Big and Little, Here and There

By presenting the essence of the environment surrounding her, Susan Diehl's meditative artwork reveals the innate beauty of the world. Employing techniques used by the Russian Impressionistsan inspiration she attributes to mentor Ron LukasDiehl overlays her images with thick impasto strokes of oil pigment. Yet the valuable treasures she unearths surface more clearly in her figurative work and miniature paintings. The title of her latest exhibition at the Charles Allis Art Museum, "Big and Little, Here and There," which runs through Nov. 23, aptly describes the extensive range of places, people and landscapes the artist captures through her travels. In artworks less than 15 inches square, Diehl layers fluid, spontaneous patches of paint with texture that remarkably transforms into a sailboat, a lemon or even a cloud across a turbulent sky.