Dan Hyde
Biography for Dan Hyde
You CAN teach an old dog new tricks! When I retired in 2016 after more than 40 years as a professor at Bucknell University, I decided to explore my creative side and embark on a serious study of creating art.
Currently, my passion is painting in watercolors, but I have also enjoyed drawing in charcoal and graphite, urban sketching in ink and watercolors, and painting in acrylics.
In the last four years, I have taken an oil painting class with Simonne Roy, sketching and watercolor classes with Jane Albin at the YMCA Art Center in Sunbury, paid for and studied over twenty online art courses in drawing, urban sketching, acrylics, and watercolors. I have devoured a half dozen art books from which I painted a significant portion of the exercises in each. To my amazement, I am getting rather good at drawing and painting, as evidenced by winning two awards at the Susquehanna Art Society's Art Shows.
I'm a member of the Lewisburg Arts Council, Lewisburg Artists Guild, Susquehanna Art Society, and founder and Chair of the Lewisburg Photography Club.
I live and paint in Lewisburg, PA, with my wife, Mary Jane, and our four kitties.
Artist Statement For Dan Hyde
It gives me great satisfaction to look at a painting I have created. Though I enjoy seeing my art on walls, it's the act of creating that is important. In the last few years, I've discovered that I have a deep-seated need to create. I'm a creative. Though it has been hidden for many years, I have embraced this new self discovery and think of myself as an artist. I try to paint almost every day.
Nature, such as landscapes, seascapes, and wildlife, is what I prefer to paint. I like painting subjects that have energy, for example my "Breaking Waves." I also paint portraits of animals, especially cats, dogs, and horses. And I'm currently studying how to paint portraits of people. I paint nature and animal portraits in a representative style where viewers can recognize and enjoy the subject, but the painting still looks "painterly," as opposed to like a photograph. A good painting is more than a photograph because it can express emotion.
As an experienced photographer, I take thousands of photos. I use many as starting points for my paintings. I don't copy a photo but use it as inspiration for the painting. I like to have a connection to what I'm painting, e.g., a memory of a place I've visited or an event I attended. I work primarily in the studio, but do some plein air painting.
