DIANE SHAW, MFA ASSistant PROFESSOR OF ART University of Tennessee at Martin
 
 
Since the early 1990’s my work has taken an extremely different course in that it was then that I began to rely more on my spontaneity and intrinsic artistic responses than the reasoning skills that had seemed to somehow limit my work of previous years. Since that time I have begun each of my paintings by randomly covering the surface with any color and using any tool that I desire. I work mainly in acrylic paint because the brightness and drying quality of the acrylic allows me to more easily manipulate the painted surface. I can layer, glaze, and impasto the medium to achieve the desired effects. I use brushes, rags, paper towels, paint scrapers, and fingers to apply the colors as they come directly from the tube. Any mixing of color comes from the interaction of the paint on the surface. My work strives for a purity of artistic application and medium that is a replication of the way in which I view nature’s purity of form... Artist Statement Emerald Forest acrylic on paper 13 in. x 10 in.