Diana Blackwell is a Berkeley painter best known for realist figurative drawings and paintings, with emphasis on portraits, done in real time from live models. She reveres the figurative tradition in western art and admires everybody from Jan Van Eyck to Alice Neel. Blackwell's favorite media include charcoal, acrylics, watercolor, and gouache.
Blackwell studied art in college under Frank Stack and received twenty years of informal instruction in figurative drawing and painting while working as an art model. Her work has shown or sold across the country and has illustrated books, magazines, and greeting cards.