Darlene has been drawing and painting since a very young age.  “I can’t remember when I didn’t have a pencil in my hand drawing.” She lived in a home surrounded by art.  Her mother, Merle Olson, was a very accomplished artist and sculptor.  “I especially loved portraiture and was always being asked to draw pictures of my friends from elementary school to high school.” 
After moving to Bigfork, Montana in 1967, she started painting more seriously in her early twenties. She mostly painted the Native Americans. She was invited to the “Charles Russell Art Show and Auction” for a number of years and also the “Pacific Northwest Indian Art Center” (now known as “Museum of Native American Culture) where she took Best In Show in 1972 at the age of 29.
Her life took a big turn in 1987 when two of their hemophiliac sons were diagnosed HIV positive. This became a full time job dealing with AIDS for the next eight years. “Our youngest son was very ill for six years and I became a fulltime caregiver.  Then he died and I was thrown into grieving for this special son.  One month shy of two years our other son died.  I hadn’t even really dealt with the first son’s death and was grieving for two people.  Shortly after that my father died and I had the fulltime care of my ailing mother.  I cared for her for two years and she died.  My life was so full of sickness, death and grief that I wasn’t able to paint for sixteen years.  Now that I have resumed my painting, I find that I have a better perception and depth to my painting.  I think suffering sometimes enhances the way you see things.”
“I love painting the Native Americans and other western themes.  The pensive face of a child or the lines of age in an elderly person’s face is what I enjoy painting most.”  Darlene paints mostly with India ink, in an ink wash, as you would use watercolors. Her work is very detailed and sometimes mistaken for a black and white photograph.  “I’ve done a lot of oils, some pastels and colored pencil paintings, but the black and white ink washes are very different and not something everyone else is doing.  It just became a medium I was comfortable with and had had good success with.”
“I’m back to painting fulltime and I want to put all my creativity and energy into my art. I need to put a lot of the emotional pain and suffering behind me.  I feel I was given a gift, that I am so thankful for, and now is the time to work and diligently magnify the talent I possess.”