Without a doubt, Diana Suttenfield is one of our region’s most prolific and accomplished artists. Her paintings hang in public, corporate, and private collections throughout the United States. Her work is truly inspirational to viewers, and is almost always inspired by events, people, places, and remembrances throughout her lifelong career as a working artist. So it is no wonder that, even in the midst of a dreadful pandemic year, she managed to find positive inspiration to create something beautiful.

“After four years of the Trump administration I was feeling down, and the Covid-19 crisis certainly didn’t help my disposition,” says Suttenfield. “I needed to get my feelings out, and I’d been intrigued with the idea of hay bales on a wide meadow, with an impending storm threatening to overtake the bales. The storm represented my anger.”

But then, as Diana tells it, November happened. Biden won the election. “The heavy clouds lifted,” says Suttenfield, “both in my painting and in my heart. The dark sky became the lighter, airy fog we often see along the Potomac and Shenandoah. The sun lit up the hay bales, lifting my spirits and inspiring a title: You are the Sunshine.”

Hay bales have played a prominent role in Diana’s paintings over the years. See more of them here, on her gallery page.

You Are the Sunshine, Acrylic, 2021, 48″x60″