This story was featured in the January 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art January 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
When Wisconsin native Laurel Daniel entered the studio art program at Wheaton College four decades ago, she set her sights on becoming a painter. But after graduating, she took an unexpected detour. Although she had never studied commercial art, Daniel ended up working as a graphic designer for 19 years. “It was great,” she says. “I was raising my kids during those years, and I worked out of my home, so it worked for me.”
But after moving with her family from California to Texas in 1999, “my whole life changed,” says Daniel. Her kids were older then, and the graphic-design industry was going digital. “I didn’t want to take my business with me,” she says. So, after putting down stakes in the Lone Star State, Daniel signed up for a plein-air painting class, and one class led to another. “Within four years, I decided I was going to paint full time,” she says.
Today the Austin, TX, artist works in a variety of genres, but she considers landscapes to be her primary love, particularly because she is passionate about painting outdoors. “I consider it an exercise,” says Daniel, who snapped up an Award of Excellence last fall from American Women Artists. “I ask, ‘What can nature teach me?’ When I’m in the studio, I’m referencing the experiences I learned outside. For me, what’s most important is the energy in my brushwork and the lushness of my paint application and mark-making.” While Texas scenery fills much of her oeuvre, the self-described painterly realist also routinely visits the Georgia coast, where she portrays the sun-drenched marshes and beaches. “Inspiration is everywhere,” she says.
Find Daniel’s work at Davis Gallery, and Anderson Fine Art Gallery, St. Simons Island, GA.
This story was featured in the January 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art January 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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