Diana received a MS in Arts Administration from Boston University, 2007 and had Artist residencies in London, 2006 and in Australia, 2005. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornell University, 2001, attended the Sorbonne (Universite de Paris IV, Paris VI, Paris VIII), Paris, 1999, L’Academie de la Grande Chaumiere -studio coursework, Paris, 1999 , and Artist Residency in Moscow as recipient of Cornell Council for the Arts Grant, 1999.
Exhibitions: Portraits in Refuge
Her personal artist website is www.dianastelin.com
Artist Statement:
I paint multilayered landscapes in oil and cold wax, which I partially melt with a heating lamp to dissolve different objects on canvas into one another. The drips are my signature element: the dark ones are emotional strokes that create grids within a painting. The lighter ones are semitransparent and partially show the layers of paint beneath them.
My technique is a dance between watercolor and oil techniques. I begin with a watercolor done en plein-air. I subsequently translate the drawing to canvas in the same expressive manner adopted for the initial watercolor, employing an impasto technique of oils mixed with cold wax.
The last and most rewarding part of the process is the melting of wax. It comes as a 4th or 5th layer of the painting. It requires patience, has an element of surprise, yet can be controlled, and it connects various sections of the canvas. Because it’s a textured layer on top of other layers, it breaks down lines between subjects, and literally melts one state into another. It also creates mini compositions within a painting, so that your eye always wanders around the canvas and catches new nuances hidden within the layers.