Slightly real, slightly surreal, artist Emma Rodriguez’s mystical landscapes transport you into an alternate reality that we’d very much like to visit in the flesh, or at the very least, our dreams.

Conscious Lifestyle Magazine: How have your life experiences influenced you art?

Emma Rodriguez: My art is based a lot around my own mental health. For me, it is a means of escape—not only the creative process but the final image represents a way of getting out of the world that surrounds me and transporting me into another place.

When I go through low stages in my life, sometimes I feel that is when I am most inspired to create something that represents the opposite of what I’m going through, or sometimes, even the exact thing I am going through.

CLM: Where do you draw your inspiration for your work?

ER: I draw a lot of inspiration from surrealist artists like Dali and De Chirico, and the whole surrealist movement in general as it was something I was very interested in during my time at university. I always intend to create something “other worldly”.

CLM: What messages does your artwork convey or what do you hope it sparks in viewers?

ER: I have had a lot of messages from people who said my art has helped them through tough times and has healed them in some kind of way, which is beautiful to me. I create the art for my own mindfulness and self-care, and to know that it helps others with their own situations is one of the main reasons why I carry on making what I make.

CLM: How do you create your artwork? What is the process of birthing a piece like for you?

ER: I can’t say I really have a process; I never really have when making art. I think I just get so excited by the vision of a final piece that I go straight into making what I have in my mind,

and then it either works or it doesn’t. All my work is digital, so I first source the images I imagine in my head and form them together using Photoshop.

CLM: If you could share one important piece of wisdom or message with the world, what would it be?

ER: If I have learned anything from experience: it’s okay to take a break. If you need a day to stay in bed all day and feel rubbish, then go ahead. You need to rest and recharge and give yourself permission to take a break from trying to be productive and pretending that you’re okay all the time when you’re not.

Emma Rodriguez (also known as mooncrab) is from Bristol, England. She graduated from university with a degree in drawing and printmaking. Her primary focus is on digital mediums and landscape-based work. Her art is inspired by her own ups and downs, as it’s often these moments in which she desires to create something that helps her get away. Her work can be found at @mooncrab.jpg on instagram and mooncrab.co.uk

About The Author

Justin Faerman is the co-founder of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine.

Artist Devany Amber Wolfe combines symbolic and esoteric imagery with distinctly feminine forms to create cosmic dreamscapes that invoke the most mystical aspects of our psyche and soul. Conscious Lifestyle Magazine: Where do you draw your inspiration for your work? Devany Amber Wolfe: Dreams are a large factor. Landscapes in my dreams are always epic and psychedelic. The desert, of course, is a recurring theme—I am deeply inspired by how alien and hostile of an environment it is. It distills things down to their essence and forces growth—that’s why I place so many of my subjects there. I am also fascinated with attempting to represent the idea of “The Void,” which I often talk about as the place where all things from the heart and mind arise—a universal vista we all share. It is the place where dreams occur. Its inexplicable, but art does not use words to deliver its messages. So, I am always trying to bring things down from the ether and make a visual representation of how this vast Void feels. CLM: How has your Kundalini awakening experience influenced your art? DAW: I’ve always been drawn to the more surreal side of the spectrum—I feel it provides an open door into deeper parts of the psyche; but after my Kundalini awakening, the subjects of my art became a bit more specific—focusing on ancient, universal symbolism, sigils, and archetypes. Despite the fact that my Kundalini experience was unique to me, I believe that Kundalini as a force opens one up to a sense of unity in all things. So I see symbols and archetypes as a natural step from there, for they are something found throughout cultures and eons of the world. I look forward to continued study with this in the new year. CLM: What messages does your artwork convey or what do you hope it sparks in viewers? DAW: I’m not sure what precise message it conveys—I leave that up to the viewer. I myself hope it conveys a sense of awe, wonder, exploration, timelessness, and relatability. I hope they see something of their universal essence it. CLM: How do you create your artwork? What is the process of birthing a piece like for you? DAW: The process generally is either I will see something—an object or a gesture—that catches my attention, and I will begin with that. Or I will have a color scheme in my mind that I am dying to see come to fruition. Either way, the idea is usually quite nascent. When I was younger, I used to create paintings with very specific intentions, and it would not allow for what actually needed to come out, to arise. So I have, in my later years of practice, sort of stepped out of my own way. Sometimes, even that initial color scheme or gesture does not end up in the finished product. I play a lot, and I am unattached to outcomes, which is why I feel my work has been so successful lately. I don’t mind at all what ends up in the completed piece, as long as whatever message that needed to come through, did. CLM: If you could share one important piece of wisdom or message with the world, what would it be? DAW: It’s a tad bit cliché these days because it’s become a buzzword, but self-love. It is the foundation of everything you will do. It will determine how far you will go. It will decide how healthy you are, physically, emotionally, and mentally. It makes all the difference. I’ve learned that self-love practices do not have to be epic or “impressive”—especially during times of challenge or trauma—they can be very simple and humble. But as long as they are at the core of everything you do, they will support and uplift you. There is another cliché (which I think is slowly dissolving, thankfully) that in order to be a successful artist or creator of any type, you must be starving and suffering. I believe this is just an antiquated notion perpetuated by the fact that living artists were often not supported, and so suffering for one’s art was the norm. But now we are able to promote ourselves much more easily. Some of my best work has come from when I’m in a very good place, emotionally and spiritually. I hope that all creators may find that for themselves. Devany Amber Wolfe is an artist, writer, tarot maker, and Kundalini advisor currently based out of Toronto, Canada. Her work and mission is focused on depictions of, and discussions about, the archetypal, timeless nature of human evolution. rough a compelling combination of word plus vision, she wills the viewer into greater self-understanding and acceptance. Her work can be found at @serpentfire on instagram and serpentfire.ca

About The Author Justin Faerman is the co-founder of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine.

Finnish Artist and Photographer Christoffer Relander’s We Are Nature series blurs the line between the natural world and the human form to such a degree that it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. In doing so, he has not only produced a set of stunning visual images, but also a reminder of the very real universal truth that indeed everything is connected at the deepest of levels. His work is the result of equal parts passion, love, curiosity and experimentation interacting with the wonder and stunning natural beauty of the southern Finnish countryside, where he was born and raised. After studying graphic design and visual art in Porvoo, he began his mandatory military service, where he began to explore the similarities between drawing and photography, quickly becoming ‘obsessed’ (in his own words) with the new medium.  

“Every individual has their own interpretation of what they see in my work.”

  Not one to back down from a challenge, Christoffer began experimenting with in-camera photography techniques, shying away from the norm of heavy image post-processing with powerful computer software. And the results were stunning. In 2012, Relander released his We Are Nature series to the public, which received wide international critical acclaim. Relander’s work is produced through a technique known as double exposure, where two juxtaposing images are superimposed over each other with stunning effect. To put it in simple terms, the resulting photograph is a composite of the two original images. “When I’m working on the series I mainly think of shapes and emotions that I want to capture,” Christoffer says of his process. “I begin with taking the portrait image and I focus on visualizing how the shapes will overlay and blend together with the nature image.” When asked about the message behind his work, Christoffer is quick to state: “I think every individual has their own interpretation of what they see in my work, and I think it’s good to keep my personal thoughts behind it for myself. I don’t want my work to be about me or the models, I want it to be about the viewer.” Visit his website to learn more: christofferrelander.com                 This article originally appears in the Spring 2014 Issue of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine. You can download a copy of this issue by clicking here or subscribe by clicking here.

About The Author Justin Faerman is the Co-founder of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine.

Fine artist Zaria Forman standing in front of her meticulously finger-painted, photorealistic art. photos courtesy of zaria forman

What is art but the interpretation of the world through the filter of the five senses…the filter of our emotions and experiences, which color things not as they are, but how they feel to us on a visceral level. And what more poignant experiences to draw from than those of early childhood? Especially one spent exploring the world’s most exotic landscapes, virtually untouched by human hands, isolated in pristine, timeless beauty. These formative experiences clearly permeate the work of ultra-realist painter Zaria Forman. As a child, she found herself immersed in the stunning natural beauty of remote locales, ranging from Greenland to Southern India, tagging alongside her fine art photographer mother. “My mother was an artist, and we always had art supplies around the house,” she recounts of her childhood. “I have been drawing and painting ever since I could hold a stick of charcoal or a paintbrush. I loved drawing landscapes, and portraits of all my friends in grade school.” Her natural artistic tendencies were further nurtured during her early education at the highly progressive Waldorf school, founded by famous Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. From there she attended Skidmore college, refining her unique and unusual style, in which she literally shapes her paintings entirely with her hands. Despite receiving substantial international recognition and fame, Forman is humble about her work: “I hope the viewer can feel transported to that place and time that I have depicted, allowing them to experience a landscape they might never have the chance to see.  I hope they are inspired by it.”  She spends her days painting and teaching yoga, with occasional trips to places like the Maldives and Greenland to draw further inspiration for her work. Ultimately she hopes her art will inspire people to protect and preserve the planet in whatever way they can—in her own words, “Whether that’s [through] donating money to organizations like 350.org, or opening a window instead of turning the AC on when it’s 60′s outside.” To learn more about Zaria and see more of her stunning paintings, visit her website: zariaforman.com           This article originally appears in the Feb. – Apr. 2014 Issue of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine. You can download a copy of this issue by clicking here or subscribe by clicking here

About The Author Justin Faerman is the Co-founder of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine.

This Landsat image of 3 October 2011 shows the Mississippi River Delta, where the largest river in the United States empties into the Gulf of Mexico. photo: USGS/ESA

Early images of Earth from space redefined our relationship with the planet, making us realize in an instant how incredible, precious and fragile our co-existence truly is. And yet, in comparison with today’s satellite technology, these images were primitive, only revealing the splendor of our world in a very general way. Fast forward from 1972, when the era-defining ‘Blue Marble’ image of Earth was first broadcast, to today, where the planet is encircled by a proverbial jungle of high-powered satellites, constantly monitoring and photographing every square inch of the planet with unbelievably sensitive and precise instrumentation.  Following this logic, one would expect images of the planet shot with today’s satellites to be hundreds of times more profound. While it is hard to quantify these types of things, the following images, which were shot by European Space Agency satellites over the last decade, offer a fresh perspective on Earth’s stunning natural beauty and our delicate co-existence that is powerful enough to fuel an entirely new generation of conscious activists to reconsider how we view and relate to the planet we call home. This false color Landsat-5 image from 4 May 2012 shows agricultural structures in the US state of Kansas. photo: USGS/ESA   The Tibesti Mountains, located mostly in Chad with the northern slopes extending into Libya, are captured in this Envisat image. photo: ESA Deep in the Sahara Desert, the Al Jawf oasis in southeastern Libya is pictured in this image from Japan’s ALOS satellite. photo: JAXA/ESA   Phytoplankton bloom stretches across the Barents Sea off the coast of Cape Nordkinn photo: ESA   This image from the Envisat satellite shows the Juruá River snaking through the Amazon rainforest in western Brazil. photo: ESA Small, blocky shapes of towns, fields, and pastures surround the graceful swirls and whorls of the Mississippi River. Countless oxbow lakes and cutoffs accompany the meandering river south of Memphis, Tennessee, on the border between Arkansas and Mississippi, USA photo: USGS   Envisat captures sand and dust blowing northeast from the Arabian Peninsula across the Persian Gulf toward Iran. photo: ESA   Korea’s Kompsat-2 satellite captured this image over the sand seas of the Namib Desert on 7 January 2012. photo: KARI/ESA The Betsiboka estuary in northwest Madagascar is pictured in this image. Here, the country’s largest river flows into Bombetoka Bay, which then opens into the Mozambique Channel. photo: JAXA/ESA   This article originally appears in the Feb. – Apr. 2014 Issue of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine. You can download a copy of this issue by clicking here or subscribe by clicking here

About The Author Justin Faerman is the Co-founder of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine.