ABOUT ME: Diane Marie
I'm a full time artist, living in Wisconsin on Madeline Island in the summer, and in Uptown Minneapolis in the winter.
My first home on the island (in 1996) was a tent in the "town park". After that, I bought my own land, and fixed up an old schoolbus that I lived in for nine years. I now live with my husband in an old, twice recycled island house in the summer, and a Minneapolis apartment with studio in the winter.
I have been an artist since I was barely able to walk by myself. I got my start on a chalkboard that my parents leaned against a table on the floor, when they noticed my careful and prolonged scrutiny of pictures in National Geographic. My first drawing was a bin of potatoes, when I was studying the photos in an article about Idaho. From there I moved on to watercolor, which I used very heavily, and painted almost exclusively in black and white, so the paintings looked like ink paintings. I sold my first two when I was nine, for $25 each.
Now, I paint in oil, acrylic, nailpolish, sharpie marker, layered spraypaint, and yarn. I also do collage, mosaic, multimedia, mobiles and sculpture.
About ten years ago, I started making jewelry from flotsam and jetsam--mostly beach treasure: small odd bits of metal hardware, pieces of driftwood, beach glass, ceramic and lake stones. I often incorporate all sorts of collected items such as hardware, copper electrical wire scraps, buttons and bits of vintage jewelry into all types of my work, as well as things I repurpose from broken or discarded odds and ends. It's pretty rustic and off-beat, and not everyone "gets it". That's OK-- the ones that do often tend to be kindred spirits, and therefore friends!
I like my work to speak of abandoned places, and the things left behind by the people who lived there. Ghostly. Neglected, and a little haunted. There is beauty in that, to me.
I dream in color, and often, the art I create comes from my dreams. I literally see it, already created, before I've even begun to work on it. The problem is often trying to recreate what I saw, but I have yet to be stumped. The fact that I am known for creating art with odd found and salvaged objects often leads people to bring me strange items and challenge me to find a way to use it in my work. This adds to the fun and challenge of what I do.
I have a lifelong passion for reading and also writing--poetry, personal narrative, songwriting, and the occasional stand-up comedy routine. My brain is like a black lab--easily distracted, and always wandering off on some new adventure--and everything I do reflects that. It is not unusual for me to have multiple projects in progress all that the same time.
I am over 90% right-brained, according to all the "tests". True to right-brained form, I am absurdly noctornal, and have absolutely NO sense of time.
I also make really GOOD pie.

Painting "plein aire" street-side in the Santa Fe gallery district, November 2013. Painting in photo is "Trinidad Butte". I also painted "Aztec Sun" and "Up and Down the avenue", and started "Three Crows" and "Flight of the Thunderbird" while in Santa Fe. (see paintings page)