Daniel Driggs

Acrylic painter Daniel Driggs fell in love with painting after receiving his first paint set in grade school as a gift from his parents. He later learned from European artist Oscar Sormani, who “taught me more about art and the importance of really LOOKING at the subject than anyone else,” he says.

Daniel’s work is illustrative in nature. In his “Out of Chaos” paintings, he brings an isolated focus to one part of the paper, canvas or board.

“Our lives are filled with chaos,” he says. “This is reflected in the abstract backgrounds. Yet if we really LOOK, we focus on the real theme of nature or history or life. That’s my challenge — to help people find focus and see the beauty in front of them, yet lost in the chaos of life.”

Daniel compares his technique to watching clouds take shape, with each person seeing their own perception of that shape.

“I look at the blotches, turning them this way and that until I see what I believe belongs there,” he explains. “A long stretch of blue becomes a waterfall or a stream; a patch of red looks like a hydrangea or a rose; a dark spot at the bottom of a pale green looks like the shadow of a turtle. Once I see what isn’t there, I design the bird or turtle or figure and paint where I think it belongs.

“The viewer then looks at the finished piece, starts with my painted traditional portion and uses their imagination to change the red spot into a flower, the blue streak into a stream or the brown area into the shadow of the turtle on the bottom of the sea,” Daniel says. “My hope is that people will interact with the artwork to fill in the beauty.”