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About the Artist
One Day Mural Portraits |
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"I strive to create that 'gasp' element that defines a special work of art for me, whether in a formal portrait or in a painting that hints at a story. I want a painting to have a quiet drama that is striking but subtle enough not to grow stale over time. If I am going to 'freeze time,' I want that time to be enduring, especially for the person and the family of the person in the portrait." Diane vividly remembers her first grade art teacher explaining how to draw the proportions of a face. She pursued an interest in drawing for the rest of her childhood, and continued to refine that first lesson. She has always been emotionally affected by "beautiful art, beautiful music, beautiful words, but most of all . . . beautiful art." As a young woman, Diane attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for fine arts, but detoured from an art degree to pursue a BS in Nursing and MS degree at the University of Maryland in order to have a career in private practice as a psychotherapist. Diane turned to full-time portraiture and intensive training in the 1990's. She found excellent teachers who had made an intensive study of color and light with Henry Hensche at the Cape Cod School of Art. These include Bonnie Roth Anderson, Lee Boynton, John Ebersberger and Abigail McBride, all founding members of the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association (MAPAPA), the sculptor Steve Perkins, and two of the nationšs most renowned portrait painters, Cedric and Joanette Egeli, at their studios in Edgewater and at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown. Diane lives outside of Annapolis with her husband and son and near her two daughters. |