In Memory of Diane Shelby |
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July 23, 1947 – October 5, 2019
Diane Shelby was surrounded by her family when she passed away on October 5, 2019, due to complications from chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Born July 23, 1947 to Michael Peter Shelby and Ann Marie Sovil in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Diane grew up on U.S. Air Force bases in Minnesota, Maine, and Missouri. When she was 20, her father was stationed in London, England, where Diane met a handsome serviceman from New York named Nicoll (Nick) Jones Edwards. They married on November 8, 1968 at the West Ruislip Air Station and returned stateside in 1970.
The couple followed the sun to Arizona, where they raised a son and daughter and enjoyed exploring their new home state. After several years in Tempe, the family moved to Flagstaff and built their own house, which Diane brought to life with meticulous interior design and flourishing ornamental gardens. She worked for W.L. Gore and Associates for 27 years, becoming a business analyst before retiring in 2012. In 2015, Nick and Diane moved to Tucson, where she rekindled her lifelong passion for art as a member of the Tucson Pastel Society.
In addition to painting beautiful landscapes, Diane was skilled at a wide range of creative pursuits, including home decor, gardening, needlepoint, sewing, cooking, and photography. She loved being out in nature and found inspiration for her artwork as she explored Arizona's diverse scenery. She particularly liked autumn and seeing fall colors on the aspen trees around Flagstaff and the maples at Ramsey Canyon and the Mogollon Rim.
Diane is survived by her husband Nick Edwards, son Ryan Edwards, daughter Amy Edwards, daughter-in-law Andrea Galyean, brothers Danny Shelby and Michael Shelby, and sister Mary Shelby. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Joseph Shelby.
Services will be private.
Diane joined TPS November 9, 2013, driving from Flagstaff each month to attend the meetings. In 2015 she joined the Executive Board as the Workshop Chair and has secured fabulous instructors for our two major workshops each year. When the board started the Volunteer Tuition Credit Program, Diane volunteered to keep the database for the program. Diane and her husband, Nick, have volunteered at the building with various renovation projects on numerous occasions and helped to provide a strong backbone for TPS.
She was an amazing artist, winning awards at most of our competitions and shows from the first time she could be convinced to enter. Following are those awards:
2014 – 2nd in the Membership Competition
2015 – Tohono Chul Show – 3rd Place
2015 – 3rd in the Membership Competition
2016 – Mesch, Clark and Rothschild Show – 2nd Place
2017 – Desert Harmony at the Ironwood Gallery – 3rd Place
2017 – 2nd in the Membership Competition
2018 – 3rd in the Membership Competition
2018 – Boyce Thompson Arboretum Show – 1st Place
From Diane’s Artist Statement:
“Many things inspire me to produce representational landscape paintings, but patterns, colors and textures often provide the incentive to begin a painting. These are the puzzle pieces that I mull over until a cohesive image of what to paint starts to emerge; then I commit to a sketch.
My painting media is pastel. I love pastels for their tactility, versatility and luminosity and opening my pastel box is tantamount to opening a box of jewels. Although the box of many colors is enticing, I usually start with an underpainting and often experiment with different media and methods to complete this task. My excitement peaks when the underpainting is dry because it’s time to apply the first strokes of pigment. I like the pastel marks to show in my work, but also blend areas by layering one pastel over or into another to intermingle the colors.
I’m primarily a studio painter but have recently ventured into the realm of plein air painting and am enjoying the challenges. The scenery in Arizona nurtures my creativity with its many offerings - distant mountains fading to a soft blue as they approach the horizon; multi-hued rocks jutting into a sky saturated with color; grasses with delicate seed heads that sway in a breeze; trees, shrubs and cacti with contorted trunks and undulating limbs struggle to survive in our dry climate; rivers or streams that rage or trickle at the whim of mother nature and architectural structures that invoke images of the people who built and inhabited them. Some of these views develop into paintings; others remain imprints in my mind to be mulled over another day.”
A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday, October 27, from 2–6 p.m. at the Tucson Pastel Society, 2447 N. Los Altos Ave., Tucson, AZ 85705. All who knew Diane are welcome to stop by to share memories and enjoy a selection of her favorite paintings.
If you would like to make a gift in Diane's memory, please consider a donation to the Tucson Pastel Society c/o 5226 W. Nighthawk Way, Tucson, AZ 85742 or www.tucsonpastelsociety.org/News/Donations.
Arizona Ash
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Catalina Rocks
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Memories of a Smith Pond Winter
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In Memory of Jet Shepard
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July 14, 1948 – May 4, 2019
Jeanette “Jet” Thomason Shepard was born July 14, 1948 and grew up in Oklahoma, surrounded by the traditional Southwest cultures that ultimately influenced her art.
After graduating from The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma with a BA in Professional/Commercial Art. She moved to Texas where she worked as a fashion illustrator for newspapers and department stores in Dallas, Austin and Houston. Jet was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of 17 and after living in various places, she moved to the Tucson area for her health in 1976.
She started working as a Tupperware Consultant, soon becoming a Regional Manager. At one time, she was managing as many as sixty-seven consultants. Even though she eventually gave up the manager position, she was always willing to help by ordering Tupperware for her friends. She won all sorts of prizes and even a trip to the Bahamas.
On January 7, 1994, she married George Shepard and they promptly left on a four-and-a-half-month trip in their fifth wheel. When they returned to Tucson, Jet wanted to rekindle her love of painting, so George built her a lovely studio where she taught and hosted an open studio. During her career, she taught beginning and advanced pastel classes with an emphasis on portrait painting.
Jet was blessed with a daughter, Joye, and two lovely granddaughters, Alexandria and Rachel. She was the glue of their combined families with 16 step-grandchildren and 12 step-great-grandchildren, a brother, Chris Thomason and a sister, Margo Scoles. Two step-great-granddaughters, came every Friday to share time with Jet, learning how to bake a cake from scratch and to try their hand at watercolors.
She worked predominantly in the medium of fine art pastels, but her extensive portfolio also included 25 years of painting in oils. Known primarily for her outstanding commission portraits, she also worked in figures and still life and painted numerous historic architectural landmarks of Texas and Arizona.
Jet joined the Tucson Pastel Society in March of 2010, just two months after the first TPS meeting. From that day on, she was one of the biggest supporters of the Tucson Pastel Society. She immediately joined and served on the board for the rest of her life. She welcomed and encouraged everyone. Always wanting to volunteer for any project, her mind and heart was eager and willing but was constantly frustrated by her body’s limitations. Even with limitations, she thoroughly enjoyed life. She would push on when most people would have just given up. It is mind-boggling to think what she would have accomplished in good health. Her last completed painting was of a lion in gold, which so represents her fierce love of life and her heart of gold.
“When I’m in my art zone, a great sense of peace and fulfillment comes over me. It’s very easy to lose all sense of time when I’m painting, and my ultimate goal is to record a visual memory of fleeting yet beautiful moments in life. I like to explore human stories in the hint of a smile, a gesture, or the pattern of a hand-woven basket – and I look for depth of the human spirit and a meditative inner journey to help reinforce a commitment to my own life and creative work. I’m drawn to light because of the way it falls across a face or a costume and dramatically affects shape, form and color. Although I typically choose colors according to my mood, I especially am drawn to yellow because it is bright, sunny and warm. I’ve been working in oil paint for 25 years, and in soft pastels for 20 years with some overlap of the two mediums.” From the Bio of Jet Shepard
Jet gave of her time and heart to everyone. She always had something good to say to everyone and encouraged them in whatever they were trying to accomplish. There aren’t words to express how much she will be missed. She made our lives richer and the world a better place.
Jeanette “Jet” Thomason Shepard was born July 14, 1948 and grew up in Oklahoma, surrounded by the traditional Southwest cultures that ultimately influenced her art.
After graduating from The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma with a BA in Professional/Commercial Art. She moved to Texas where she worked as a fashion illustrator for newspapers and department stores in Dallas, Austin and Houston. Jet was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of 17 and after living in various places, she moved to the Tucson area for her health in 1976.
She started working as a Tupperware Consultant, soon becoming a Regional Manager. At one time, she was managing as many as sixty-seven consultants. Even though she eventually gave up the manager position, she was always willing to help by ordering Tupperware for her friends. She won all sorts of prizes and even a trip to the Bahamas.
On January 7, 1994, she married George Shepard and they promptly left on a four-and-a-half-month trip in their fifth wheel. When they returned to Tucson, Jet wanted to rekindle her love of painting, so George built her a lovely studio where she taught and hosted an open studio. During her career, she taught beginning and advanced pastel classes with an emphasis on portrait painting.
Jet was blessed with a daughter, Joye, and two lovely granddaughters, Alexandria and Rachel. She was the glue of their combined families with 16 step-grandchildren and 12 step-great-grandchildren, a brother, Chris Thomason and a sister, Margo Scoles. Two step-great-granddaughters, came every Friday to share time with Jet, learning how to bake a cake from scratch and to try their hand at watercolors.
She worked predominantly in the medium of fine art pastels, but her extensive portfolio also included 25 years of painting in oils. Known primarily for her outstanding commission portraits, she also worked in figures and still life and painted numerous historic architectural landmarks of Texas and Arizona.
Jet joined the Tucson Pastel Society in March of 2010, just two months after the first TPS meeting. From that day on, she was one of the biggest supporters of the Tucson Pastel Society. She immediately joined and served on the board for the rest of her life. She welcomed and encouraged everyone. Always wanting to volunteer for any project, her mind and heart was eager and willing but was constantly frustrated by her body’s limitations. Even with limitations, she thoroughly enjoyed life. She would push on when most people would have just given up. It is mind-boggling to think what she would have accomplished in good health. Her last completed painting was of a lion in gold, which so represents her fierce love of life and her heart of gold.
“When I’m in my art zone, a great sense of peace and fulfillment comes over me. It’s very easy to lose all sense of time when I’m painting, and my ultimate goal is to record a visual memory of fleeting yet beautiful moments in life. I like to explore human stories in the hint of a smile, a gesture, or the pattern of a hand-woven basket – and I look for depth of the human spirit and a meditative inner journey to help reinforce a commitment to my own life and creative work. I’m drawn to light because of the way it falls across a face or a costume and dramatically affects shape, form and color. Although I typically choose colors according to my mood, I especially am drawn to yellow because it is bright, sunny and warm. I’ve been working in oil paint for 25 years, and in soft pastels for 20 years with some overlap of the two mediums.” From the Bio of Jet Shepard
Jet gave of her time and heart to everyone. She always had something good to say to everyone and encouraged them in whatever they were trying to accomplish. There aren’t words to express how much she will be missed. She made our lives richer and the world a better place.
Back Stage Humor
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Nature's Quilt
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Folkloricol Girls
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In Memory of Dian Moore |
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April 18, 1953 - July 15, 2017
Dian grew up in the small town of Safford AZ with 2 sisters. She excelled in grade school and high school, always easily being at the top of her class. She followed with a college and career path in a similar fashion. Dian had a 3.7 grade point average as an under graduate and finished up with a 4.0 GPA in graduate school with a Master’s Degree in Educational Accounting. Her career working in accounting led her to be the Budget Director of Pima County in the late 80’s and then of Pima Community College in the 2000’s. She was fortunate to be able to retire when she was 55. That is when she started playing with art and color.
Dian has been my friend for a long enough time, that I can no longer pinpoint when or where we met. But I do remember clearly that it was at a St. Patrick’s Day party in 2011 that Dian asked if I was interested in getting together regularly to paint with pastels. From that day on we set up our easels together for a couple of hours most Tuesday afternoons. Neither of us started with much knowledge of the pastel medium, so we learned together and from each other. I was intrigued by her unique eye for color, and at first I encouraged her to slow down and draw. Before long, she could draw anything she wanted, quickly and accurately. Dian was also really good at taking a photo of anything and changing it to something a little different, more fantastic.
In 2012 we joined the Tucson Pastel Society. It was fun to attend meetings together, and discuss what we had learned. Dian took better notes than anyone I know. If there was ever a question of what was said, she always had it her notes.
We drew and painted and talked and shared and became very close friends in those many afternoons. I am thankful that she got me to start painting with pastels. I will always be inspired by her vision of color.
By her good friend Cindy Hierl
Gold Beach
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Catalina's Flip Side
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Bobcat Bright
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