A Painting with Two Lives

Back in around 1994 I painted a scenery in oil paint on canvas for my grandmother Isabelle Hawkins. I painted the scenery that is behind the unicorns. I used a frame that was for another painting. I remember painting this canvass thinking about how I wanted to make it look realistic. I used very many techniques that were new to me at the time in the art. I built up my darks layer by layer and the colors were put in after the fact with many layers. I worked hard on the color and the contrasts. This painting could have been drawn a bit better as the scenery.  I drove from Austin, Minnesota north to Grand Rapids Minnesota and there is a town near by called Bovey. Isabelle my grandmother lived in that very small town. Which is the hometown of the picture “Grace”. Years later I took the painting back because Isabelle (or Izzy she was called by her nick name) gave me the painting back and told me to hang on to it. Izzy did like the painting a lot. She liked that I wanted to do art. Later i put Unicorns on it to give it to my girlfriend Amanda. In 2007 or so I believe. I think it was such a nice deal to re use the scenery and put unicorns on it (Amanda’s Mom was the one who thought of that idea). I of course forget about birthdays and I forget about holidays. I never really was one to celebrate them days and we did not growing up. So long story short, I was late and was rushing to get this done. I had oil paint and they don’t dry fast. I had 2 days and everything was wet. I got it done and presented it to Amanda and she was happy with it. I have a picture of something in the back. on the back of the painting. It is a picture of snoopy. I thought I would paint that because the idea really came from Amanda’s dad. Here is a picture of the art on the back of the painting.Enjoy Thanks for reading. Daniel

Snoopy and the Red Baron

My first Acrylic Art

My first painting I ever used acrylic paint with. My first Acrylic Paint set. It was a professional grade of Liquitex High grade art paint. When I painted this I was looking for something really great to do. I wanted something that I could keep for my life to look back on and feel good about. I wanted the image to last. I got this art book out and was looking at ideas. I found this simple drawing of a Geisha and I decided to do a color version of this black and white brushed ink drawing. In the 13th century this was originally made. I thought when I painted this was all the things I could put in the painting. The back ground and how to build up the colors. I did more than one paint layer built up in layers to achieve what you see. I started with browns in the background. I really loved to see the method of building the art up layer by layer. Each painting is a lesson because you need to do something different every painting to achieve a look for the content. When I did this painting I had to build up the white on the face. White does not cover so well. You need to build up color and white to make it more strong with full coverage. I thought this painting had some culture in it. I was happy with it. I showed it to some people and they said oh looks okay. Sure whatever. I was heartbroken but I feel that I did a good job. I learned and still learn every day that it is so hard to become a good artist and be seen for your talent that you have. I’ll keep working on my art and my writing. Life is a hard thing. Life is the question. You have to ask. What do you want to do the most? I love this art because it made me a bigger artist and more experienced.

Thanks for reading, Daniel

Self Portrait

In 1993 I took up playing guitar. I took lessons and bought many guitars.  I really like the guitars I had. The guitars really made me feel empowered. That I could express something about myself. I had a nice guitar that I liked. This one in the Oil painting I did a self portrait on canvass of. I really like this art. it makes me think about the times when I could just go out and buy a nice guitar. I can’t do that anymore and really miss having a nice new guitar in my hands. This painting reminds me of the feeling about this time. I painted this in 1995 around there. I did not use alot of details. I just wanted to capture the spirit of the whole scene. One of my first portraits I ever did. I hope you enjoy the art. Thanks Daniel

This is me playing guitar.

Unicorn Family

I had painted this in 1994. I painted it for Mary my sister and years later I seen it in moms room nailed into the canvass in some strange way. I took it out. Brought it home and had it on my wall. More years later I actually gave it to Amanda. I wanted it to have a special meaning in life. I didn’t want to just leave it in the room. I cleaned it up and pulled the nails out of the canvas. Mom didn’t know what she was doing and I put too much work into this art to leave it there with nails all over it. LOL You know that feeling when you see a child of your being abused? I was feeling rotten inside that she would do that. I took it immediately. LOL well, I would like to say that this painting reminds me that I can draw still. I think I can draw better today then then. When I drew and painted this picture I wanted to do one thing. Imagine. I wanted to imagine a picture and paint it. I painted this from not looking at anything but imagination purely and only. I just started to draw horses and drew the scenery in to it. I had a lot of people liking this image. I thought it was fun and neat. I need to do this more again. Thanks for reading. Daniel

Second Canvas Painting

This unicorn was my second painting on canvass. This is stretched canvas. I really love the dark color and the white how they contrast. The painting is still in great shape today. Painted in 1985 I thought it was a neat challenge to have that dark background and make dark look alive. I mixed brown with the mars black. I really like this picture. I painted two pictures that year. Loanna Dempsy and my sister Mary. This one was Mary’s but it was left in the house so I took it awhile back. I thought of holding on to it. I like to paint unicorns. If any of you want me to paint more unicorns let me know and I will see what I can do and make some available for sale. Thanks for reading. Daniel

First Board Canvas

This painting of a cat in a basket was taken off from a Woman’s Day Cover. Painted in 1985 I wanted something to do with my first canvas. I wanted to work and do art and think about what can be possible with paint. This picture had cat hair and other things the posed a challenge. I was new to paint. I wanted to work and see if I could paint the fur on a white cat. I think I did okay for the first canvas painting. I”m proud of this painting. I’ll remember it from when I was still young still looking forward to wanting to learn to paint. I still do but I do not like to draw with paint anymore. I like to make abstracts with color.

My First Painting

This is my first painting I did when I was 8. This painting was my first art I ever did. When I was sitting in the house bored. My mom and I went to Kmart and bought some paint by numbers. We bought some and brought them home. When I seen there was a Jesus picture I decided it would be a good challenge. I started to paint this and I worked on it. I remember working the colors and doing the art one section at a time and When I got to the end the background. I was thinking I’ll just keep it this way. You can look at the background and see where I stopped. I ran up the stairs to my house and I put it on the wall. I wanted to just look at it. I made that I said to myself. I did this. I opened books that had art on it. I had this feeling that maybe I could be an artist. I looked art and Jesus so I played a game in my head. If I can ask Jesus if I will be an artist or not. I wanted support and I found it through him. When I wanted to see art I wanted to please people in what I can do. I painted to prove myself. I took to drawing a lot because there is not money for paints. Drawing is the cheapest way to do art and most expressive. I believe that art is the most fun thing to do. The dreamer in me said I love to paint. I love to express myself in color and to build an image from the ground up to become something that is so beautiful. Love for art starts with a desire from your heart. Not because of some logical thing on how to paint. Or the want to get money or sell and School can only teach you the way to do things and get a degree. There has to be something that starts in your heart from an early age. My first painting was a mode that set something in my life. Life was so different after that painting. I still look at this painting and say what if. Can I still be an artist? The first painting is a symbol of hope for me. Thanks for reading. Daniel

My Daniel’s Abstract Art Style

Daniel’s Art

I love my abstract art. I call this the Daniel’s Style of painting. I take paint not thinned down and scrape onto the canvass with a flat edge. I thought I would share with you the art that I made. I love to make more art and will post soon. This is my latest art style. I will take pictures of my first artworks. I have a story of my art to tell you all. A long story about who I am and what I do. Thank you for viewing this page. Daniel