I'm a California native self-taught artist with degrees in botany. I lived in Seattle for 12 years and learned to spin, weave, dye fibers with natural and chemical dyes, knit, machine knit, batik, make paper, bind books, and make quilts. In 1987 my book, Spinning Designer Yarns was published (in print for over 20 years). Also, in 1987 my husband, Rob and I bought shiny new red mountain bikes and one-way tickets to Australia. We rode our bikes around the world, covering more than 12,000 miles in 20 months, touring through some 20+ countries (including pedaling up and over seven 17,000 ft. passes in the Himalayas).

After the trip, we settled in Berkeley and I worked for five years for The Nature Company as Director of Store Operations. After hours I created jewelry and t-shirt art for the company. My products sold well enough to give me the confidence to quit and become a commercial illustrator. I created art for notecards, t-shirts, store displays, toys, posters--and illustrated a cookbook for Chronicle Books.

We wanted to get out of the rat race, so in 1996 we sold Rob's business and moved to a cactus-scrub lot in a remote piece of Mexican paradise on the Sea of Cortez called Cabo Pulmo, known for its National Marine Park. We built a small but charming house and an art studio for me to play in. I taught myself to make cloisonné enamel jewelry and ceramics (including all my own glaze formulas), and sold prints of my paintings, jewelry and ceramics. I also created a gorgeous garden with succulents and native plants appropriate to the desert climate. In 2005 I started Diane's Desert Garden Blog, mostly to learn about the blog thing, and to share my garden with the world.

In 2008 we finished building a beautiful new home in Cabo Pulmo which we operate as a vacation rental: El Encanto de Cabo Pulmo, but eventually the desert climate felt restrictive so we headed to Central America, living for almost a year in the jungles of Costa Rica. Rob and I had different ideas of where and how to live and in 2009, I headed to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico while he returned to Costa Rica. Two plus years later, we divorced amicably. In spring of 2011 I headed to France and walked 1,000 miles across France and Spain (Chemin St. Jacques and Camino Santiago), spending time in Paris and London after. Then I rafted the Grand Canyon for two weeks and traveled in California, Costa Rica, and Mexico. I'm currently living and working in San Miguel de Allende, and am loving it. I plan to walk again in spring 2012 in Switzerland and Italy.