About the Artist: Diane Salter

May 2026 Issue
About the Cover Artist — Diane Salter
by Lindsay Gifford

Born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, Diane has enjoyed being creative all her life. She started out simply making crafts with her children, enjoying the process and the outlet it gave her. Eventually, she began selling her crafts at local shows, helping to supplement her family’s income while balancing life as a stay-at-home mom. Then everything changed; Diane discovered the world of mixed media art.

“I first started out with acrylic painting and soon discovered all the different mediums I could play with. I like to paint mostly with acrylics, but also will incorporate chalk pastels, pens, paper collage—basically anything I think the piece I’m working on needs. I even started painting papers to use in my collage work, so the work is completely unique to me,”
Diane explained.

Diane’s creations continued to bloom as she began discovering more creative ways to add elements to her artwork. She is passionate about finding old, forgotten items with a story—often disregarded—and breathing new life into her dimensional art. The saying “one man’s trash is another [wo]man’s treasure” rings true for her.

Diane’s vibrant artwork can be found on everything from a cigar box to a 3-dimensional shadow box. “I use lots of color and enjoy making art with whimsy in it,” Diane said. Even with mixed media and collage pieces, her artwork flows together with colorful vivacity that expresses itself through words, elements, texture, and effervescence.

This month’s cover piece, Emerging, was created for a year-long, online art class/event in 2023. The class, “Life Book,” held by Tamara Laporte (“willowing”), was a collective of talented artists teaching weekly classes. Diane created this painting for a particular lesson, and it remains one of Diane’s favorites.

In her heyday, Diane sold her goods at art shows across the Northeast, often traveling to larger cities. She treasures the many friends she has met in the art community, especially those who have collected her art for nearly 30 years since she began her small business. Though she has taken a small step back from the hectic, all-encompassing schedule of making art for deadlines and shows, she now enjoys the slower pace of semi-retirement, while creating and selling her work online. “I still enjoy making art every day—art truly is my therapy,” said Diane.

Perfect for collectors and art lovers, you can discover more of Diane Salter’s many diverse styles of unique art, online. She loves to share her works with others through her Facebook page, @DianeSalterArtist, and you can also find a great selection of her work for purchase in her Etsy Shop: DianesKeepsakes (www.etsy.com/shop/dianeskeepsakes).