Photos by Kathy Forelli.

About Diana O’Brien

Diana O’Brien is a fine artist and live wedding painter based on Long Island, known for capturing the emotion and spirit of a wedding day with expressive brushwork and luminous color. With over 25 years of experience as a professional illustrator, designer, and muralist, Diana brings both technical mastery and heartfelt storytelling to every canvas.

As the founder of Lavender Forest Studio, she blends elegance and imagination, creating heirloom paintings that preserve the atmosphere of your celebration—the laughter, movement, and love that photos can’t always capture. Each live painting is created on site during your event, then refined in the studio to produce a timeless work of art that becomes part of your family story.

Diana’s work has been featured at venues across New York and New England, and her calm, joyful presence allows guests to experience art in the making. Whether she’s painting a first dance under twinkling lights or a ceremony in a sunlit garden, Diana’s goal is always the same: to honor the beauty of love through art.

When she’s not painting weddings, Diana teaches design at Farmingdale State College, illustrates children’s books for her nonprofit Authors of Hope, and runs creative workshops at Lavender Forest Studio in Greenlawn, NY.