Diane Romanello’s transportive beach scenes, gardens, lakes and country hideaways invite viewers to escape into an idealized world. Romanello, a self-taught artist whose Romantic Realist works are replete in soft, glistening colors and sumptuous textures, strives to create the illusion that viewers can step into her work. Originally owning a gallery that framed and sold other people’s art, she began creating her own abstract and Impressionistic pieces to coordinate with clients’ furniture, later painting winter scenes of New York. Romanello now mixes fantasy with realism in nearly 100 invitingly dreamlike artworks.