Interview
Diane Trudel
Diane Trudel was raised in a small rural town in Quebec, surrounded by forest and open fields. At 19, she left Quebec to extensively travel and explore the world. She later started a family and settled in the beautiful Purcell mountain range of the Kootenay region of British Columbia.
Diane began a serious study of fine arts after her daughter started school. She devoted much of her time exploring the creative process of depicting the peacefulness of life surrounding her. Her unique and self-taught style is reflected by her use of layered textures, and the transparency of colors used to depict the shapes and shades of an always shifting landscape.
Diane currently shares her time living in her home in the Purcell mountains in British Columbia and in Mexico. She has exhibited her work in Western Canada, the United States and Europe.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I came from a big family of 7 children in the Province of Quebec, the French part of Canada There was a fair amount of art and creativity happening in our home, as one of my sisters is a painter. I started my journey in the art world traveling around Europe, visiting as many art museums as I could.
I met my ex-husband in Tunisia, and after traveling for one and a half years, I returned to Canada and settled in British Colombia, where my daughter was born. We were living in communities encircled by the mountains and very wild nature. When my daughter started school, I took 4 semesters of painting and drawing at a college nearby. From then on, I painted whenever I had time. So, I’m pretty much self-taught. I exhibited in group shows, galleries, restaurants, wherever I could put my work out.”
“I am inspired by nature, and also the way people relate to each other. My work talks about nature, as I'm surrounded by it. I try to express the wildness of it - all it's shapes, lines, colours and textures. I also paint people and what they do. Their everyday actions are as important as anything else, in making a story.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Egon Schiele, Klimt, Diego Rivera, Marc Schimsky, Francisco Toledo, Picasso, Elaine De Kooning, and many Latino painters have all had some influence on my work.”
What are some of your inspirations when creating?
“In my travels, I'm often inspired by the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community and their way of life. Capturing the visual impression of the moment in relation to the shifting effect of light and color, my distinctive style can be defined as 'folkloric impressionist'. The haunting beauty of the natural world is the well of my inspiration, and my travels to exotic environments enhance the colours of my visual palette.”
What is your creative process like?
“I am absorbed with texture and transparency. My preferred self-developed technique is based on layerings of acrylic washes and infusions of mixed media that result in rich and luminous depth of colour.
I go for walks among nature or the forest, and get inspired by colours and texture. Or I see something online that inspires me, sometimes something in the news, like people having to leave their home because of war. Before I start a painting, I ‘see’ what colour I feel in my stomach on that day. That will be the base colour of my canvas. I then start with some gesture drawing. Often, I like to keep the lines to express movement. Layers of paint come after showing some under colour of the base colour.”
“Vignettes of human interaction and portraying the spirit therein is what I seek to capture at the core of my work. The emotional entity is the focus of my creative exploration the tenderness and tenacity of humans, the flora and fauna of the natural world, and the shapes and shades of forever shifting landscapes. Such intangible moments of human interaction are my paint, and the shapes and shades of the earth my canvas.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“An artist’s role is to express their views and their feelings of the world, and give the viewer a different approach from the one they’re used to. I'm hoping that art is evolving in bringing more truth and knowledge of how people feel in this fast-changing world.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“On 7th and 8th August 2021, I took part in the Columbia Basin Culture tour.
In 1992, I had an exhibit at the Sandstone and Blue galleries on Hornby Island, British Columbia.
In 1993, I had an exhibition at the Nelson Museum in British Columbia.
I’ve also taken part in numerous group exhibitions in British Columbia from 1985 till date.”
