Tell a little bit about how you first got into creating art.
I started drawing at an early age, it's something I had always enjoyed. Art continued to be a part of my life during my high school years, but I took a fairly long hiatus when I joined the US military. I've served the majority of my career in special forces, so deployments and being away from home kept me from a canvas for many years. After my operational tours and the onset of covid, I found my world hand came to a standstill, which was extremely hard on my mental health. After a bit of time, I found that art was a phenomenal therapy for me and it has become such a critical factor to my mental fitness as the gym is to physical health.
What themes does your work involve?I feel that I have a pretty wide range of expression, as I like to try new mediums and themes to keep it fresh. However, my roots go back to realism paintings- in the form of landscapes and portrait art. Lately, I've been mixing up my expressions as seen in my 'ChImp' painting; I first painted the chimp and then put a spin on it. My expression changes throughout time, and I hope to continue to evolve into the future.
I really enjoy teaching and sharing life lessons with others - especially motivating our younger generation
What is important to you about the visual experiences you create?
The most important factor to my art is that I enjoy what I am creating and it does not become a task that I dread. Of course, we all have days that we don't want to do something for one reason or another, but that's to be expected. It's important that even on those days of low motivation, I still possess dedication to a piece because it's important to me. I try to eliminate burdens in life so that I can stop to enjoy the cherishing moments we have as much as possible; if art or anything else ever becomes a burden, then it may be time to move on.
Humans like to experience life through that of others, which I believe it's at the root of human nature
Do you work from memory, life, photographs, or from other resources? Describe your creative process.
It's dynamic! I tend to lean on realism as previously mentioned, so photographs and life experience/memory come into play a lot. It's dynamic these days because of my interest in abstract art; I bounce back and forth and usually have about three pieces I'm working on at any given time.
Do you have any artistic goals for the future that you would like to share?
I really enjoy teaching and sharing life lessons with others - especially motivating our younger generation. With that said, I've started to illustrate children's books that I have written. My latest book "Dale's Snail Trail" is a book about a snail that teaches children to embrace their differences and to have moral courage to stand up for what they believe in. I would love to continue writing and illustrating children's books while also practicing my visual art techniques.
What do you consider the role of an artist today?
I believe the role of an artist is to share their vision and perspective with others. Humans like to experience life through that of others, which I believe it's at the root of human nature. We listen to stories, watch people live in their vans on YouTube, and some enjoy looking at visual creations made by other people. We express ourselves in so many different ways and all come from different walks of life; it's imperative that we share and experience that of which others do, say, think, feel, etc. I want to take my art to the next level and really start to visualize what I think/feel, especially from my deployments that weigh heavy on me. I've seen and experienced a lot of crazy, and sometimes terrifying things - to be able to capture that in visual arts to share my story is where I would like to be someday.
