photos so I can frame the picture as I want.

I did no painting for 22 years. I worked full time for 20 years teaching elementary school and I settled in the first 2 years of being retired. I have been painting again for 5 years.

The Camp Fire of Paradise, California, in 2018 was a turning point. As a survivor of this tragedy, my life was heavily impacted. I did not lose my house although the fire swept thru our property. Out of 19 houses on our street only 8 remained. I found when I could paint again - when I could get in my studio and concentrate long enough to paint, that with so much tragedy, devastation and destruction around me, I needed to focus on beauty. I found my painting style changed. I took more risk, focused in closely on my subject, with bolder colors and a more crisp style. Living in the burn zone, I have countered the ugly aspects of my surroundings with the beauty of flowers on my walls and in my life.

To see more of Lisa’s work, please contact her directly via her Email.