About Diane
Artist, Life Coach, Workshop Leader, Writer
Diane has been a painter for over 20 years. She paints primarily in oils with the palette knife. Her love of color, shape, movement, and texture are expressed in her abstract paintings, and her sailboat paintings are a reflective and playful stylized metaphor for our journey in life. There is a strong spiritual component to all of her works, arising out of her faith and daily living experiences.
Diane writes an insightful and inspirational weekly blog featuring a new small abstract painting each week. The blog posts are found at http://stormy.fineartstudioonline.com/blog and on her blogging website, www.dianeolsen.org.
Her paintings have been included in several books and magazines, some of which are listed below. Diane's unique sailboat paintings have been featured twice in the last two years on the cover of "48 Degrees North Sailing Magazine." Her horse and animal portrait commissions are a true pleasure to paint for their owners.
In her work as Life Coach, Diane helps those desiring new direction, change and growth. She guides her clients to set and reach personal goals, helping them find insight into their present day challenges, gain a new sense of direction and purpose, and to live more creatively. Diane teaches her clients to better manage their daily thought life, helping them step by step to reach their goals, and achieve a new sense of well-being.
"Good coaches are a catalyst for change - probing, nudging, asking questions that peel away the defenses that protect the dreaded status quo. My journey with Diane Olsen yielded results far beyond my wildest expectations. Not only did I get unstuck, I changed my life from top to bottom. I expanded my territory, breaking away from the past to create a new future in a different town, new house, new friends.
Diane provides a safe harbor to explore your full potential in a non-threatening collaborative partnership. I highly recommend her to anyone seeking a talented, creative, collaborative coach who asks hard questions while safely guiding you to achieve your highest potential. She is the real deal." Diane B., May 2013
As a Life Coach, Diane offers a complimentary 20 minute phone session to determine coaching readiness and needs. Coaching is done by phone, Skype, or in person. Email her at diane@dianeolsenstudio.com to arrange a phone consultation.
Diane leads painting, and art/life coaching workshops such as "Heart2Art", "Painting Your Journey", "Improving 2D Foundations", "Color Your World", "Painting Animal Portraits", and also privately teaches studio and plein air painting. She is planning a "Painting Your Journey" plein air painting/life coaching workhshop at Ghost Ranch, ABiquiu, New Mexico for the end of august and one in Hawaii for early November 2013.
Diane has written three books for women that include her artwork. They are "An Honorable Journey of Healing ... A Woman's Story"; "An Honorable Journey of Healing ... A Workbook for Women"; and "A Daily Journey for Women of Honor .. A Writing Journal." Please visit her webpage
http://stormy.fineartstudioonline.com/collections/51247 for more information and to purchase these books.
Several artists have greatly influenced Diane through their work and spirit. William Herring, under whom she mentored for 5 years, made a profound influence on her artistic life and she is very grateful for his wisdom and encouragement. Other artists who inspire Diane are Michelangelo, Degas, Edgar Payne, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jeanne Dobie, and Gregory Kondos. Each one has contributed to her growth and development as an artist and creative person in some way.
Diane's hometown is Grand Haven, Michigan, a beautiful harbor town on Lake Michigan with sandy beaches and gorgeous sunsets. She now lives in the Cave Creek area of Arizona.
Artist's Statement
"When my years of artistic experience, expression, experimentation, and heartfelt emotions found their place in time to come together in a unique way, what emerged from me was a new style, a new voice, a new journey in paint. How fun to find myself and my art setting sail from this "new artistic harbor."
My abstract palette knife oil paintings are the essence of the artistic freedom I so highly value. They are expressions and reflections of my personal and spiritual growth, allowing me to explore my emotions and thoughts directly. Throughout my artistic life I have been drawn to circular shapes and images and I use them almost instinctively in these paintings. My weekly blog writings feature a new small abstract painting as an expression of the blog content.
The sailboat image for me is a metaphor for the journey of life, in all the places and states we find ourselves, where we have been, where we are going and even with whom. The spirit of play resounds through these works, freedom to explore and reflections of how complicated we can be even when it can all look so simple. People often remark that they have never seen anything like these paintings before. Some of the words I hear from people are "unique", "happy", "peaceful", "musical", "compelling", "serene", and that they "love the colors."
My animal portraits are an expression of the love I have for them as well as an expression of my traditional painting abilities in style and technique. As a horse owner, and the owner of many wonderful dogs through these last years, I find a natural connection of soul when painting them and enjoy painting commissioned works for other animal lovers."
Selected Awards:
Artists' Magazine, 2006 Art Competition, Animal Category
International Artist magazine, Challenge #7, The Landscape
International Artist magazine, Challenge # 19, The Landscape
Artists' Magazine, 2002 Art Competition, The Landscape
Tucson Plein Air Painters, "Los Ranchos Show" Honorable Mention
Selected Exhibitions and Art Events:
2010-2009 Nomadas Del Arte, Southwest Gallery, Dallas, TX
2010-2008 Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ
2008 Le Chedeau Du Cheval, Canada, "The Horse Gift" Mural Mosiac
2008 Scottsdale Artists' School, Beaux Arts
2007 American Women Artists, Annual National Show, Scottsdale, AZ
2007 Small Works NA, Greenwich Workshop Gallery
2007 Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, New York
2005 Biennale Internaztionale Dell' Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy
2005 Allied Artists of America, New York, NY
2005 Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters 3rd Annual Exhibition
2005 National Watercolor Society, "Side by Side", CA
2004 Scottsdale Artists' School, "The Best and the Brightest"
2003 Oil Painters of America, Annual National Exhibition, Taos, NM
2002 Oil Painters of America Midwest Regional, Chicago, IL
2002 Oil Painters of America Annual National Exhibition, Chicago, IL
2002 American Artists Professional League Annual Exhibition, New York, NY
Selected Publications:
Cover, 48 Degrees North Sailing Magazine, January 2011
Cover, 48 Degrees North Sailing Magazine, February, 2012
Who's Who in American Art, 2008-2012
"Collectible Art Still On the Easel", American Art Collector, April 2006
"The Best Kept Secrets of Plein Air Painters" International Artist, April/May 2004
"A Passion for Landscape", Artists' Magazine, May 2004
How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint the Landscape, 2004
How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint Flowers and Gardens, 2004
The Best of Watercolor, 1995
Born: December 12, 1950
Education:
B.A. Hope College, Holland, Michigan, summa cum laude
M.A. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Professional Life Coach Training, American Association of Christian Counselors
Member:
American Association of Christian Counselors
International Christian Coaching Association
Workshops with professional artists:
William Herring, Mentor; Judi Betts, Tony Couch, Christopher Schink, Skip Lawrence, Joe Fettingas, Matt Smith, Ron Rencher, Kenn Backhaus, George Strickland, William Hook.
Diane was formerly known as Diane Van Noord.
