Tracy Di Vita has always been interested in art, being encouraged by her parents as a young child to explore her creativity. Her family also engaged in the hobby of raising and showing dogs, Bloodhounds and Beagles, in the conformation ring and at scent field trials. The combination of these two interests when growing up helped direct the current path of Tracy's art career.

In 1989 she started drawing dog and cat portraits in graphite and in the late 1990's, she worked to conquer color with oil paints. "Making that leap from black and white to color was very frightening for me," Tracy explained, "but after I learned to control the medium, I have a hard time not using color!"

She has since included people to the growing list of painting subjects, including her popular dog portraits, cows, chickens, horses, sheep, and other animals. Tracy also paints the classic subjects such as plein air landscapes, still lifes, and life drawing. "I found what I love to do, the passion in my life", she confirms.

She teaches private and group oil painting and drawing classes to teens and adults in her Atascadero studio. She also mentors a young student, Gabriella Morgan. "I feel that mentoring young people in art is repaying the encouragement my parents gave to me. This budding artist is very talented, I really have a lot of fun teaching and watching her progress."

Tracy is a registered portrait artist with The American Kennel Club's Museum of The Dog. She is active in the art scene locally as well as countywide and her commissioned portraits and paintings are collected throughout the United States.