Diane Swanson
As an artist based in Northeastern NY State, much of my work celebrates the aesthetics of our regional rural landscape: the fields, forests, lakes, and mountains that I feel so fortunate to draw inspiration from as a landscape painter. The inherent poetry of nature and the push and pull of positive and negative space inspire my painting practice. Although my work is representational and narrative, I approach each piece with an eye to more abstract qualities, harmonizing atmosphere and movement with form, color and line.
All of my work is biographical in the sense that I experienced that moment of being there on the scene, either painting it directly or taking photo reference for future paintings. Oftentimes, my work is metaphorical, standing in for a mood or story, evoking a sense of time and place. Life doesn’t really move in a straight line. It swirls around in a spiral-like dance, circling back sometimes to the past, reaching towards some future self and time, picking up wonder and magic and other strange debris along the way, revisiting what you know, so you can move forward into what you don’t with hope and resilience.
I am a lifelong artist who had the fortune of encouraging, supportive parents, teachers and peers early on. After receiving my BFA dual degree in Illustration and English from Syracuse University Collage of Visual and Performing Arts, I went on to a life full of varied jobs more or less loosely tied to my art background, then on to marriage and motherhood, followed by a longtime career in arts administration, helping to create opportunities for other creatives and promoting the arts. I managed to continue my creative endeavors sporadically throughout, but in 2020, faced with the challenges of the pandemic and the life change of becoming empty nesters, I kicked it into high gear and turned my focus on being a full time artist. The effect those changes had on my art practice was monumental.
My work has been exhibited in many juried, group and solo shows throughout the Northeast and my landscapes and commissioned paintings have found homes with collectors all over the US. Recent juried show acceptances and awards include the Adirondack National Exhibition of American Watercolors 2023 & 2024 in Old Forge NY, Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition 2022, 2023 & 2025 in Waitsfield VT, Bryan Gallery’s Land & Light & Water & Air Exhibit 2023 & 2024 in Jeffersonville VT, Silver Award winner in North Country Arts 2023 Annual Juried Show Glens Falls NY, Marblehead Arts Association 2025. I am a Signature member of Vermont Watercolor Society. I also conduct workshops, teaching artists of all levels how to enjoy watercolor as a medium.
