It all started with a box of crayons at age three. From there it was finger paints, charcoal, pencils -anything I could get my hands on. Then using the shelves in my closet, I arranged my postcards, pictures, photos and trinkets. At camp I could always be found in the arts and craft cabin, at school in the art studio. Summer of my freshman year at college I was hired as a salesperson at Brentano’s and ended up creating merchandise displays. Finally, in 1971, when I opened my own store, Diane Love on Madison Avenue, I was free to design whatever I fancied: fabric flowers, jewelry, decorative objects, home fragrance, and fashion accessories. 

My first book, Flowers Are Fabulous For Decorating published by Macmillan (1975) was my take on flower arranging; my second book, Yes/No Design, was a guide to finding your own taste and style.  Published first in French, by Flammarion in (1999), then in English by Rizzoli in 2000.

I’ve had many wonderful teachers but none more important to me than the esteemed painter, Milet Andrejevic, with whom I worked from 1984-1989.  He said, "never question why you are attracted to something, trust your instinct". When I puzzled how to render something, he’d say “just put down what you see". When I questioned the value of something I did easily, he'd say,"… that means you’re good at it".

I am a perennial student and experimenter, always exploring new techniques: Ikebana to expand my understanding of flower arranging; sumi ink painting to make my brush strokes more expressive; art history to learn what came before. By applying oil paint to a canvas with a palette knife I focused on the planes of an object.  Painting on raw wood I incorporated the wood grain in the image. Now I combine fragments of my own photographs and watercolors on a newly painted image to make collages.

My jewelry designs use an array of stones in a multitude of colors and shapes, sculptured metal forms, textured surfaces, metallic platings and colored enamels. When I designed fabric flowers I tried to capture the spirit of the bloom rather than make a botanical copy, this permitted me to combine any stamen, stem, leaf or petal of my choice.  The most essential characteristic, for me, when designing flowers and arranging them is to capture a feeling of movement, flexibility and grace.

I pursue whatever intrigues me. I love color but use it judiciously. Sometimes restricting my palette to five basic colors, in an effort to find variation within the limitation. In the dark room, the smallest adjustment to a setting alters the image.  Making mono-prints is always exciting, you never know what transformation will take place when a painted plate is passed through a press. Sculpting with clay reinforces my awareness of negative space and three dimensionality. As I see it, the key to making art is not to be committed to a specific result- accidents lead to discovery; unplanned results are often better than what you originally had in mind. 

That I am also an actor and cabaret singer may seem a departure from my work as a visual artist but for me it is all of a piece. What is art if not self expression? Immersing myself in different mediums or forms of expression is my way of stretching my imagination. Thus my life never ceases to be exciting and revelatory.

-Diane Love

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