Diana Battle (born Brisbane, 1946) is an Australian artist now based in Toowoomba, Queensland. Her painting practice is expressionistic and semi-abstract, characterised by simplified forms derived from the fall of light and the resulting positive and negative shapes. Through colour, Diana seeks to evoke memory and express emotion, aiming to present familiar subjects in unexpected and unfamiliar ways.
Working primarily in acrylic, and at times combining acrylic with oil, Diana’s work reflects her personal experience of place, surroundings and long-held interests. Her preferred subjects include seascapes featuring people at leisure, marinas and boats at rest, rainforest scenes with birds, and the tree-lined streets of Toowoomba, which she returns to repeatedly to capture the changing seasons.
Diana’s introduction to painting began in her father’s photographic studio, where she first worked with oils while colouring photographs after leaving school. This early exposure led her to watercolour painting and her first commissions, igniting a lifelong commitment to painting and the visual arts.
Since 2016, Diana has held numerous solo exhibitions and has participated in shared exhibitions throughout Toowoomba. She has been invited to exhibit in the Inverell Contemporary and the Stanthorpe Biennial. Her work has been acquired by several businesses in Goondiwindi, and she has been a long-standing member of the Toowoomba Art Society, where she received the Fred and Anne Gardiner Award for Best Artwork.