Diana Cook was born in 1963. She grew up in Washington DC where she studied with the late master printmaker, Lou Stovall. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1985, with a BFA in illustration, and began her career as a book jacket designer for Harper & Row Publishers in Manhattan. In 1987, she attended Van Der Kelen Logelain in Brussels, Belgium for an intensive six-month course in traditional faux finishes and trompe l’oeil.
Diana began her decorative painting career in London. After returning to the US in 1989, she moved to Sun Valley, Idaho, and now resides in Upstate New York, where she has lived since 1996. During her 34 year career as a professional decorative painter, she was commissioned to paint murals, decorative designs and faux finishes in residential and commercial interiors throughout the United States and internationally.
Alongside her decorative painting work, Diana continued to paint and experiment with different materials and techniques. Her varied work included a series of twenty miniature shadowbox dioramas and large mosaics made of patinated, dyed and printed copper inspired by traditional quilt designs.
Diana has retired from decorative painting and now devotes her time to painting narrative scenes, most often involving dogs. Her subject matter is influenced by childhood memories, a love of all things English and years of living in the country with her beloved dogs and horses.
