Welcome!

Hi, my name is Diane Lalomia and I'm a watercolor artist creating in my home studio in the lovely state of Michigan, USA. My favorite subjects are in nature, but I am especially drawn to floral, pets and wildlife, including our feathered friends. Today I welcome you into my studio as I paint this watercolor of the two intimate zebras and share my story.

I call myself "The Lone Zebra" because I've dealt with some extreme health issues that started when I was two weeks old. I always knew I was different and thought I was the only one like this. My mother always said, "when they made you, they broke the mold". I took her seriously and never looked for other "zebras". Now I know there are others out there that deal with a connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and want to join the rest of the herd.

Art is relatively new to me, although I had drawn some in high school and I grew up with crayons and coloring books. Coloring helped me cope with all the moves our family made while growing up, as we moved like military families, about once a year. Life brought marriage, kids, college and full time jobs that kept me out of the studio for decades. Then I retired. Watercolor became a passion when I followed some online teachers around 2021.

In college I majored in the natural sciences studying anatomy, botany and zoology as well as chemistry, physics and the likes. Eventually I studied computers and switched my degree to Management Information Sciences (MIS) and became a programmer like my dad who retired from IBM.

To be quite honest I never really enjoyed being a programmer but I didn't want to be that "starving artist" I'd heard so much about. Then I retired. I got interested in watercolor when the lockdowns left us little else to do. I studied some online teachers and learned so much I couldn't wait to work on a piece. I thrived on the connection I felt in my studio, especially florals, pets, birds and other wildlife. Nature always intrigues me and inspires me.

We all need to create something that comes from our unique perspective in life. We are human and have the distinct pleasure of creativity and connection that could never be emulated by AI. I challenge you to embellish that idea, put it into a tangible form and share it with others, you'll be glad you did.