Challenging the expectations music holds is characteristic for a Sheboygan-based artist, who now calls the Chippewa Valley home.

Elizabeth Weidner, known by her stage name Lizzy Diane, said she started writing music by combining poetry with “random chords,” coming to the conclusion she couldn’t stop.

“I like music that doesn’t follow a pre-existing formula,” Diane said. “I usually am drawn to sort of darker, melancholy music or music that’s sort of mysterious and can be interpreted in more than one way ­— nuanced music.”

Music became a more significant part of Diane’s life after she left UW-Madison because of her health. Getting diagnosed and dealing with Lyme’s disease, she returned home to the different instruments she grew up with: A piano and a guitar.

Although she said it had been a while since she played them, she began to play again and combined her love of writing the spoken word with music. At UW-Madison, she was intending to pursue English with an emphasis in creative writing.

“When I’m really in the flow of it, I sort of feel a deep catharsis with emotions in parts of me that are really hard for me to accept, like insecurities, perceived faults,” Diane said. “I really like to go in those emotions and move through them and express them in a way that makes them beautiful.”

Diane said she hopes to get a band together in the future, record again and go on tour. The last time she recorded was three years ago, she said, for her album entitled “Otherkin.” Before she pursues this, however, she said she needs to become clearer in her direction as a musician.

Although Diane did not start her music career in Eau Claire, she said the music scene is supportive and non-competitive. As someone who became envious of others’ work, the community has taught her it is OK to be different.

“I’m inspired by anyone in this town who doesn’t play it safe with their art,” Diane said. “I’m inspired by anybody who does something that is a little bit different or challenging.”

Mainly a solo artist, Diane has collaborated with other musicians in the past, one of them being a travelling nurse and violin player, Kari Gallagher. Having met through music at The Cabin, Diane approached Gallagher about playing together. She said once they did, it was “instant love.”

Diane’s provocative music is emotional, and Gallagher said it puts her in a surreal environment. “Just by playing music with her or even listening to her music, you can kind of feel that she’s a human who experienced a ton of different emotions, and she knows about those emotions and she knows that other humans are experiencing them,” Gallagher said, “and she can put them into these words that are not literal at all but incredibly swirly and twirly and magical.”

Besides writing and performing original music, Diane also makes repurposed tea bag art and jewelry out of reused and organic materials, such as flint corn.

“It was kind of a weird thing that I came up with years ago, because at the time I had a friend with whom I was making a lot of repurposed art crafts with, and it was her birthday and she is extremely creative,” Diane said.

Over time, she said the craft has evolved and she sees the value in making art out of tea bags. If she wants to make crafts other people have done, she said she finds ways to make them her own.

Lizzy Diane’s music can be found on Spotify, Bandcamp, YouTube, and on her website.