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In The Words of the
Artist
I have had
a passion for painting all my life and began to paint steadily in
the early 1980's. I won my first art award in 1982 and am the winner
of numerous awards in juried art shows. Watercolor, my favorite medium,
fascinates me, and I also enjoy working in collage, conté and
pencil, acrylic and photography.
My art education
I took classes from a broad
spectrum of teachers that
includes teachers from both the
US and Canada: watercolor: Linda Doll, Alessandra Bitelli, Rita
Edwards, Brian Atyeo, watercolor and design: Alex Powers, and
charcoal portraiture: Carl Coger.
As A Child
I grew up with art in our
home. My mother was a gifted artist that I watched create pottery
and paintings all my life. I saw painting as a very natural thing
for people to do.
I started drawing at a
very young age and I did the typical child art projects. When I was
ten I won an award for a little wax sculpture. That same year I took
my first adult art course with the late Robert Aller. The concepts
were often far above what I could understand but it was an
adventure.
My Formative Years
My passion for painting and
drawing continued to grow until my marriage in 1965. With my mother's
encouragement I started drawing again in 1976 after we moved from
Prince George to Sidney. I loved being back on the Island that was
my childhood home. Over the years I took art workshops but I am primarily self
taught.
My Mediums
I was frustrated with the
mediums I was using and switched to watercolours around
1980. Watercolor is still my primary medium and continues to
surprise and fascinate me. I love the flow and interaction of the
pigments.
Most of my portrait commissions are done in
pencil, pencil line drawing and graphite. I also like working in conté de
Paris for simplified color and pastels for full colour.
The surfaces I like working on
are Canson /Classic Cream Drawing paper
for graphite and conté and toned Canson Mi teintes for pastel.
Dianne Devereux Art Studio, Sidney BC Canada
In 1991 I opened Dianne
Devereux Art Studio in
Sidney, BC, Canada and ran my studio/gallery for three years in a
little strip mall across the street from the water. I loved the
location and especially enjoyed teaching adults art classes. I
started teaching for the recreation centre, then Silver Threads and
finally from my studio.
Early Subjects: Landscapes
& Flowers
The artwork has changed over
the years. I started painting landscapes and flowers. As time passed
I included birds, especially great blue herons in the seascapes that
I was painting.
In 1991 we sold our house and
bought a 35 foot sailboat on which we lived on for 8 years. El
Shaddai took us to many rugged,
beautiful areas of the BC coast that
I painted from the cockpit or from the beach. One instance stands
out in my mind. My husband Tom dropped me off on the beach to paint
while he went fishing. As the tide rose and he wasn't in sight I
started looking for and escape route up the cliff behind me. I was
very relieved to see Tom come chugging into sight.
Most of my paintings at the
time were seascapes
and boats. I painted many areas of Desolation Sound and the West
Coast of Canada from our boat and dinghy. Desolation Sound was a
favorite area to explore because of the amazing beauty and the nice
weather. We did sail on the outside of the Island once to Hot
Springs Cove but it was so cold and foggy that we never went back.
I wanted to sail to the South
Pacific but Tom didn't so we sold El Shaddai in 1999 and bought a 34
foot class A motor home. We spent two winters in Arizona and
California. We loved the desert area. The last year we were south we
were blessed to see the desert in bloom. It seems very strange to
not be mobile anymore and I still get restless. We live on beautiful
Vancouver Island, BC, Canada near three of our grandchildren. I am a
second generation Canadian and have lived most of my life on
Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.
The Series "Fairies Live
Here"
"A
world of childhood wonder and natural beauty"
About six years ago I started
painting children in
play situations after
we moved into a condo. I want to capture the magic of childhood in
these paintings. I
also paint the beautiful mountains around the valley, mostly plein
air in acrylic. Flowers allow me to play a little more with shape.
I'm planning to incorporate collage with some of the Fairy
paintings. Most of the original paintings are offered as small
giclee art prints and cards.
Most of the commissioned art
work in the last five years has been either portraits or figures of
patron's relatives in pencil or watercolours.
Current subjects include:
1. Children -
I love the fantasy and exuberance of childhood.
2. Flowers -
Although we live in a condo and I've only got flowers in pots there
are many beautiful gardens that make perfect models. I enjoy the
colors.
3. Landscapes -
The area is rich with inspiration for both land and seascapes of all
kinds.
4. Portraits - I
do portraits (mostly commissions) in graphite, conté de Paris, pastel, pencil and pencil line drawing.