She had a vivid imagination, and astride her horse she became an Indian princess or cowgirl Annie Oakley riding the range. She showed a natural aptitude for drawing and painting the beauty around her, but her true talent had yet to blossom. She’d excelled in art classes in high school, but it wasn’t until she reached her twenties, when extensive travel exposed her to nature’s diversity, that her creativity burst forth.

Dana crisscrossed the U.S. preferring the warm coasts of Florida and California, and enrolled in college art courses at each stop. She learned to scuba dive—to commune with the living, breathing wonders of the sea, that she could touch, feel and record on canvas. The beauty of life both above and below the water entered her soul, and became one with her art.

Her artistic imagination was now unlocked forever. She dove in the waters of the Caribbean Sea, and later the Pacific and other oceans, and drank in the mystical colors and textures of the underwater world. These merged with the more familiar sights of the landbound world to give her not only a wider range of subjects to paint, but a clearer vision of life’s mosaic. She saw that the beauty of man and beast, mountain and jungle, were matched by the beauty in the sea. She saw God’s creation in all its majesty, and set about perfecting her skills in painting it for the ages.

Dana met artist John Pitre, known as America’s foremost Surrealist, while skiing in the Rocky Mountain resort of Telluride. They lived there five years, skiing in the winter and traveling in the summer, before returning to Florida. Their adventures were ongoing, as they bought a seaplane, learned to fly, and explored remote Bahama reefs.

Dana and John moved to Hawaii over fourteen years ago, and the merger of their talents in such a nurturing setting led them to new artistic heights.

In the islands, Dana found an environment filled with an aesthetic charm both above and below the turquoise water. She and John still live and work there, finding an unending loveliness in the fragrant flora, sunrises and sunsets, the creatures of the colorful coral reefs. She combs the beaches, hikes the vibrant rainforest, and dives in the warm clear ocean.

Dana and John travel and scuba dive together, gaining enlightenment for their respective work. Inspired by the tropical seas of Hawaii and Polynesia, Dana has become an artist at the height of her power.

Collectors throughout Asia, the Pacific and the world now know what American Aficionados realized years ago-that there in so greater beauty than the world as seen through Dana Queen.