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Diane's Background
From Kid to Adult
Art is in my DNA and my family members were my informal mentors. My uncle Nicholas Zrolka was an accomplished artist and helped me as a child to develop my work.
My mother Elinor Fedorchak and grandmother Mary Zrolka taught me Pysanky, Ukrainian Easter egg decorating before I can even remember starting. I probably held a hot wax kistka pen before a pencil. My grandmother's hands might have had a bit of a tremor at her advanced age,but were rock-steady when working on our precious eggs.
I grew up on a mink farm in Northern Michigan. Once in a while a baby mink needed a mother, so they became my pets! When not doing chores, I was "making art" in the winter, or working on my tree houses the rest of the seasons. I had 6 of them spread out to various location over our vast acreage, some were super secret to keep out of reach of my pesky sister. If you can't be found, you could get out of 'extra' chores, a vital part of farm life.
Work Progression Example:
My favorite Sunday evenings are at the local beach next to the 5 Palms Restaurant on a lawn chair with my husband and friends. We just watch the sun set over the ocean. Many nights we have wind, stars and bright clouds. Sometimes there is just a tiny crescent of a moon and Venus to add to the darkening sunset. This is the preview to capturing that scene. This is a studio work started from (Top Left) site sketches and small studies. (Middle Images) Progress! I captured the sunset colors and striations plus the sunset wave action. (Bottom Left) I've placed the key trees and torches! The moon is peeking out and Venus is in the sky. "The 5 Palms Sunset" is done and in my gallery- check it out!
Thank you for visiting my on-line gallery
Come meet me in person and
experience my art first hand! ~~Diane
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