Off The Wall Magazine Q&A with Dan Daly
4/1/2019
Maine. I’ve lived here for 25 years, and visited on and off for another 25 years before that. That 50-year attraction is due to the state’s wonderful combination of rural and wild, which is also surprisingly urban.
Inspiration. The landscape, people, mountains and sea, and the quality of light in the different seasons—along with various sporting opportunities—are more than enough to keep me going!
Medium. I most often draw in ink and fill up sketchbooks. I paint mostly in oils, but have done murals around the country (some as large as 40’ x 15’) with acrylic house paint. I’ve done etchings and silk screens. I was accepted into the Watercolor USA show every time I entered, and one year I won the sponsoring museum’s artist purchase award.
Art Quote. I’ve always liked a quote attributed to Barnett Newman: “Aesthetics is to artists what ornithology is to birds.”
Studio. It’s behind my house in a converted garage. I’m looking for a bigger space because it is crammed with books and setups to paint in oils, acrylics, and watercolor, as well as all my fly-tying paraphernalia!
Where in Maine. From where I live in Camden, and from my camp in Hope, I can be fly fishing within minutes in a setting that could be in a nineteenth-century Hudson River School painting. I can pick up an artisanal baguette on the way back home and go to an art walk that night featuring artists of all stripes.
Fun Fact. I teach art to inmates at the Maine State Prison in Warren.
Education. George Nick, who taught at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, made me very conscious about the need for strong decision-making in painting—if it doesn’t work, scrape it out and get it out of there! Make another decision! Frank Stout at Marlboro College in Vermont was another big influence. I also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.
Learn more about this artist: