Diana is an Irish artist known for her vibrant, layered paintings that explore perception, colour and the relationship between the visible and unseen. Through a process of building up, scraping back and reworking paint, she creates dynamic compositions that balance intensity with fragility. For Sound & Vision, Diana responded to Paul McCartney’s lyric from Band on the Run, finding inspiration in the collision of rain and sunlight and the fleeting bursts of colour that emerge from it. In this interview, she discusses the connection between music and painting, the ideas behind her work and her motivation for supporting War Child.
Paul McCartney chose the line “The rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun” from Band on the Run. What was your first response when you read it?
My first response was in my mind's eye, an explosion of light and colour. I had been working on a series of small paintings dealing with flowers in an abstract way, their fragility, colour, briefness and beauty and the line made me think of the moment rain and sun collide, elements evaporate and disappear. That brief prismatic glimpse. The geometry of petals falling, nature's beauty and briefness.
Lot 48. Deconstructed of a Flower 6 - Oil on board, 21 x 15 cm, 2026
There is a shift in that line from rain to sun. You have said before that your use of colour is partly a reaction to grey Irish weather. Did that connection play into this?
It is always there in my consciousness. That shifting grey light that is particular to the west of Ireland. But within the greyness there are also those filtering shafts of broken rainbow colours that come when the sun comes out after the rain. It's a natural lens.
Your work often begins with layers of colour that are built up, covered and reworked. How did the lyric find its way into the painting?
Thinking of the motion and intensity of the lyric, it seemed to be in sync with things I was interested in. Excavations of the canvas through layering, scraping away, uncovering and rebuilding through colour leads to prismatic glimpses in my painting practice. The flower falling apart and finding a new shape in its deconstruction is part of a larger project. I look at everything and filter it through this retinal lens overload that we are all subjected to. The anatomy of everything both tough and fragile and what that can mean in a broader sense in a disconnected world. And so the lines “the rain exploded with a mighty crash and fell into the sun” seems very apt for me to express my concerns.
You have described painting as a way of giving the unseen world visual form. What were you trying to make visible in this piece?
I’m grappling with the forms, the elements, looking at perfectly constructed flowers as metaphors for things in nature that exist for a brief moment, reimagined again in a deconstructed form. The shaft of sunlight broken down into lines, the musical stave, notes of colour. Reimagined as an independent abstract form and structure.
Does music play a part in your studio? What were you listening to while you made this work?
The Beatles and Wings, I went straight there with Paul McCartney. But I also have an array of retro, folk, classical and jazz constantly playing. Sigur Ross, Stella Prince, 70’s funk, Irish dance, Jazzy, Dove Ellis, Florence Road, Bach, Debussy, Handel, I play music regularly along with other sound elements. I find that music calms and seems to enable a free flowing rhythm that taps into something else beyond the visible. Maybe the structural and spatial elements that music seems to trigger become more prominent for me when I have an outlet for it. When I’m painting I keep that in my head, I seem to carry it with me.
What does Paul McCartney’s music, particularly Band on the Run, mean to you, and why did you want to take part in Sound & Vision to support War Child?
Obviously I grew up hearing his music everywhere and it's part of my emotional and psychological development. The lyrics are pure poetry and stay with you as do the chords and melodies. It's almost impossible to imagine a world without it.
I wanted to support the War child charity and children in general in need in conflict zones all over the world. It seems to be something proactive that I can do.
The work is small compared with the three metre canvases you are known for. How did working at this scale change the way you painted?
I often also work on a smaller scale. These smaller paintings that I refer to as notes. They work alongside the larger canvases. They are equally as important in terms of the dialogue within my painting language. Elements of my painting language form an abstract lexicon that I draw on. This lexicon is equally important across small and larger works. Sometimes a small piece can carry a lot of power.
What would you like someone to feel when they stand in front of this painting?
Hopefully to feel a sense of balance and spatial tension beyond the usual narrative cues. To feel stimulated and curious.
What are you working on next?
I have an upcoming solo Institutional project next April with the Model Sligo in Ireland, as well as a new monograph and upcoming projects in Ireland, England and Europe.
Visit Diana's Website
Questions by Gemma Peppé
