(Diane Best) Joshua Tree Noir 12

Brush drawing on 100% rag Stonehenge paper32" X 26",  framed Diane Best is a lifelong painter, photographer, and filmmaker. For the last 29 years she has been based out of Joshua Tree, in the Mojave Desert. Her explorations have taken her all over the desert southwest, as well as to the ice deserts of the Arctic and Antarctic. Her palette is the landscape itself.dbestart.com, @dianebestart I have always been influenced by my environment. When I lived in the city, I painted people, and after my move to the desert wilderness in 1995, my focus shifted to the landscape. At that time, I was doing freelance work for Nickelodeon on shows that were nature-based, so it was a great help to be surrounded by physical references. I was immediately drawn to the Joshua trees, with their unique shapes and personalities. I always imagined them uprooting themselves and dancing away. It didn’t take me long to start drawing and painting them. They are a very complex plant, in color and in shape, so I simp