Alyse Dietel, artist by nature
Alyse Dietel is a self-taught American artist from San Mateo in California.
Drawing was originally only a hobby for Alyse, who was a professional rock climber until she fell from a cliff during a hike in 2012. This near-death experience left her paralysed from the waist down and wheelchair-bound. She thought she would never again be able to climb the mountains she loved and went through an intensely difficult period.
It was then that she started to exploring her passion for drawing with a new intensity. She became a full-time artist as it allowed her to escape the immobilised world she found herself in. She lived vicariously through her drawings of wilderness and wildlife. This fuelled a fire in her to walk among the mountains once more, and against all odds, she returned to climbing. Three years after her accident, she became a professional sponsored climber!
© Alyse Dietel – Spirit – ARCHES© Aquarelle hot pressed 300 gsm paper
But very quickly she realised that professional climbing was not for her. She gave up her career and decided to pursue her art full-time. Having never taken any classes, finding her own artistic style involved a great deal of exploration. She uses micron pens, black watercolour and white acryl-gouache for her drawings on ARCHES® Aquarelle hot pressed 300 gsm paper.
ARCHES Aquarelle – Arches Papers (arches-papers.com)
“I love the juxtaposition of controlled, meticulous linework combined with the freedom and flow of watercolour.”
© Alyse Dietel – Dive – ARCHES© Aquarelle hot pressed 300 gsm paper
Alyse’s main sources of inspiration are her deep love and passion for nature, but also the people who live symbiotically with it. What she tries to do in her art is to convey the sense of awe and wonder she feels when experiencing a new landscape or seeing a wild animal, whilst drawing attention to the need to protect our natural environment and take action on the current climate crisis. Alyse has done artist residencies all over the world.
