DIANE O'CONNOR
designer - catalyst - coach
Favorite Artist-Teachers
Even though I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree, and have taught art to all levels,
I still felt ill-equipped to call myself an artist. I've learned so much in recent years through demonstrations
and instruction from artists who are also great teachers. Here are some of my faves:
In the spring of 2024 I did a Tulip workshop with Ali Kay and then joined her "paint-along classes" in an online community called Fresh Paint to learn more about her style. Here's a blog I wrote about the experience before I had decided to sign up for more: https://www.dianeoc.com/post/classes-with-ali-kay
I found Ali's inspiration and instruction - as well as the positive community she has gathered - to be just what I needed to motivate me to paint often and with joy. Ali's Fresh Paint is my current favorite art community.
I took an in-person class with Douglas at the Vero Beach museum of art in March, 2022. I really liked his color palette and soft, impressionistic style and I really enjoyed learning from him. But after working with oils for awhile I realized that my allergies kicked in while working with them, so I switched to acrylics. It was difficult at first because I kept trying to make the acrylics behave like oils. But eventually I embraced the beauty of acrylics and I'm developing my own style.
Nancy Medina
In the final months of COViD I discovered Nancy and I was drawn to her florals and vivid colors. I wanted to understand acrylics better so I signed up for several of her floral classes. I learned a lot from her. I can see some of her influence in my current style, even though she uses heavy-body acrylics and I'm now using fluid acrylics. Eventually I was ready to move on to other subject matter. [Actually I wanted to paint the ocean - I taught myself that subject as I studied the ocean while in Vero Beach!
Elizabeth St. Hilare, Acrylic Mixed Media
https://www.paperpaintings.com/online-workshops
What a relief this was to me! During COVID I stumbled upon Elizabeth St. Hilare's Fabulous Floral Workshop online. It was so much fun! It was a great way to turn the time of shut-in and shut-down into a creative experience! Here's a blog post I wrote about the process I was learning: https://www.dianeoc.com/post/fabulous-florals
