Diana Howard

I am an American with dual citizenship living in France. Before devoting myself to painting, I worked as an art director.
I’ve been myopic since childhood. The vagueness of shapes that loom in and out of focus has always intrigued me. An indefinite outer world can create an inner world of clarity. I continually find, and tease out, meaning from what at first glance appears arbitrary. This could be described as the reverse of abstraction.
I am primarily self-taught, an education supplemented by many workshops. I paint on wood or MDF panels. I apply thin layers of transparent glazes for the luminosity they effect. Oil paint provides sensuous color so, although I also paint in watercolour, it is my preferred medium. My subject matter is always those people, animals and landscapes which have evoked a strong emotion in me. Through their representation, I try to capture the fleeting moments of beauty I have experienced in those encounters, where the essence of something is revealed to me.