Dina Farris Appel, born in 1968, grew up in Newport Beach, California. After attending the Laguna Beach Institute of Art and selling her first commercial illustration in tenth grade, Dina went on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting from California State University Long Beach, and a Master's Degree from the renowned School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Working in her light filled studio in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Dina is inspired by the wildlife and natural beauty that surrounds her.  

In her studio Appel now applies the same skills that made her mural business a success to her illusionistic fine art paintings. These unique and popular acrylic on canvas paintings combine a three dimensional effect with lyrical design and vivid color for beautifully stunning results.  The intense, demanding, and time consuming style of trompe l’oeil painting relies on techniques such as masterful use of shadow, precisely calculated perspective, and smooth, almost invisible brush strokes.

Called “the brain surgery of art” for its difficulty, trompe l’oeil painting is the rarest form of art practiced in America today, with Appel taking the style to completely new levels.

In addition to her mural business and fine art painting, Dina has taught painting and drawing at the collegiate level in both Texas and California. She exhibits her work at select galleries and fine art shows throughout the West. Dina's artwork can be found in many major corporate and private collections throughout the world.

"I look for the unusual within the usual, the mystery hidden in the beauty and complexity of the natural world," says Appel.  I include depictions of nature’s most beautiful creations in all my paintings as celebrations of life’s fragility and beauty.  My paintings work at many different levels, drawing the viewer in and taking them to a new place.  A beautiful place”