The Truly Talented Artists Featured in this Issue are…
Artistic Director Arts Editor
Sonali Roy
A freelance journalist and photographer, Sonali Roy, wears several other hats including a painter, 3-D art designer, passionate traveler, singer, music composer, lyricist, and guitarist. Roy is a lover of art and architecture. While not working, Sonali enjoys creative writing, watching and feeding birds, and listening to music. She is devoted to vegetarian diet and practices yoga & meditation regularly. Sonali very much misses her canine friend (and best friend) Fuchoo, who left her forever at the age of eight in 2023.
About my work: I very much love creating 3-D Paint. I enjoy weird and fantasy artworks though I always crave for conveying some reality through my creation. Yes, I’m weird because I think outside the box. From the very childhood, I’ve been feeling something one may call ‘individual vs society’, which I later realized is one of the popular themes of European literature. So is my art- whether science fiction or fantasy- uncanny always accompanies me. Maybe I find inspiration in it. Maybe fondness for the weird springs from the excess of tough realities you face. Some say those finding solace in fantasy are escapists. But, trying to find harmony with the wings of imagination is a tough reality, which, more or less, happens to all of us, and we cannot deny it- that’s all!
Arts Advisor
Helena Domenic
Queen Zenoboia and Susu
Helena Domenic is an Associate Professor of Studio Art at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Prior to Kutztown, she was an Associate Professor of Art History and Studio Art at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania for eighteen years. She is an accomplished painter who has shown her work in Philadelphia, New York, across the United States and in Germany, Egypt, and South Africa. Helena was born in Vicenza, Italy where she was exposed to great works of art from a very early age. After viewing the Sistine Chapel ceiling at the age of eighteen months, her mother predicted she would become an artist. She holds a BFA from Kutztown University, an MA in Art Education from The University of the Arts, and an MFA from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. She has also taken courses in Art Therapy from Cheyney University and will be entering Cherry Hill Seminary’s Spiritual Direction program in Fall of 2023. Helena lectures regularly at conferences about art and the sacred, painting, and installation at both academic and healing arts venues. Her interests include antiquities from all cultures, African and Nubian studies in particular. Her art is influenced by artists such as Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington, Jimoh Biramoe, El Anatsui, Bettye and Alison Saar, and Agnes Pelton. Helena also offers classes in various kinds of art and spiritual studies from her studio in Phoenixville, PA, where she works to create an environment of community and creativity. Helena’s book, An Illuminated Guide to Wicca was released by Schiffer in April of 2022, and is enjoying great sales.
Ashoka who supervises all of Helena’s art.
Cover Art
Inna Vjuzhanina
Cover Art Roses & Wildflowers
October Witch
Witch of the Crocus Valley
Inna is a fantasy artist based in Ukraine. After spending a few years doing commissioned commercial art, she realized it’s creating personal work that brings her true joy. Which she continues to do now being a fully independent artist and funding her art journey through her print store and Patreon community.
Her strongest inspirations come from her favorite franchises, such as Arcane, Tomb Raider, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us and the Witcher. She enjoys channeling the love for the characters into her art and using brush strokes and colors to amplify that energy and give it a new form. She sees a painting as a prism that reflects that love back into the world and reaches people who share that same energy. Being involved with various communities has brought her many incredible meetings, features and creative projects and there’s nothing more thrilling than interacting with people who brought your favorite worlds to life.
Inna mostly paints digitally with her trusty Wacom tablet and Photoshop, but she also occasionally dabs into markers, inks and acrylics. She loves using vibrant colors and expressive brush strokes in her work, painting the world a happier shade.
Fire & love, Inna https://www.innavjuzhanina.com/
Joel Bisaillon
Cover art Coreiopsis Journal
The Thing With Feathers
“I am a self-taught freelance digital artist from Canada who focuses on dark and dramatic, bold and colorful imagery with a flair for the fantastical. One can see I appreciate the darker aspects of fiction genres holding close to horror and fantasy. This could be a throwback from my old days playing P&P RPGs. I have over the years worked with several renowned roleplaying, tabletop gaming, and publishing companies trying to bring the unreal to life.”
https://www.artstation.com/umbraludus/
Joel also created gothic roses, gargoyles and other magical things to make our pages beautiful.
Interior Art
Jennifer Weigel
Incindential Cat Art
Stowaway
The Cats of Time
Jennifer Weigel is a multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist. Weigel utilizes a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, video and writing. Much of her work touches on themes of beauty, identity (especially gender identity), memory & forgetting, socio-political discourse, and institutional critique. Weigel’s art has been exhibited nationally in all 50 states and has won numerous awards. https://jenniferweigelart.com/
In memory of my beloved Ginger, my little old lady guardian angel – you did all you could to bring me peace despite my tumultuous self-sabotaging nature.
Jack Ruttan
Housecats
Jack Ruttan is a Canadian TV scriptwriter, freelance journalist, and illustrator with a sense of humor, and a fresh take on the world.
Feel free to investigate his site and find out more about him and his work. Jack Ruttan is at: https://mruttan.ca/
Visit his Patreon Page, and make a contribution, or ask for a commission!
https://patreon.com/user?u=93388363
Drawing of Jack Ruttan copyright Patrick Hènaff, 2008.
I have guest cats. While my friend’s kitty Emma is cute, she’s bad at catching mice. I’m mainly petting kitties in the street and at the local corner store.
T.K. Rex
Photography “Air Spirit”
Coreopsis Journal
Author, artist, photographer. Their debut collection, The Wildcraft Drones, published in 2026 by Stelliform Press. Their second book, The Cursed Blade of Wek, is slated for 2027 with Neon Hemlock, and their short story “Haunting Beauty” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Member SFWA.
Lannie Pihajlic
Ardurian Scouts
Lannie lives smack dab where the Great Plains meet the Rocky mountains with his wife, two poodles and two cats. He is a former college biology teacher (shudder) and current art teacher (chef’s kiss). When not writing or making art, he likes to find inspiration in Nature.
Explore Lannie’s art here: https://myworldof.art
Here’s Gus in a cowboy hat we got for cactus sculptures for our library summer reading program. As we like to say,“Howdy, Partner. Gus is the Sheriff in this here town.”
Seren Derryth-Riddle
Music Editor for Coreopsis Journal
The Lesson Plan
… is a Witchy Artsy Whimsical Fae!
Creating mirth and magic in a multitude of artsy and craftsy ways, Seren likes to work with a multitude of mediums, including spectacular semi-precious stones and gems, sparkly crystals, fantastic pendants and charms, her beloved iPad for digital art, ever trusty colored pencils, gorgeous gouache, and more!
Amanda Yskamp
For Eponine, My Cat, Whom Dr. Moreau Could Not Improve Upon
Author and artist Amanda Yskamp’s work has been published in such magazines as Threepenny Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Georgia Review, Boxcar Review, Rattapallax, and Caketrain. She is a poetry editor and frequent cover artist for WordRunner E-Chapbooks. Living on the 10-year flood plain of the Russian River, she teaches writing from her online classroom, Wordwise Instruction.
Patricia Binham
Louise Michel’s Moggie or: Jig-a-Leg the Lollygagger and the Communard Cats
Patricia Bingham is a Chicago native who resides in Idaho. She is a self-taught artist with a degree in experimental psychology and a long career in medical editing. Her deep appreciation for absurdity and love of animals drives her choice of subjects. She allows her muse full reign and often has many pieces of art in different stages of completion leaning against the walls of her studio. This seems to cause a serendipitous cross pollination which results in colorful compositions that surprise even her. Her art can be seen in several literary magazines as well as in private homes here and abroad.
Sir Archie, a genteel cat who questions my table manners.
Shelly Kay
I Know Not
Artist, magickal herbalist, and magick maker on a quest.
“It’s my jam to connect and align ideas, goals, and dreams to be transformed into reality. The intersection of the mundane and the spiritual is the theme of my work. I’ve been integrating healing modalities, such as Reiki and the chakras, psychology, spirituality, and consciousness for over 20 years into my work. I’m currently a Integrative Studies major at Northern Kentucky University applying psychology, business, and leadership to explore more ways to manifest beauty, joy, and love into the world.
I believe that the disconnection between the disparate parts of self is what causes dis-ease within society. The items I use directly represent this in my mixed media pieces; each work is another facet of the kaleidoscope of the self merging into wholeness, rejecting the normative standards set by society. Texture is often the focal point of my work and I am obsessed with how different materials react with each other; the tactility and grit of lace juxtaposed against a smooth wash of color…or a bit of broken jewelry in betwixt beads, paper, leaves & twigs, or some other found object. I use acrylics, watercolor, oil sticks, and ink to create layers of personality. You’ll often find bits of sparkling glitter or jewels emerging from the depth representing the hidden truths of your soul.”
Denita Benyshek
Coreopsis Journal
“Moon Madness in the Middle of it all”
“I am a mother, a multi-media artist, a mental health counselor, and an interdisciplinary researcher on contemporary artists as shamans. Korean manshin Kim Junghee initiated me as a shaman through a traditional naerim gut. In my work, I integrate healing and channel nature spirits to provide a gift to my audience. Awards include Ucross Foundation, Pilchuck Glass School scholarship, and Botanica gardens artist in residence.
http://saybrook.acdemia.edu/DenitaBenyshekPhDMFA
Web Design and Development
Monty Rohde
Web Developer, Designer
Priya Sridhar
Proofreading and Updates
Jojo Razor
Design Template Coreopsis Journal
Lezlie A. Kinyon @lezliethepoet
Founding Editor, Layout
In fond memory of all the kitties I have known and loved, last of all, Jaisha, bestest Kitty of all.
Artists Featured in the Spring 2027 Writer’s Challenge “Yellow Kings Red Queens and Broken Things” are Lauren Raine, Kurt Komoda, Susan Matthews, and Helena Domenic
Are you interested in illustrating for Roses & Wildflowers or being profiled for Coreopsis Journal? Send your query and portfolio links to: Sonali Roy at sonali.roy60@gmail.com
