"Ascension" Painting

A native born, New Yorker. I use color, and collage elements to add textures to my works. Building layers with mixed media on canvas or paper is my visual language. My work and life are about memories and feelings of New York and Spain. The best way to understand my work is that it represents to me,
Nature/Color and A Sense of Place.

Article, February 17, 2024 by Ann Williams on Diane Leon: Abstract and Collage Artist Extraordinaire for The Artworld Post online publication.


Abstract painting and collage gives me a sense of freedom. I prefer to paint on small to mid-size surfaces. The handling of acrylic paint on canvas, panel or paper is influenced by nature’s powerful energy and a sense of place. Color, and the layering of paint, and collage paper, etc. are important elements in my work.
I work with no preconceived idea. How the completed work reveals itself develops with many revisions. I start by an application of color with my palette knife and/or brush. As the paint and texture builds up it forms an abstract composition that gives the painting a life of its own. The work is finished only when it ‘feels’ right to me. It is an emotional rather than intellectual process that determines whether I consider it a ‘successful’ painting.

My art is a result of a sense of place and an emotional connection. It began for me in the 1950s as a child growing up in New York City. Skating to Central Park and climbing rocks became my escape in nature. Since 1970 Spain became a focal point for my artistic expression. The vast openness of the sky, sea and mountains had a profound effect upon me. Travel out west to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion and Bryce Parks in Utah added another dimension of the spiritual aspect of nature. Abstraction is my way to express what is inside of me in a visual way. The creative process allows the use of my imagination, memories and intuition as a way of life.
Artist influences: Franz Kline, Helen Frankenthaler, Willem de Kooning, and Richard Diebenkorn. These artists have taught me about composition and color.

I have a B.A. from New York University, School of Professional Studies in art history with honors; an M.A. from New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, John W. Draper interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Humanities and Social Thought. My formal art studies began at The Art Students League, NYC, 1974-1978.