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 Category.

The winning artists will now be featured on the Light Space & Time website for the month of November 2017 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 "Nature" Art Exhibition will receive extensive worldwide publicity by having their winning art presented on Artsy.net. The LST Artsy.net page will feature the artist’s art, an excerpt of their artist's statement and their website URL’s as part of the gallery’s overall prize package.

In addition, the winning artists will also receive extensive worldwide publicity in the form of email marketing, 1000+ press release announcements, event announcement posts and social media marketing. 

Congratulations to our artists who made our 7^th Annual “Nature” 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 “Nature” 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 Nature Home Page here.

1^st Place – Lori Dunn – “Here, Today...”

Wildlife artist Lori Dunn is one of Canada’s foremost scratchboard artists. After earning a degree in zoology, she spent many years as a zookeeper and naturalist. These years of experience gave her a deep appreciation for the need to protect habitat and endangered species.

Lori resumed the artistic endeavors she started as a child, finding a way to combine her artistic ability and her desire to conserve nature. Most of her artworks are accompanied by a narrative serving to educate others on the conservation status of the species and its importance to our environment.

The medium of scratchboard allows for incredible detail and quality of light in the black and white image. Using only the tip of a surgical, or xacto blade, every line is meticulously etched into a white clay layer coated with black ink.

Lori Dunn's scratchboard artworks have garnered National and international recognition. She is a signature member of The Society of Animal Artists and has achieved her master title from the International Society of Scratchboard Artists. Many of her works have been exhibited in museums and galleries across North America.  Her website is http://loridunnart.com

2^nd Place – Julie Powell – “Wedgetail”

Moving beyond the realm of simple photography, Julie Powell creates surreal, whimsical and fantastical works of Digital Art, often capturing emotion and moments in time along with symbolism to explore reality on a slightly different level.

Born in Melbourne and living there her whole life, surrounded by a vibrant and exciting art community. While not classically trained, she is mostly self-taught with a background in graphic art and design, Julie has transitioned from more traditional art forms to the digital art medium, often depicting images in her own unique painterly style.

Being published both online and in Magazines. As an Artistic Coach and Mentor, Julie thrives on helping and encouraging other emerging digital artists and is widely active and respected throughout the digital artist community.  Her website is http://www.juliepowellphoto.com

3^rd Place – Gevorg Tadevosyan – “Time”

Gevorg Tadevosyan is an Armenia based 3-dimensional bronze artist. The basis for creating art can steam from anything new: a new environment, new acquaintances, new materials, new visual experiences, etc.

Expressing feelings and emotions by creating a piece of work results in translating the ideas into the language of sculpture. These sensibilities become lines and forms.

I pay specific attention to combining my fillings my feelings with the forms. Most importantly, it is how elements come together that results in the overall solution of the finished piece.  His website is http://www.tadevosyan.org

4^th Place – Steve Hamlin – “Raven Study”

A native New Englander, Steve Hamlin has lived in western Massachusetts most of his life. For the past thirty-some years, he and his wife Linda have lived in the small town of Huntington. Hamlin was first introduced to watercolors at the age of 14 when his grandmother enrolled him in an adult class. For most of his life, he has worked almost strictly in watercolor. Recently, Steve has also worked extensively in graphite and experimented with acrylics and pastels, but watercolors remain his first choice in media.

Throughout his career, Hamlin’s art has been a reflection of three life-long passions: nature, history, and architecture. Over the last ten years, he has become increasingly focused on wildlife art and the natural world.

Mostly self-taught, Hamlin has drawn inspiration and guidance from many artists. He has been fortunate to meet and talk with many current masters of watercolor media and the wildlife art genre. These experiences have influenced his approach to his own art.

Hamlin’s work has been in group and solo shows throughout the northeastern US, notably the Bennington Center for the Arts (VT), the Salmagundi Club (NYC), the National Art League (NYC), the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, and shows of the Academic Artists Association, the Northeast Watercolor Society, the Society of Animal Artists and the New England Watercolor Society. In 2017, his work was included in a show at the Nature in Art Trust, Wallsworth Hall, Gloucester England. Hamlin holds signature memberships in the Society of Animal Artists, the New England Watercolor Society and the Northeast Watercolor Society.

This year he was named Master Artist Member of the Bennington Collective and was elected to the American Artists Professional League. Steve and Linda travel extensively exploring the beauty and wonder that surrounds us all. You can learn more about Hamlin and his work at http://stevehamlinart.com

5^th Place – Lou Ann Goodrich – “Climb to Safety”

A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, Lou Ann Goodrich currently resides in Oregon where she maintains forested acreage preserved for wildlife.

She is a proponent of a balanced environment and habitat conducive to maintaining diversity and sustainability for wildlife and the natural world. Animals have always been a large part of her life and after retiring from a career in medicine she pursued photography to record and express the beauty of nature.

Now a passionate nature and wildlife photographer, she particularly strives to portray species-specific behavior in her images. Recently she has diversified and added digital photo artistry to her skills which allows an additional creativity and artistic presentation of her images. Although new to the art world she is gaining recognition through published images and awards in photography and digital art. Her website is http://louanngoodrich-photoartist.com.

6^th Place - Geraldine Simmons – “Lioness Sketch”

For the first eight years of her life, Geraldine lived in London, England and then settled in Australia in 1968.

As a child, the two activities that made her heart sing were riding her bike and drawing. Time spent alone riding her bike inspired her love of nature and deep appreciation for all living things. Observing nature helped enhance and develop Geraldine’s’ observational skills as well as the patience required to create detailed works for art.

Over time, Geraldine’s love of drawing has evolved into the detailed real-life portraits of wildlife that she draws today in either pastel and colored pencil or scratchboard. These mediums enable her to capture the true nature and essence that bring each animal to life.

Geraldine has exhibited both nationally and internationally receiving many invitations to donate her works to well-known animal conservation groups such as Humane Society International, Sea Shepherd, Borneo Orangutan Society and recently Sketch for Survival culminating Explorers against Extinction. Gaining signature membership to the Artists For Conservation was one of her proudest achievements along with being the recipient of the 2010 AFC Conservation Artist Award for May of that year.

Working from her home studio on Sydney’s northern beaches and living with her husband and two children, Geraldine feels so honored and blessed to share her art with others and make a difference for wildlife.

Geraldine is an exhibiting member of Australian Guild of Realist Artists and Active member of International Society of Scratchboard Artists.  Her website is http://geraldineswildlifeart.com

7^th Place – Overall – Nicole Wilde – “Small Wonders”

Nicole Wilde was born in Brooklyn, New York, but she always felt California’s siren call of freedom and creativity. In 1987 she moved to Los Angeles. From an early age, Nicole had written poetry and short stories, followed by song lyrics, some of which were put to music for bands in which she played bass guitar. And yet, she still longed for a way to express her creativity in a visual form. Possessing a “good eye” but lacking a good camera, she finally purchased her first DSLR in 2012. Knowing nothing about the craft, she began a driving, all-encompassing attempt at learning photography through books, online videos, and workshops. She expanded her knowledge of Photoshop in the same way and eventually combined the two disciplines, thereby finally finding her creative outlet in digital art.

Nicole’s other lifelong passion has been animals, particularly dogs, and wolves. She co-ran a rescue sanctuary for wolves, and three of the residents ended up living with her for ten years. She became a professional dog trainer, wrote ten books on dog behavior, and taught seminars worldwide. It was inevitable that her love of animals would find its way into her digital art. Nicole’s images begin with one or more of her photographs taken in nature, zoos, or sanctuaries, and are then transformed through equal parts Photoshop and imagination. Whether focusing on the emotional life of animals or our connection to the Universe, her work centers around the unseen magic that surrounds us all.

Nicole and her husband live in southern California with their two rescued northern breed dogs and boatloads of dog hair. To explore Nicole’s galleries of online work, visit www.photomagicalart.com.

8^th Place – Overall - Barbara Groenteman – “High Hopes”

My love of the tropical surroundings in Florida and nature is what guides my inspirations for my work. Whether it is the wildlife, botanical or beach treasures I make the sunlight an important part of the work. I want my viewers to get caught in the beauty of nature and enter my world as I see it.

I’m continually amazed at the medium of transparent watercolor because there is a transparent glow that I strive to achieve. The essence and technique of my style is the careful build-up of wet-in-wet layers of pigment. The pigments are sometimes dropped in clear water washes, which allow the colors to mingle and mix on the paper. My background as a graphic designer influences the strong compositions to my paintings.

Her work is collected internationally, in both private and corporate collections. She is a signature member of the Florida Watercolor Society and a juried member of the International Guild of Realism.  http://www.barbaragroenteman.com

9^th Place – Barbara Mierau-Klein – “Egret in the Aspen Forest”

Barbara Mierau-Klein’s fine art images reflect her fascination with the beauty of color and light. Her artwork covers a wide variety of subjects, sometimes with whimsical elements, at times with a hint of the fantastical, often with elements of nature, always with intriguing color and light effects.

Discovering the world of digital photo compositing a few years ago, Barbara fell in love with the creative possibilities. Layering multiple images, textures and effects feel like working with magic and allows her to design something unique and new that transforms and morphs the reality of the constituent parts. She hopes her art captures your imagination as well, resonates with you, and makes you pause and wonder if only for a moment.

As a passionate landscape and nature photographer since her teenage years, many of the photos Barbara uses in her compositions are her own. Yet going wherever her inspiration of the day may take her, she also uses stock photos and relies on textures and artistic elements from others.

A native of Germany, Barbara lives in the Washington, D.C. area. Lately, she has found her way back to spending more time in Germany and Europe again, or she is off traveling the world to capture photos of beautiful landscapes and nature. You can enjoy her photographs and publications on her photography website www.barbaramierauklein.com.

Barbara’s more recently published and award-winning digital art images are on display on in select galleries in the US.  Her website is www.artboja.com/art/0xmo9f.

10^th Place – Kelly Quinn – “Goliath”

Kelly Quinn is a Florida wildlife painter and photographer. She is a recent graduate of the Fine Arts program at the University of Florida and now serves as the Artist in Residence at The Florida Aquarium with the goal of connecting the sciences and the arts to inspire conservation in our community. 

Her mission is to paint stories that connect people to the environments we call home and to the wildlife we share our lives with. Each piece aims to serve nature by revealing the identity of an animal and their purpose in a particular habitat to inspire curiosity and understanding in all who have the opportunity to view one of her vibrant artworks.

Her inspiration to become an artist came from the experiences she had with wildlife while hiking and kayaking the 6,000 acres of Kissimmee conservation land she grew up exploring. She describes Florida as a paradise, and after graduating from college she realized there were too many unaddressed environmental problems in this state to stay quiet, so she began painting the stories of the wildlife who sparked her imagination and passion for nature.

Kelly uses GOLDEN heavy body acrylics on canvas with heavy gel medium to create depth and texture. Color is one of the key elements in all of her artworks, and she uses it to show an animal's personality, their “true colors” so to speak as well as create emphasis on light and movement.

Kelly has been featured in The Tampa Bay Business Journal, Sun & Surf Magazine, Connect Magazine, and on Fox 13 News. Her artwork has been shown in the St. Augustine Art Association Gallery, The Florida Aquarium, Ocean Art Gallery and the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay. Get connected and follow the journey at www.kellyofthewild.com.