Diana Höhlig is a German artist, born in 1985. She has resided and worked in Switzerland for the past seven years.

But her love for nature and art started with early childhood. Diana grew up in East-Germany’s countryside surrounded by nature and farm animals and she describes her relation to natural and art as her focus in life. She loves the honest feeling of joy to be close to animals and the experience to spend time outside in nature.

As an artist she finds inspiration outdoors by researching and observing the animals and the habitat carefully, and by gathering reference material with her camera and sketchbook.

Diana enjoys travelling locally and internationally to find new ideas. She spent several months during her biology study at the North Sea Island Heligoland. Watching the local sea bird colony up-close at the “Red Rock” was a key-experience and important force in her artistic career. Afterwards she begun to focus on bird paintings and won the prestigious German award for bird painters “Silver Owl” in 2013.

Diana has traveled to North America from the west coast of British Columbia to Yellowstone and the Rocky Mountain national parks. She visited East-Africa in a conservation safari with Wildlife Artist and Naturalist Jan Martin McGuire. And the future holds many new experiences in tow for the artist by a planned travel to Central America.

Diana’s works are regularly shown in national and international exhibitions; Modern Bird Paintings (Germany), Birds in Art (USA), Artists for Conservation (CA), Society of Animal Artists (USA). Her work is as well recognized in international publications like the New European Breeding Bird Atlas, published 2020, including 17 of her bird illustrations.

Diana works since many years in Scratchboard technique and has been named Master Scratchboard Artist (MSA) by the International Society of Scratchboard Artists in 2022.

A Scratchboard is made of a wooden panel, covered with white Caolin clay and painted completely black on top with Indian ink. Sharp tools are used to scratch and remove the black ink from the surface. The white clay layer gets revealed in this process in delicate lines and textures which create the final image.

It was in her early twenties when Diana discovered Scratchboard for the first time, eventually leading her to a membership with the International Scratchboard Art Society in 2017.

The unique technique still fascinates the artist in every aspect. From the drama in the black and white contrast and the possibility to work in a very detailed style, to communicate her emotions about the wildlife subjects, which she depicts in Scratchboard art.

Over the years Scratchboard has become a strong and beloved medium in her portfolio and Diana has received great feedback in national and international venues as an artist working in this technique. She was named Germany’s best bird artist for her Scratchboard work - granted with the ‘Silver Owl’ award, the highest recognition for wildlife art in Germany.

Learn more about my Scratchboard work in this video: