By Mark Bialczak

LPL Communications Specialist

Three years ago, Diane Sokolowski was teaching a cake decorating class at the CNY Arts Center in Fulton when another session caught her attention.

She signed up to learn how to paint in oils.

“It was a bucket-list item,” Sokolowski said. “What I always wanted to do. Now here I am.”

She said this with a big smile as she and her husband, Jim, hung 34 of her oil paintings on the lobby walls in the Liverpool Public Library, where her exhibit “Nature’s Landscape” can be viewed during the LPL’s open hours throughout the month of January.

From 1 to 3 p.m. this Saturday, Jan. 14, Sokolowski will take part in a Meet the Artist session in the LPL Lobby.

“It’s beyond exciting,” she said of the chance to meet neighbors and talk about her art. Sokolowski is from Fulton, but she and Jim moved to Liverpool three years ago.

“I just want to see people enjoy my paintings,” she said, “to see people smile if it reminds them of a place that they went to maybe. That makes it worthwhile. I don’t really care if I sell them. Well, that much.”

Sokolowski said that when she first started painting, she was adamant that she’d keep all her work. But Jim talked her into sharing her creativity with others. She has now sold 50, she said. Most of the pieces in the LPL exhibit are for sale, priced from $20 to $150. Patrons who wish to buy one can tell somebody working at the customer service desk.

Sokolowski paints about one piece per week, spending about three to four hours on it.

“It’s calming and relaxing,” she said. “It allows me to escape for hours. To me, it’s forgiving. Nothing is perfect. It ends up how I create it. It’s how I see it.”

Sokolowski has two books to her credit. “So I Wanted To Run A Bed and Breakfast: Was I Crazy?” was published in 2015. It’s about their experience owning The Battle Island Inn for five years. Her second is the novel “The Angel Motel Room 4.” She’s writing a sequel.

“I’m just as relaxed writing,” Sokolwoski said. “But writing takes more research. And a lot longer to finish.”

The LPL’s Art in the Lobby changes monthly.  The February theme will be “Seasons,” which will showcase the photography of Joseph A. Mastroianni. The March session, “A Collection of Artists,” will feature pieces from the North Syracuse Art Guild.