Diane Clapp Bartz is enjoying a lifetime of personal fulfillment and acclaim through her artwork, recognized for its emotion, imagination and expert blending of color.

Her creation of serene landscapes, emotional abstracts and majestic waterfalls fulfill an artistic need to express and to escape. The diversity of Diane's subject matter and use of artistic tools -- which recently include oil pastels and inks with watercolor -- allow her creative flexibility and provide patrons with an impressive repertoire of work.

A newspaper columnist, Verne Palmer, recently described Diane's work, "...from majestic visions of Yosemite's Bridal Veil Falls, softened and blurred as though seen through a rain-streaked window, to boldly colored abstracts and from pristine winter snow scenes to a New York skyline half-hidden by a winter-denuded fretwork of trees."

In all of the paintings with that distinctive Bartz signature you will find a comforting and distinctive common thread of emotional beauty that mirrors that of nature. "I like to create serenity and quiet in my paintings," Diane says.

"People have an innate need for beauty and to relate to nature, and my paintings have always provided an answer to that need. But beyond that, I try to evoke an emotional response in people, to raise them to a higher level of consciousness."

It is that element of feeling and of viewing the same scene with all of its sensations, that patrons of her art truly appreciate. Bartz Studios' customers are most impressed with Diane's seasonal approach to her paintings and the expert blending of colors. The poetic license she takes creates a tremendous response just like the actual sight.

Diane finds inspiration from a wide variety of personal experiences and travels, and translates her keen perception of the nuances of nature in her work. Rather than imitating a scene, she draws emotions and feelings from it in her ethereal interpretations, relying on thumb-nail sketches and photographs for architectural reference.

Diane's work goes beyond her love of nature and extends to concern for others. Her many donations to charities benefit deformed and abused children, the homeless, educational foundations, and numerous churches in her area. Her generosity has taken her to the White House where she had the honor of meeting First Lady Barbara Bush and to tete-a-tetes with Cher and Dick Clark in the fund raising efforts for the International Craniofacial Foundation and deformed children.

The product of an artistically endowed family (Clapp) that includes sculptors, painters and a commercial artist, Diane began painting seriously at age 12. She has traveled throughout the world and lived in various regions of the country, giving her a vast arena for subjects and inspiration. Originally from the south, she was born in New Orleans and raised in the colorful desert latitude of southwest Texas and the high mountain area of New Mexico. She lived for a time in New York state, the New England and the San Francisco Bay areas, and is now residing and creating in her home-based studio on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California.

Diane Clapp Bartz is continuing to grow in both talent and acclaim in a world where the need to momentarily escape or reflect to a serenely beautiful place in time is more and more welcomed.