Diane Larson has been sailing and painting for most of her life, in the Pacific, the Atlantic and Caribbean. From San Francisco to Mexico, from Maine to the Caribbean and everywhere in between. No longer a boat owner, she works full time in her studio on the Space Coast in Cocoa Village, Florida
Does she miss sailing? Sometimes. She says they were fantastic years, sailing from their home in the Ventura Keys in California, up and down the West Coast and Mexico. One weekend, in 1984, on a sailing trip to Catalina, she walked into an art gallery in Avalon and saw the breathtaking work of Denise Burns, founding member of Plein Air Painters of America. Those luscious oil paintings spoke to her and she knew immediately what she wanted to do. As a psychotherapist, her husband recognized her excitement and was thrilled for her. He suggested she find a place to study art again. She began by taking workshops in the nearby artist community of Ojai, CA and enrolled in classes at the California Art Institute. There she found drawing classes challenging due to her dyslexia. Her mentor, Dottie Knight, encouraged her to just keep painting and so she has! Since that time she keeps refining her skills by constantly studying on her own or with other professional artists “I love learning!”
She explains her process. “I don’t think many people understand dyslexia. It’s perplexing even to me. My style of painting is intuitive. I have as much trouble trying to copy a shape in the landscape, a still life or a figure as I did with letters while learning to write in grade school. My style comes from a series of marks, at first they are very gestural. As I continue, I begin to feel the painting develop right under my brush! I keep refining those shapes and start to feel my way through the painting until I can see the whole thing come together. I surprise myself sometimes! In addition to my intense study under Dottie, I took some faux finishing classes at UC Santa Barbara. That’s where I learned all about layering paint to create special effects. It stirred something in me, it was so exciting! I still use this method in my work today, layering paint with transparent glazes or scumbling opaque paint over another color to create a vibration. I love it!”
In 2012 she and her husband made the decision to leave Ventura, California and relocate to Florida so they could sail the entire East Coast from Maine to the Caribbean. Now settled in a beautiful condo overlooking the Indian River Lagoon in Cocoa Village FL, she said “I love the casual lifestyle here. The warm sea breezes and beautiful waterways inspire me. There is so much to explore!”
She is proud to have a painting in the permanent collection of the United States Coast Guard in Washington DC
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