That's Strike One, detail Statement My paintings and collages are a response to things I see around me...things in the natural world such as plants, animals, patterns and forms. I improvise with materials, spaces, subjects, color and light and then settings and a kind of language appears, leading me into a narrative journey. In my paintings I start each piece by building up a colored ground--applying layers of acrylic paint to a wooden panel, sanding, scraping and making marks to create texture, then accentuating the texture with tinted glazes. As I continue to work, adding painted and collaged imagery, the composition suggests a narrative. I sometimes include imagery borrowed from my personal experiences, or from the cultural or political circumstances that surround me. In a group of my paintings a bird emerged with which I began to identify. As I painted this bird in different postures and settings I began to ask myself: When in my life am I in flight (Leaving) and when am I static (Grounded)? When am I vulnerable (SOS) or competent (Survival Skills), and when am I feeling at peace (Home)?  Each painting seems to inform the next and so I follow that lead as I include new things that I see around me. It's like leaping from one stepping stone to the next. My collage work has very organically grown out of my painting style. The juxtaposition of seemingly disparate elements suggests a narrative and they tell me where I'm going.   Biography   Diane Hillier has a fifteen-year background in graphic and product design. As a designer, she has worked with The Nature Company, Smith and Hawken, Z Gallery, Restoration Hardware, The Gardener and The Whitney Museum, among others. Through her painting, she continues to flourish as an artist. She currently resides in Portola Valley, California with her husband and dog.