Diane has been printmaking and painting since college days at the University of Oregon.  Currently, she is exploring some new techniques, one of which is an abstract layering of color, texture, and line. This technique involves hand transfer of ink using pieces of plastic sheeting and a variety of tools for mark making. The results are rich and colorful. Her favorite is a piece called “Crows.” Another technique involves negative space and collage. She is using some wonderful handmade organic papers for this to emphasize texture. She is also continuing The Dreamer Series which are large prints done on floor press combining print, collage, paint and ink.  The Dreamer was followed by Maria de la Man͂ana, then by The Fisherman. Diane is waiting to see who will show up next.​

In 1971 Jim came across a falling down pig shed made out of walnut. He has been salvaging pieces of tree ever since. He works with Whidbey Island trees that are at the end of their carbon sequestering life. Currently, the stages of death and new life are lying in a heap in his driveway with the ends sealed. Next, they will be cut into lengths, split down the pith and roughed into rounds with an electric chainsaw. They will be turned on a lathe to a finished thickness, cleaned up with cabinet scrapers by hand and allowed to dry to a shape and texture of the piece's own choosing. Swirling grain knots checks and stains are a bonus.

My latest work continues the theme of “color as mood” while using local scenes as the staging ground. I will often begin a painting with a bright background color to set the tone, then add to the scene with an emphasis on angles and edges. Layers of color are often blurred by rags and finger-painting to keep the scene fresh and alive. 

I proudly finished a couple of “alla prima” nocturnes during this summer’s Whidbey Plein Air Paint Out competition, which was no small feat. While painting on the wharf at midnight, not even the harbor seals chasing fish in the waters below me could distract me! Painting familiar subjects when in a new season of life has been very telling and rewarding.