Art By Diana Figueroa
....and my world comes alive with color.
Art By Diana Figueroa
"While brush is in hand the beauty of God's creation is captured and my world comes alive with color". by Diana Figueroa
I live and breath to paint. I have
been creative all my life; mostly crafting and did a few pencil
sketches when I was young. As the whim would hit me I would pick the
pencil back up. But that was about it. Years would go by and there was
no whim. November 2006 I was suffering depression and my daughter saw
one of the sketches I had done. She suggested that I start sketching again.
So I did a sketch of my Shih Tzu "Pudge" and 3 of our grand babies. They were pretty good. I wanted to create with color though so, I traipsed off to the store and bought a cheap
watercolor set, a pad of watercolor paper and a couple of brushes. This
was the beginning of blessing and healing.
My first painting
brought tears to my husbands eyes. It was beautiful! I painted a few
more and then changed to oil paints. My first oil painting brought
tears to my husbands eyes again....from laughter. It was hilarious!
I was attempting a painting of Monet's Garden. There were at least 8
layers of paint, 3 paintings on top of each other and probably the
heaviest 9x12 paper canvas painting in history.
Being self
taught and a perfectionist, I have had to learn to be patient and not
critical of myself. I have also learned, when I am not happy with the
way a painting is looking, just walk away. When I come back the next day
it usually is exactly what I was trying to achieve. If I had known this when I first started I would have spared myself the heaviest 9x12 paper canvas of Monet's Garden and my husband's laughter.
But,
I never give up. I'll never stop painting and I'll never stop thanking
God for this creative gift and for the healing it has brought to me. I hope that you too will enjoy my work.
"Fancy Feathers"
I have finally added a couple more paintings. Getting the right lighting so I can take digital pictures of my paintings has been difficult. I usually take them outside. Outdoors I can control the natural light by moving to different areas of the yard. Big Problem!!!! The temperature here in Texas is ranging about 100-102 degrees with a heat index of about 104 degrees. Hey....it's hard enough to breathe in these temperatures, let alone move everything outside, set it up and take pictures! So! I am finding things to paint inside. Since right now my interest is in painting flowers and the flowers are on the outside, this is a difficult task. Thank the good Lord for cell phones! I get it ready, run outside, shoot and run back in. Only a small bead of perspiration! A tall glass of iced tea later and I am ready to check out the photos on my phone. I chopped off half the Cannas! I moved too fast on the Roses (big blur)! And, I zoomed in too far on the Lilies. Think I'll go get another glass of tea.
As you can see I am still working on my site. There is so much to do and so little time to do it in. I hope to have it completed soon. Thank you for your patience!