One smokin’ amigo, and other timeless vignettes
Diane Frossard, Summer Pasture, oil, 9 x 12.
This story was featured in the June 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
LOOKING BACK on her childhood in Dallas, TX, Diane Frossard believes she was “wired” to draw and paint. Her father was a skilled horseman and raised quarter horses, and young Diane spent her weekends working with her own horses and attending equestrian shows. But when she wasn’t showing horses, says Frossard, “I drew.” When it came time for college, however, she chose to study geology, viewing it as a more practical choice than fine art. Unlike other career options such as accounting or business, the subject appealed to her artistic sensibilities. “I’ve always loved pretty rocks, fossils, minerals, and the beautiful formations that result from erosion,” she says. “They’re an art form.”
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- Diane Frossard, Cove Harbor Clouds, oil, 12 x 12.
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- Diane Frossard, Afternoon Solace, oil, 9 x 12.
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- Diane Frossard, Buddy & Zack, oil, 9 x 12.
After college, Frossard spent many years working for an oil company and raising her daughters, squeezing in time for painting and art workshops when she could. Eventually, however, the call to paint full time prevailed. “Art chooses you,” she says. “I never really made that decision.” Today the artist routinely paints en plein air on her ranch in East Texas, where she trains her eye on the surrounding pastureland and her horses. A look through her oeuvre reveals the prevalence of one horse, in particular. He goes by Buddy (his registered name is One Smokin’ Amigo), and this American paint horse has proved to be a winning subject. “Buddy has gone to the Oil Painters of America show three years in a row,” chuckles Frossard.
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- Diane Frossard, Entourage, oil, 8 x 14.
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- Diane Frossard, Erwin and Broadway, oil, 12 x 12.
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- Diane Frossard, Moonlighting, oil, 9 x 12.
Buddy’s pinto spotting pattern is just one of the striking features that compels the artist to paint him. In general, she says, “horses have these beautiful curves and gestures, and the sheen of their coats and their grace lend them to being excellent subjects.” One of Frossard’s depictions of Buddy, a loosely painted and generously textured work entitled SUMMER PASTURE, appears in OPA’s national exhibition this summer. She also has a harbor scene in the American Impressionist Society’s Small Works Showcase. “Generally, the backgrounds and foregrounds in my work are abstract, and you might see my underpaintings coming through,” says the artist, who has studied with Scott Burdick, Dan Gerhartz, Susan Lyon, and Michael Workman, among other painters. “I like the combination of suggested detail and more abstract vignettes, so my paintings don’t look overworked,” she adds. “I’m trying to capture an impression of movement, light, and atmosphere.” —Kim Agricola
representation
Valerosa Designs & Gallery, Tyler, TX; www.dianefrossard.com.
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- Diane Frossard, Morning Harbor, oil, 9 x 12.
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- Diane Frossard, The Greeting, oil, 12 x 12.
This story was featured in the June 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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