Diana Crites

“Snip-Snip”    illustration, ink on paper  17″ X 14″   $250

“Anathema”  Oil on Canvas  25″ X 21″   $750

“Caught” pen / ink / watercolor on paper “21 X 18” $250

ARTIST STATEMENT:

If I can’t create, I go insane.

My art allows me to transcend; it helps me feel connected to the
familiar world and the alien landscape simultaneously. Creating art
nullifies the white noise — the endless bleak internal monologue –
for just a little while. It’s sort of like praying, but without
coherent words or religious affectation.

I believe in allowing the subconscious to form the basis of art. My
visions come to me from dreams, figments of memory, or just intangible
emotion. I am attracted to things that evoke raw melancholy: a muted
palette, icons of childhood. I am not afraid of dark, intense, or
disturbing imagery and themes; I find beauty and intrigue in the
frank, the undisguised: the sincere. There is incredible grace
inherent in vulnerability.

Historically, my work has revolved around the general themes of
challenge, balance, and metamorphosis. Since becoming a mother, my art
includes more elements of acceptance, and peace. I’ve long used
animals as stand-ins for the spectrum of the human condition, and rich
symbolism to represent aspects of challenge, change, and deux ex
machina.

I love working with oil paints. Their lucidity — the ability to layer
colors with differing opacity to form organic composites – lends
itself easily to creating a dreamlike, emotive setting. I also greatly
enjoy the challenge of working in micropoint crosshair with pen and
ink. Lately, I’ve developed a real passion for dollmaking, the nature
of which has grown from my narrative perspective in traditional
two-dimensional art.

My work is described as beautiful, haunting, and unnerving. And that
pleases me. I believe that the best art brings out a strong and honest
reaction in the viewer. When people see my work, I’d like them to
genuinely feel something they hadn’t the moment before. Even if it’s a
shiver.

For more of her work, please visit her website and etsy site.