Dianne is a contemporary botanical and natural history artist, living and working in Melbourne.

Her background in fine art and horticulture has inspired her to reveal her subjects scientifically, empirically and
as individual character studies. Turning to botanical art in the late 1980s Dianne has maintained a strong desire
to explore and further the aesthetic merits of scientific art.

Her current interest in natural history subjects is the result of studies into the vitally interdependent relationships between plants and insects. She is also interested in the process of interpretation involved in the act of looking
and subsequent creation of a work that reflects both knowledge of the subject and the methods of transformation into that work.

She admires artists from the past whose work whilst reflecting their current cultural and philosophic concerns also revealed an absolute delight in the inherent beauty of their subjects, Albrecht Durer, Carlos von Riefel, Maria Sibylla Merian, Redoute, Jacopo Ligozzi, Gerard van Spaendonck plus artists from the present who combine a scientific
and empirical eye with respect and appreciation of the beauty and vulnerability of their subject.

Syzygium Paniculatum and Hakea Laurina, were both commissions – the sort of commissions that artists love, with the choice of subject left up to them (“but would prefer a native plant”) and a reasonably flexible deadline! Both plants grew locally (municipal plantings in street and car-park) and both were readily available - an absolute requirement. Both were sturdy, tolerant plants yet beautiful in colour, form and texture. The fruit of the Lilly-Pilly iridescent and luscious, contrasted with dark green, shiny rainforest leaves marked by little insect galls. The Hakea, spare, woody, a drought survivor made spectacular in winter by its red pin-cushion flowers. Dianne currently teaches botanical art for the Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. She has exhibited widely, won the Celia Rosser medal twice and her work is held in public and private collections in Australia and overseas.