Diane Van Noord’s Stories, Lessons & Insights

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Diane Van Noord. Check out our conversation below.

Diane, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
All three are important to me – intelligence, energy and integrity – however, the most important is integrity. Because for me, having integrity means I am seeking to live out in my life and my work, the core values of honesty, good ethics, and my Christian faith. Having integrity means I can go to bed at night with a clear conscience and sleep well, a reward of making sure I am begin truthful about what I did and how I responded to challenges during that day, my interactions with others, and decisions I made.

I also see that having integrity is a way of responding the God’s beautiful natural world with thanks, often amazed and enthralled by what I see He created as I quietly enjoy the outdoors with its vast variety of designs, colors, patterns, and textures in birds, trees, flowers, animals, and landscapes. It is experiencing a very special connection that transcends words alone.

All of this speaks to intelligence and energy as part of the design and wonder of our world, which I need to create my artwork. With integrity as a primary and often unspoken value, I am more likely to create paintings with greater enjoyment to those who see them.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a painter. I’ve been painting fine art for many years now, in fact, most of my adult life. I’ve painted with several different mediums and prefer oils, or oils with cold wax/and sand, or watercolors. Landscapes come first. Then birds, horses, flowers, all impressionistic or stylized in manner. Over the years I have exhibited in almost 100 juried exhibitions, had my work featured in magazines and books, won awards, and taught workshops and privately. I have written a composition handbook for painters, and am a certified Christian life coach. Coaching helps me work with students as they find their own way of seeing things and bringing that to their paintings. It is so much fun, so challenging, and so rewarding and I love what I do.

My studio is my special place where the song of a creative freedom is always at play in me. I want people to be able to bring their own visual or emotional experiences to my paintings and it is very fun to hear them describe what they like about a piece. My website is where people can see my newest works and read about me as an artist.

My most recent work in oil is very small palette knife paintings I call “Little Gems”, and in more interpretive oil/cold wax/sand paintings of landscapes. And about 2 years ago I started re-interpreting my oil landscapes in watercolor/pen paintings, as well as birds and some flowers. I am working now on creating a devotional book using the watercolor pen paintings as a reflection for the words I write, hopefully having it finished by spring of 2026.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
Two people saw my artistic nature before I understood it was there in me. One was my father, and the other his sister, my aunt. My dad was very creative himself and showed me how to find expression for my creativity in sewing and painting. My Aunt Dollie was very artistic and went to the Chicago Art Institute, but instead of becoming a professional painter, she became a very well known interior designer in Los Angeles, California.

They both understood me to be an artistic person, and it was through their insight of me and their encouragement that came in different ways from each of them, that I saw myself as a creative, an artist, and potential painter.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes, in fact many times. It is very tempting to walk away in times of deep frustration and lack of marketing success in what I was hoping to become and achieve. I did stop painting at time for long periods, and actually, those were good decisions because they gave me emotional rest, and time to reflect and reevaluate on what I had been doing, my goals, my failures, and my desired future. But ultimately, I couldn’t let the painter in me quit and so I continue on my artistic journey.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My closest friends and family would say that my faith, my family, and my art all matter to me, (along with horses and dogs) and that putting others first seems to be something I “naturally” do.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
My faith in Jesus Christ.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dianevannoord.com
• Instagram: dianevannoord
• Facebook: Diane Van Noord

Image Credits
All images are of paintings done by me, Diane Van Noord