Diana Andrews Spotlight
Diana Andrews
Written by Mark Moore, April, 2026
Art was always Diana’s favorite subject in school, she excelled at it. Diana’s artistic process is influenced by the music that she listens to, the weather that surrounds her, the lighting, and even the smells in the air. If Diana had to describe her work to a stranger in the street she would say: “I want the viewer to have joy from it. I try to paint in a more playful manner."
When selling her work, there was a memorable interaction that Diana had with a client. “I put my bio on the back of my paintings, and she emailed me and told me how much it meant to her. Not just the image itself, but also what my bio said, giving God the glory.”
She believes that the community aspect of art keeps her going. She’s joined a group that meets Tuesday afternoons. “I’m building friends there, we're learning from each other's techniques. Then there’s my Saturday group, my Plein Air Group. I organize the locations, so I'm reaching out to different parks and different places to see if we can meet to paint. Her Plein Air Group meets outside when the weather is warm and when it's cold, they’ll go into Friendship Village (Dublin) and create in their community gathering room.”
The work that Diana produces varies in size, with smaller works acting as little gems. When asked about whether or not the size of a work impacts the message she’s trying to send she states, “If you have a precious piece of jewelry, I don't think it needs to be large. Also, I can use a small plein air study and turn it into a larger one. When we meet, sometimes I’ll do three paintings. I want to give myself an opportunity to gather enough information to maybe use later.”
One of Diana’s inspirations is Meredith Martin, an artist whose work focuses on women and animals. Her medium is mainly pastels. Diana praises Martin and the impact that she’s had on her artistic trajectory in her previous pastel work and exhibiting in her gallery.
Diana highlights all of the women artists in her family that inspired her practice as she was growing up. She talks about her older sister, “ Her school art was always really good.” And then shifts the acknowledgements to her aunt, “My aunt from Maryland is an artist and has an art agency.”
Diana first got into teaching when a local church/school she attended had an art teacher that was leaving. “Our kids were going to be in the school, so they asked me about joining the staff, and that kind of got me started. She was given the chance to be the 1st-12th grade art teacher. Right now, I'm not doing any private lessons or teaching in the school system, I am instructing two hour painting sessions, paint and sip type opportunities. I really enjoy this, because the people are there to create and have a good time. I like showing them that they don’t have to be perfect. If it doesn't look quite right, maybe throw some ink pen line work in. Change it up. It's not going to hurt. People are scared at times and I like to show them that there is no need to be.”