We were lucky to catch up with Dianne Lacefield recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dianne, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Being the daughter of an artist, I was raised in a creative environment. I took art lessons from my dad and observed him taking risks which turned out well for him. I did many art projects along the way but I worked in the printing and marketing fields during my career. Taking a risk at 62, I went back to college to pursue an art degree and was accepted into the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State. I attended classes after work at the Atlanta Campus downtown. The learning curve after being out of college for 40 years was steep. Navigating the amount of digital processes just to attend was especially challenging. Ultimately it gave me a tremendous degree of confidence in myself, not only in my art, but in believing I could tackle other risks successfully. This was after an initial “what have I done” freaking out stage.

When I retired I started my business Lacetree Art and my website Lacetreeart.com

Now, when an opportunity exists for which I do not have experience, I say yes!
I take risks in trying different styles of art, entering competitions and being an instructor to name a few. I try to do several things out of my comfort zone every year. This year I even drove a Lamborghini race car on a track for my 70th birthday. You can be a rebel at any age.

Dianne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My father, Keats Petree, was a renowned artist and I came by it naturally. I place his initials in every painting of mine as a tribute to him with gratitude for all his tutelage.
Art has always been my favorite mode of expression.
I learned best from visual cues as opposed to the written word. That is why I believe in the importance of art in society and the term “meliorism” of which creativity is one of the components.
I do commissions and work with clients, pulling out of them not only the object of their desire, but digging deeper to find their motive, sentiments, preferred style, and background story so they have an emotional connection with the finished product.
I work in acrylics in the impressionist style, but I also paint abstracts utilizing collage and other mixed media techniques. My goal is to tell a story and evoke certain feelings in the viewer. For instance in “Grief” one of the paintings shown here was done when I was experiencing profound grief from loss of a loved one. Painting helped me work through my feeling of being imprisoned by the sorrow and pain. I even did a portrait of myself crouched and crying within the canvas in ultraviolet markers which was only visible under black lights. I included it in one of my shows and was so surprised it was the first to sell. Someone else felt the connection. I have a deep affection for nature so landscapes and animals are my favorite subjects. Having a connection with animals, people were always binging me injured creatures to heal or rescue so I had some unusual pets like owls, snakes, and a caiman alligator as well as dogs, cats, rabbits, parakeets and horses. I studied and painted them all.
I live creatively and the Greek word “meraki” describes how I approach life. Everything from cooking, gift giving, fashion, decorating and problem solving can show creativity. Most people are more creative than they realize. For instance when I went back to college, I drafted an editorial cartoon in my Political Science class skipping doing a term paper for extra credit. I made modern art cakes for my art history class. For a white elephant gift giving party my present was a catered breakfast in bed for three. A neighbor with two grandkids claimed the prize. Time spent with my beloved grandchildren is one big creative-fest with art projects, baking and countless imaginary businesses. They have already exhibited in a juried art show.
I take pride in bringing creativity as a wife, mother, mother-in-law grandmother, sister and friend to their lives. I am so lucky to have their endless support for my creative endeavors as well as often being partners in crime to my escapades.
Currently I am proud of my paintings hanging in the Georgia Governor’s Mansion and Georgia State Capitol building because I was chosen for inclusion in the Governor’s Art of Georgia contest two years in a row. “Amen Corner” shown in this article is one of the pieces on exhibit.
I am also proud of bringing happiness to my patrons and for seeing the joy in their faces when they accept my artwork into their homes.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Finding sources for images to use can be difficult. I found private groups on Facebook to join which have free reference photographs for artist’s use and you can even request an image you are looking for.
Other cites like Pixels and Unsplash have free images as well . Canva and Flickr offer unique selections and licensing terms

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I am left handed and experienced an equestrian accident that damaged my left hand. It is difficult for me to draw realistically and write legibly so that is the main reason I enjoy painting in the impressionist style. It flows better .

Contact Info:

• Website: Lacetreeart,com