Dan Young Works

Dan Young grew up in Fort Worth Texas in a fourth generation Texan family with a long history as farmers and carpenters. Although it was not encouraged as a career, Dan showed early promise as an artist with recognition through participation in citywide school and museum competitions. As a practical approach to career choices, science and math interests lead to an early successful career in electronic repair and computer parts OEM sales. As fate would have it, at a restaurant while doodling with crayons on a paper tablecloth, a friend noted that apparently the talent was still there. With the encouragement of this close friend the journey to explore this artistic talent launched a search for teachers, stylistic interests and favored mediums.

Thus began the obsessive interest in exploring the art world through art guilds, art shows and mentors. Relocating to Los Angeles lead to broader exposure to the art world. In California, the full time journey began in the world of outdoor art shows in California and Arizona with gallery representation in Arizona, Colorado and Florida. After nine years of working the art shows, it became obvious the gallery representation multiplied the sales efforts and would allow more time to paint. This change greatly improved the quality and style of the artwork. This direction has been rewarded with numerous long-term relationships with galleries in Hawaii and Arizona. Sales and business experience in electronics and art while dealing with galleries, clients and businesses has developed a seasoned business person and an artist who understands and appreciates the challenges faced by small businesses needing to be profitable.

As a full time artist, Dan finds inspiration with every sunrise and sunset that casts a glow on everyday events. Exploring how changing light alters the perceived experience is an exciting quest. An Impressionist style, in oil or acrylic often painted “ala Prima” with a warm palette of colors seems to best suit Dan’s personality and artistic intent. Frequent journeys to paint “En Plein Air” satisfy the need to connect to nature and revive the inspiration for the artwork. The ebullient style captures the essence of the subject with the vibrant “aura” apparent at sunrise and sunset.

The intent is to show Reverence to the living and inanimate objects in nature and to celebrate the cycles and forces of nature around us. Dan feels that studying these phases brings ones spirit into the present and develops an appreciation for all subjects in the physical world, while developing an eye to love the simplest things such as the color to be discovered in a shadow or the different greens from Spring to Fall and even the beauty in decay as nature’s cycle reaches Fall and Winter. This exuberant style easily produces 150-175 gallery quality paintings per year.