Claire Denarie-Soffietti, 1923

Born and raised in Versailles, Claire Denarie-Soffietti was an autodidactic art student from the outset.

After eight years living in Barbados and four children, the artist and her husband (an Italian architect) decided to settle for good and now reside in beautiful Dolphin Coast of South Africa.

Denarie works have evolved over the years.

Ryan Jensen | Plein Air painter

Ryan Jensen, born in the San Francisco Bay Area, moved around a bit growing up.

But his earliest memories are of family and include his father, a painter, and his mother, a graphic designer, arched together over a drafting board in their in-home studio; or his father's paint-covered hands on the steering wheel as he drove his son to school.

On the mornings Ryan's father left early for work, there would be a sticky-note sketch on the kitchen table, usually a comical depiction that always made Ryan laugh. Jensen began to sketch as a child and never stopped.

Robert Neffson, 1949 | Photorealist painter

Robert Neffson is an American painter known for his photorealistic street scenes of various cities around the world, museum interiors and for early still lifes and figure paintings.

Neffson was a member of the First Street Gallery in New York from 1978 to 1985, during which time he had numerous solo exhibitions, as well as group shows with such fellow artists as Catherine Murphy.

Hans Versfelt, 1968 | Impressionist painter

Dutch painter Hans Versfelt is an Impressionist.

He goes out almost every day with a painting box. He records what he finds.

Versfelt was born in 1968 and currently resides in Breda.

Hans Versfelt started his studies at the Minerva Academy in Groningen but stopped after a year.

After a few years he studied again at the Academy for Art and Design St. Joost in Breda and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

John Patchett, 1946 | Pastel painter

Born in Deal, Kent, John Patchett is a well-known East Anglian professional artist, who is a member of the East Anglian Institute of Artists and whose pastel paintings are much sought after, both in England and abroad.

After attending Grimsby School of Art, Kingston-upon-Thames College of Art and Brighton College of Art, John settled in Australia where he lived for 19 years.

In 1994, he returned to this country, settling in East Anglia where he has easy access to some of his favourite locations.

Salvo (1947-2015)

Salvo aka Salvatore Mangione was born in Leonforte in the province of Enna on May 22, 1947.

He spent his childhood in Sicily and in 1956 moved with his family from Catania to Turin.

Since childhood he shows a strong aptitude for drawing and in 1963 participates, with a work taken from Leonardo, depicting an old man's head, at the 121^ Exhibition of the Promoting Society of Fine Arts.

He paints and sells copies from Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Fontana, Chagal, etc.

William Hays, 1956

For Vermont artist William Hamilton Hays, the idea of positive and negative is everything but black and white.

He takes the simplicity of linoleum block printing to new levels with his beautiful and complex prints.

Each of Hays' prints unfolds, color by color into a layered mosaic of carved shapes, carefully fitted into a composition that conjures a sense of mood and place dear to the heart of the artist.

Carmen Drake, 1964

Carmen Drake (Owens) was born in Lincoln, Maine and grew up in Meriden, Connecticut.

Since childhood, she has had a passion for drawing and painting, winning numerous awards as a young artist.

In 1984 she attended the Paire College of Arts until she moved to North Carolina in 1986.

With a child on the way, she put her focus on family and filled any extra moments with creating decorative pieces and custom work for a boutique shop, Rosemary Etc. of Pinehurst, NC.