Fine artist years

I knew from a young age that I wanted to be an artist although I had no real idea of what that entailed or how I would make a living doing it. As I told in my last post I figured it out at age 14 how to start. But painting window splashes was a seasonal thing. I loved to work and I needed to work year round - especially when I graduated from high school a couple of years later. I started doing signs but didn't especially like painting using oil based paints. But in those high school years I painted a lot of signs and trucks too. Trucks were especially troublesome for me.  I found I also hated repeating myself on the second door. By that time the excitement had disappeared from the job.

My older brother did oil paintings. Being in fierce competition (but friendly) with him I decided I would take up pen and ink drawings. I still had a day job at this point for I was madly in love with Janis. Her parents, from a practical accounting background liked the idea that I had a regular job. I worked at a grocery store, stocking shelves. It wasn't long until I tired of my day job, but I stuck with it, doing my art on the side - for many hours each day. Sleep was what I did when there was no other option. Finally, after dreaming and working exceptionally hard at it for almost four years Janis and I agreed it was time to hang up my grocery apron. I had 'retired' from working for others at the young age of 23. That old apron still hangs behind the door in my studio. If I am ever having a real bad day I put on the apron and am instanty reminded that even the worst day doing what I love is FAR better than actually working for a living. 

In the next years I was prolific, creating hundreds of detailed original drawings of subjects that caught my fancy, mostly old and abandoned things. Eventually limited edition prints as well. My work was featured in more than 40 galleries and print shops all over British Columbia.

I did art shows in many of the galleries each year, making me one busy guy! We put on many, many miles criss-crossing the province. I documented everything I saw along the way, eventually gathering more than 20,000 photographs for future reference.

The years I spent doing my pen and ink drawings provided training in drawing and imagining. That ability to easily draw what I saw or imagined would come in pretty handy later. The year after Janis & I were married we also visited a place that inspired me about what I really wanted to do. It would be many years before I had the skills and business connections to do this kind of work, but this is where the inspriation hit. The picture below was also taken many years later.

An art show I participated in around that time would provide me with my next opportunity.

Stay tuned for that story which follows one other chapter...

-grampa dan

Early business years

My older brother won a window painting contest when I was 14. He was awarded the princely sum of $15.00    I was too young to enter. But his win made me realise that business people would PAY to have their windows painted. Christmas was only a couple of months away. I had no time to lose. I borrowed the Christmas cards my mom saved each year and used them as inspriation to draw up a book of ideas for Christmas and seasonal greetings. Then I hitchhiked into town (I was much too young to drive) and went from store to store selling and scheduling windows. The base price for a window was $15.00 and as my confidence grew so too did my prices. A week or so later I did my first paying job as an artist.

In the next two weeks, after school, I made the lofty sum of $700.00 - an amazing amount of money back then for the minimum wage (Which most of my buddies would have LOVED) was only $1.00 per hour. I also learned some valuable busines lessons that first year. I remember one large window that I painted in particular. I had agreed with the store owner to paint his storefront for $50.00. I did the job in about two hours... then went to collect my money. The business owner was surprised to see me so soon. He loved the job I had done but suddenly didn't care for the price we had previously agreed to. He asked who was the owner of my business. I told him I was. He asked me my age and I told him. Then he refused to pay a fourteen year old kid THAT kind of money and offered me $25 instead. I calmly asked him for a rag. I dipped it in my bucket of water and leaned it to the window. I told him I would take off half of my water based Christmas painting and then he could pay me half of our agreed fee. It was a standoff and it was a very tense moment that seemed to last a very long time. I didn't blink. He then smiled and reached into the cash drawer. I got the whole amount. It was a valuable lesson I've never forgotten.

-grampa dan

The early years

I often get asked whether I was born with an art talent.  I don't really know for the truth is I can't remember that far back. My mom did save one of my early drawings however. My actions must have been discovered before I finished my masterpiece. From what I have heard I did get an instant reward for my efforts. But it seems I didn't let that discourage me from continuing with my art.

Somehow I survived my early childhood and moved into grade school. From the earliest grades my interest and passion for art showed up. Early report cards had 'A's in art and special notes encouraging me to continue. My mom who worked in a department store brought home the white cardboard sheets that were packed between the men's shirts she put on the shelves. I drew endless versions of Disney cartoons and other subjects. I remember taping them to the walls of my bedroom for all to see.

Elementary school was in the tiny town of Blueberry Creek, British Columbia, where we lived. Three grades were combined - 1,2 and 3 for my first three years and 4, 5 and 6 for the last. I remember getting in trouble for constantly filling the margins and unused pages with drawings.

I was terrible at sports. Years later we discovered I had split vision, explained simply, I looked out of my left eye only - despite having perfect vision in both. But it meant I had no depth perception. It also meant I always squinted with my right eye most of the time (and still do to this day). I was nicknamed 'Spaz' by one of my teachers in high school on account of my poor eye-hand coordination. Art continued to be my focus until the end of my grade nine year. In those years my parents encouraged me to do academic courses rather than my art. 

Years later, as I got into my dimensional art career, I wished I had taken more art and the shop courses offered instead of the math and sciences I graduated with. But as I got into the computerized routing the math did come in handy. The english and writing courses also came in handy as I began writing the blogs and articles for magazines so I guess it all came in handy in the end.

Stay tuned for more of my story...

-grampa dan