Hello -- I actually go by my middle name "Lea." I have been looking forward to taking this class with Dianne whose videos demonstrate what an excellent and thorough and generous botanical illustration teacher she is. She really shares a wealth of information as she carefully describes and demonstrates how to achieve techniques that other wonderful artists have a hard time articulating. And Dianne is a fantastic artist as many of you have observed. Also one of you very truly observed from reading her blog that she is a very caring teacher and that she really wants to teach. That is why I keep coming back to DIanne. I can't say enough good things about her. SHe really puts the time into her videos and her assignments are thoughtful also. She is very generous with the amount of time she gives students with the videos and other materials. One reason I find this particularly priceless is because my vision is such that I can't really see the demonstrations in live classes and so even though I have taken classes in botanical illustration for years, I have just not caught on to the painting part, but I am starting to a little bit from Dianne because of her close up videos and her instructions. Bravo, DIanne. Sorry this is so long an introduction, but I am just so grateful! I love the beauty and style of botanical illustration -- I live in Pittsburgh, PA, where the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation is located, a wonderful repository of botanical art and books, archives, biographical records, and botanical illustration and documentation endeavors, and where the Hunt International Botanical Art Exhibition is held every three years in conjunction with the ASBA Annual Meeting which is a wonderful event. My first exposure to the riches of the Hunt's holdings was an exhibition of the art of Marilena Pistoia, an Italian artist, and the compelling abstract format of the botanical illustration, so elegant and colorful, and scientifucally rigorous, against the stark, white background, just seized me, and I knew then that this was going to be my artform from then on out.

Thank you! We will have a wonderful class together.