Born 1946, Colne, Lancashire, England.

Diane Ibbotson studied at Reading University from 1964-68 before going to the Royal Academy Schools. In 1971 she taught at Blackpool College of Art and from 1974-81 she was based in Falmouth where she taught at Falmouth School of Art.

Diane Ibbotson has had a number of exhibitions and has been included in Six British Realist Artists at Sunderland in 1974, Real Life at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool in 1977, The Real British: An Anthology of the New Realism in British Painting at Fischer Fine Art in 1981 and A Century of Art in Newlyn 1889-1989 held at Newlyn Art Gallery in 1989.

Ibbotson uses a rule-governed process of painting, based on close observation and meticulous recording. She works slowly, finishing one work before starting another. Edward Lucie Smith has written:

'her work is an example of the way ... an apparently impersonal technique and choice of subject ... (are suffused) ... with entirely personal meanings. Ibbotson's paintings are in the strict sense autobiographical - we are asked to enter fully into the way a particular moment has been experienced, and the minute elaboration of detail is intended chiefly as a proof of authenticity.' 

In 2007 Ibbotson exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time and was instantly awarded the annual Newcomer prize.

(Ref: Cross T 2002 Catching the Wave: Contemporary Art and Artists in Cornwall Tiverton, Halsgrove)

	Self Portrait in Best Dress
	Here I Am