Women in Art 278 Magazine July 2015 | Page 14

american artist Diane Hoeptner painting There’s so much beauty in the world. As an artist, I feel it when I paint floral still life and cats. There is comfort associated with both. I never stop feeling dazzled by the variety of outcomes that can be achieved within the framework of still life painting. Visual components like opposites on the color wheel or the passage of dark to light are springboards for my compositions. Flowers have an ethereal beauty that both reassures and revitalizes one’s spirit. I see ethereal beauty in cats too, but cats bring personality and movement. I discovered this when I started painting my own cats who are perfect embodiments of sweetness and snark. They are enigmatic little beasts, the kind who never smile. Portraying cats in a way that doesn’t reduce them to sentiment and cliché is important to me. My inner design junkie must be constantly fed as well as challenged, as long as flowers spring from the earth and cats frolic, I indulge. Life is good and hopefully my paintings communicate that sentiment in a way the viewer can feel. wom en ART page 14