About the Artist
My family made the move from New York, to Coconut Grove, Florida when I was 8. As the daughter of an engraver and also a seamstress, I understood the value of hard work and genuine quality. This was enhanced by growing up in the community of Coconut Grove surrounded by artists of all types. In fact it proved to be the perfect surroundings to feed my insatiable love of all things artistic and beautiful.
In my late 20′s I started working for a famous jeweler named Bill Klemmer. In doing so I learned I had a talent for making original waxes. I sold waxes to the jewelry trade, and then learned how to cast and make molds for custom gold and silver jewelry pieces. The natural progression from this was to open my own studio and become a jeweler myself. I opened a shop in the Grove then left and went and opened a larger shop in Keystone Heights, Florida, called Diana Originals where I practiced my trade for 28 years.
It was time for me to sell my jewelry business and devote myself solely to painting which I had been doing on the side for many years. In 2004 I took the plunge, sold my jewelry business and moved to the small artistic community of High Springs where I opened a gallery under the same name, Diana Originals. I started for the first time to paint in earnest, using a variety of different mediums such as water soluble oils, scratch art, mixed media, but I always seemed to go back to watercolor as my main medium. This was a prolific time for me and I began to show my art in local shows. This lead to an opportunity to teach art at the University of Florida. My love of painting flowed easily into the love of teaching others to paint. I also opened a studio in my gallery and 5 years later I have had the privilege of teaching many students. I always love that moment when we are working together and the light goes on for them concerning some particular technique or skill they have been trying to master. My love of painting and of teaching have found a perfect fit with each other.
