Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Fishback.
Hi Daniel, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I have always admired the impressionist painters Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Sisley, and others, including the post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh. When I started to paint, I took some watercolor classes, and we learned how to mat and frame our paintings in those classes. Our teacher arranged for us to have a class show, and I decided to risk putting my work out there for others to see. I learned about and joined local art associations and began attending their meetings. These organizations would arrange group shows occasionally, giving us opportunities to exhibit our work. After winning some awards and selling a few paintings, my goals changed from painting as a hobby to something more serious. I wanted to become the best artist that I possibly could with the God-given gift I had received. That decision set me on a path to become a professional artist.
Nearly 2 decades ago, I started doing Plein air painting and entering Plein air competitions around the Mid-West. I found that I would sell more paintings at these events than any other way and that I learned more from the artists I painted with than I did at most of the workshops I have taken over the years. While primarily self-taught, I have taken workshops from some of the country’s top painters, which has helped me grow as an artist. I have participated in many group exhibitions throughout St Louis and in many states beyond Missouri. I have also had several solo shows, the most recent being last fall at the Longview Farm House Art Gallery in Town and Country, a suburb of St Louis. I have been trying to give back to the community by teaching and volunteering. I teach classes at St. Peter’s Cultural Arts Centre with a new 6-week oil painting class starting on August 25th. I also head up the Education Department at Heartland Art Club and Galleries, where I help find and arrange for highly talented artists to teach workshops and classes.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a smooth road?
After taking early social security, so I could devote more time to painting, I found that I couldn’t afford to take annual workshops as I had been doing while working in the corporate world. Upon receiving a grant from the Regional Arts Commission of St Louis in 2013, I again started taking a workshop every year, sometimes more than one.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
While I paint many subjects, I am best known for landscape paintings. I would say that I am most known for creating vibrantly colored paintings that have dramatic light effects. I am proud to be a Signature Member of the Missouri Valley Impressionistic Society, which is currently having their 11th annual juried member art show at the Cathy Kline Gallery in Parkville, Missouri starting on August 2nd.
