Butchie Diano-Peña

Butchie Diano-Peña is a painter and art director whose work explores florals, still lifes, and domestic scenes that echo memory and everyday life. A graduate of Fine Arts with a major in Painting from the University of Santo Tomas, she was first mentored by her mother, also a painter and advertising director, whose lessons deeply shaped her approach to art. 

Her career initially flourished in publishing, where she worked for more than a decade as an art director and collaborated on lifestyle books. After nearly twenty years away from professional painting, she rediscovered her practice through watercolor, a medium that challenged her and rekindled her passion. In 2023, she joined the United Women Artists Association of the Philippines and exhibited works centered on still life and botanicals, marking a significant milestone in her journey. 

Today, Butchie continues to share her art through group exhibitions and advocates for greater accessibility in the arts. As she reflects on her practice, she notes, “My work merges the quiet poetry of still life, arrangements of forgotten objects set against raw, distressed abstract backgrounds where colors bleed, textures fracture, and silence hums with unrest.”