The Franklin Gallery will host an exhibit during the month of November featuring the work of local Maine artist Diane Lent. A reception will be held on Friday, November 3rd, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. The public is invited to attend and meet the artist and view her work. Light refreshments will be served.

Diane has always been an artist, doing her first portrait of James Taylor when she was only 14. She graduated from Keene State College as an art major with a minor in theatre and is currently a full-time artist specializing in portraits of all types. “Even when I had a ‘day job,’ I have always found the time and energy to create,” says Diane. She has done extensive commissioned freelance work from photographs of people, places, pets, and homes ordered from all over the country since 1977.

She works in Sumi ink with a splash of color or in oil with lots of color. “With these methods I capture memories,” she says. “I work from photographs, sometimes many photographs to create a finished piece. I love the Sumi ink and the watercolor because the work progresses on 2 levels. One is the realism of the subject, the other is the abstraction of what the water does on the page. The water, ink, and color have their own story to tell which often to me, is more interesting than the story the subject of the painting is telling.  The oil is all about color and light with no black at all, inspired by the impressionist Monet.”

She has exhibited her work throughout New England and has also been involved with costume design for theatres in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire, including the Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth. She was one of five home portrait artists featured in “Downeast Magazine” fall 2022 real estate issue. Her work is currently on exhibit at the Norway Bank in Kennebunk and at the Dr Frank Vineyard in the Finger Lakes of New York.

The Franklin Gallery is located inside Riverstones Custom Framing, 33 North Main Street. For information about this exhibit and other events, call (603) 812-1488, or send an e-mail to riverstonescustomframing@gmail.com.