Artist Statement
I have been an artist for as long as I can remember. I feel a visceral connection to what I see
around me, to places, to the land, to the prairies and sky. I am passionate about images
expressed in texture, colour, and line. My work often expresses my love for place in a tactile
way. The viewer is drawn in, drawn to touch the surface, coming close to explore the fine
details and transitions as well as the overall sense of the piece.
I work almost exclusively from my own photographs. Part of each summer is spent with friends
and neighbors driving around their farms and back roads, touring their favorite places.
From oil paint and acrylic to encaustic and mixed media the process of making art fascinates
and engages me completely. My encaustic paintings are made with beeswax, damar resin (a
natural tree sap that acts as a hardening agent), oil paint and other media. I paint in layers,
fusing each layer with heat. Encaustic painting has a long history, dating back to the 5th
Century B.C. The word encaustic means to burn in, which refers to the process of fusing the
paint. Beeswax is impervious to moisture, it will not deteriorate, it will not yellow or darken.
Encaustic paintings do not have to be varnished or protected by glass.
Biography
Diane Larouche Ellard is a painter and mixed media artist living in Biggar, Saskatchewan. She
obtained a BFA from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987. Larouche Ellard exhibits her work
throughout the province and is represented by Collector’s Choice Art Gallery in Saskatoon, and
Grasslands Gallery Online.
dlaroucheellard@gmail.com
dianelarouche.com