Diane Breman likes to use her creativity to benefit others.

That’s why she donates her paintings to auction off or give away at fundraisers.

“It’s important to return the talents that I have to help someone,” said Breman, 58, Noblesville. “If I can’t give money, I can give what I make,” she said.

She’s donated a framed 11-by-14-inch pastel titled “Water Lily” to give away during the 59th annual Hamilton County Artists’ Association Show that opens Saturday night with a reception at Hamilton East Public Library in Noblesville.

Breman is one of 43 artists who will show or sell pieces of art at the exhibit, which continues during library hours through Nov. 27.

It’s Breman’s first time showing her artwork at the annual fall show. Though she only joined the Artists’ Association this year, she said creating art has “been a lifelong pursuit of mine since I was very small.”

She said her passion stems from age 10, when she discovered a picture of Michelangelo’s Pieta, a famous work depicting the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother, Mary, after the Crucifixion. She sold her first painting when she was in high school.

Tuesday and Wednesday morning this week, as she sat in front of a window in the Hamilton County Art Center and The Birdie Gallery, the home of the Artists’ Association since 2007, Breman created a floral of greens, blues and pinks on textured paper. She used pastels, which are drawing sticks made of ground pigment mixed with chalk and oil.

She said blues and golds are her favorite colors. “I like that they can be bright and cheery but also very subdued.”

Breman becomes inspired as she listens to music. “I usually have on opera or Pavarotti,” she said. “What that does is focus on what I’m doing and keep all the other noise out. I get in the zone. . . . I don’t hear anybody or think about anything. That’s when I do my best work.”

Before she took pastel lessons a year ago from artist member Pam Newell, Fishers, Breman painted in acrylics and oils. Three years before that, she made pottery, and 20 years before that, she was into quilting. She’s also done basket making, weaving, rug hooking and jewelry. “All through the years, I’ve always been into something,” said Breman, whose home is decorated using many of her creations.

Breman paints regularly at the art center alongside fellow artist Cheeri Dennis, Fishers. “We’re trying to get more members to paint here every Wednesday. If we work together as a group, we would learn from one another,” she said.

At the art show, Breman will show two pastels, “Orchid on Blue” and “Waiting for the Dance,” and an oil entitled “The Path.”

Each artist is invited to show three pieces, all of which, for the first time will be grouped together in the display, said Carol Griffith, show chairwoman. “Having them together as a presentation is going to catch the viewer’s eye more. You think how their pieces relate to one another,” she said.

Photographer and watercolor artist Griffith, 70, Cicero, said the Artists’ Association has “really emerged since we got our own building.” There are more classes, more exhibits and a place to conduct meetings. Although the annual art show could have been at the art center, she said it’s a tradition to take the show into the community, rotating the location from library to library.