About the Artist

My mother, Elizabeth said I had always been drawing or painting as a child but as far as I can remember art and poetry have been my outlet. At school I had some formal training in a strict, traditional public school in Hong kong, however the rote learning system clashed with my creative and non-conforming characteristic. Overall, I did very well in school but to recall all my teacher report notes " Diana is a very intelligent girl, however she should use her intelligence wisely!!"
I believe my boldness stemmed from my multi-cultural background. My father was half Jamaican,half Scottish with some Burmess and American descent. My mother was of Chinese, Spanish, Phillipino descent. I think because we had so many influences in how we were raised and the different traditions that we adopted, it was hard to accept that things were only meant to be the way they were, and not try to challenge it.
After leaving school my curiosities got the better of me and m brazenness grew. At the same time my father Rudolf, had been diagnose with cancer and with his diabeties, he was near his end. This only fueled my unruliness;I had always been very strong-willed and by the age of 22, I had decided enough was enough, I walked away from my 5 year party. I fell into teaching English at a language centre and 3 years later I moved into a big learning compant where I developed an art course. My talents and love for the arts were rekindled.
I worked with different age groups from 6 month olds to 60 year olds,and all with very different abilities. I found as an English teacher I could immerse my students in poetry and English literature and with m art courses I could stretch their imagination as well as my own.

I moved to Sheffield in 2006 to run my husbands local pub, The Miners arms in Chapeltown, Sheffield. My love for art & poetry was subdued for a short while, 2 years later I enrolled with Barnsley Open college of arts, aiming for a BA in fine arts. I took painting, photography and creative writing.
I think I am naturally a self taught artist, as my work as been self developed though experience, trial and error , rather than textbook,as my painting tutor would agree!! However I don't deny that I have absorbed what I was taught.
My work is very diverse as I let emotions rule. I work mostly with acrylic paint and graphite however when the need for something different arises my studio is well stocked with oils, pastels, chalk and anything else you can think of. My pieces can be abstract, surrealism, photo realism and everything in between, whatever attracts my passions. I constantly have new ideas for pieces and collections, all jotted down in my artistic journals.
In all the diverse pieces, I strive to create emotion and I hope my viewers feel and experience it.
I pour my past, my future and the current into each piece, each brushstroke a gentle caress or violent blow, each color a mixture of emotions, happiness, sadness and confusion. My subjects intrigue me, the history spread all over their faces, the knowledge hidden in their eyes, the silence behind a curled lip and the lie, behind the stillness.
These are the visions in my head brought to life, my obsessions !! And I hope to breathe life into them through the eyes of others, putting in their
own thoughts and emotions and connecting with my visions.
I hope you enjoy looking at my work.
Thank you! DJ
I think I am naturally a self taught artist, as my work as been self developed though experience, trial and error , rather than textbook,as my painting tutor would agree!! However I don't deny that I have absorbed what I was taught.
My work is very diverse as I let emotions rule. I work mostly with acrylic paint and graphite however when the need for something different arises my studio is well stocked with oils, pastels, chalk and anything else you can think of. My pieces can be abstract, surrealism, photo realism and everything in between, whatever attracts my passions. I constantly have new ideas for pieces and collections, all jotted down in my artistic journals.
In all the diverse pieces, I strive to create emotion and I hope my viewers feel and experience it.
I pour my past, my future and the current into each piece, each brushstroke a gentle caress or violent blow, each color a mixture of emotions, happiness, sadness and confusion. My subjects intrigue me, the history spread all over their faces, the knowledge hidden in their eyes, the silence behind a curled lip and the lie, behind the stillness.
These are the visions in my head brought to life, my obsessions !! And I hope to breathe life into them through the eyes of others, putting in their
own thoughts and emotions and connecting with my visions.
I hope you enjoy looking at my work.
Thank you! DJ

R.I.P
Rudolf Alexander
James
R.J the D.J
Rudolf Alexander
James
R.J the D.J