Born: Paris, France 1954

Education:

2000-2007 - Art League School, Alexandria, Virginia
Studied with Diane Tesler, Rick Weaver, and Robert Liberace
1999-2007 Studied with Philadelphia artist Alexandra Tyng
1978 - M.A. Art History & Museum Work, George Washington University
1976 - B.A. Art History, Hollins College

Exhibitions:

2012- Present Gallery at Somes Sound
2013 Brightholme Designer Show House
2012 Gallery at Frenchman’s Bay Featured Artist
2010-11 Gallery on Main Southwest Harbor, Maine
2009 St. Paul's Artist Group, Alexandria, VA
2007 "Art at the Mill" Millwood, VA
2006 St. Paul's Artist Group, Alexandria, VA
2006 "Openings", Inova Health Systems Fairfax, Virginia
2005 December "All-Media Membership Show", The Art League Gallery, Alexandria VA
2005 November "Large Works Show", The Art League Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2005 "Artist and Authors" The Sulgrave Club Washington, D.C.
2005 St. Paul's Artist Group, Alexandria, VA
2004 Intimate Portraits, Inova Health Systems, Fairfax, Virginia
2004 International Landscape Show, The Art League Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2003 December All Membership Show, The Art League Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2003 October All Membership Show, The Art League Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2003 American Landscape Show, The Art League Gallery, Alexandria,VA
2003 River Gallery, Galesville, MD

Honors and Awards:

2005 Equal Award, The Art League Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2003 Honorable Mention, River Gallery, Galesville, MD

Representation

The Gallery at Somes Sound
1112 Main Street, Somesville, ME
PO Box 203, Mt. Desert, ME 04660
207.244.1165
Tyra Hanson, Director

My background in art history and my deep connection to Maine inspired me to start painting. My Somes ancestors were the first settlers on the Mount Desert and art has been strongly rooted in our lives as my great-grandmother, Clarissa Somes, painted sensitive watercolors of Somesville.

I pursued studies in art history in Paris, my birthplace, and can still remember my Sorbonne professor Mme Prinet’s lilting voice giving exhilarating discussions on Les Impressionistes. In graduate school at George Washington University I studied Art History and Museum studies focusing on the American painter Edward Hopper. My studies led me to internships at Winterthur, The Hirshhorn, and to a career at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History.
My career as a painter was a natural turn of events. My childhood friend, artist Alexandra Tyng, helped me to start painting by giving me a list of basic oil paints, written on a napkin in a diner in Philadelphia. Alex has been a constant mentor and painting partner over the years. At the Art League in Alexandria Virginia, I studied representational art with Diane Tesler, also influenced by Hopper, and figure drawing with Rob Liberache to bring figures into my landscapes. I have continued my education by attending the Portrait Society of America conferences, Art League courses, and numerous workshops. For the past nine years, I have painted with the Maine Landscape Guild on Monhegan.

Maine and the islands off the coast are my inspiration. There is an understated simplicity and grandeur in the nature of the landscape and its people. My paintings begin with a visceral response to the shape of light and shadow. I feel compelled to capture and paint the essence, mood, and moment of what I see in life and to bring that experience to the viewer. For the last ten years I have worked en plein air as I have an energy and passion to be out in the landscape. I climb mountains and paint on the sides of cliffs to find the perfect location to set up my easel. Many times my plein airs will stand alone, but I also use them to make larger works in my studio. I strive to capture the quality of the Northern light and how it illuminates structures and changes the breadth of land from hour to hour. Most of my works are on the islands of Mt. Desert, Islesford, Deer Isle, and Monhegan. Edward Hopper and Fitz Henry Lane’s works have influenced me the most. I am drawn to Hopper for his use of light and Lane for the subtle stillness of his works.

In the winter I work in my studio in Alexandria,Virginia. From May to October I live on Long Pond and paint Mount Desert never knowing where my next idea will take me, but the process of expressing that idea in paint is my driving force.

Diana is a member of the Maine Landscape Guild at
www.mainelandscapeguild.blogspot.com