The Artist

I'm neither an artist or art critic, but do know I prefer the works of Monet, Manet and Mary Cassatt over Picasso,Dali and Chagall.

My friend Diana is an artist. From an early age she looked at red, orange, yellow, blue and indigo and saw more than just Crayola crayons in a box, she saw the beauty of a rainbow and wanted to paint the spectrum of light across a blank canvas, or when coming upon spring wildflowers blooming in an open field her thoughts inately turned to tint and shade; composition, the arrangement of lines, color and form.

With each stroke of the brush the artist gives part of herself; sharing her temperment and talent.

In the past few months I have been privileged to see pictures of Diana's art studio and many of her paintings: portraits, landscapes, and still life. A particular favorite is a painting of two women walking arm in arm down an old country road. I imagine they are friends, or perhaps sisters. One is wearing a yellow raincoat, the other a blue jacket. They are huddled together under a red umbrella; the dirt road is puddled from the rain, the sky overhead heavy and dark. An old farm house is on the right; I wonder if one of the women live there, or just passing by.

Diana's most recent water color is another favorite: Two grade school girls playing croquet at a park in Bixby Hills. Diana captured the pastel colored pinafores they were wearing and the bright, sunny afternoon with perfect balance. The green leaves of the tree and hue of the grass are so vibrant. I could almost hear the girls giggle and chatter back and forth as they played their game. Looking at Diana's painting made me think of the Disney movie 'Mary Poppins' when Bert, Mary Poppins and the Banks'children walked into the picture Bert was drawing on the parkway; Diana's painting is inviting like that, I wanted to step right into the picture.

The Swiss artist Paul Klee once said, " Color possess me. I don't have to pursue it. It will possess me always, I know it. That is the meaning of this happy hour: Color and I are one. I am a painter".

Diana Rivers, like Paul Klee, is one with color; She is a painter.