I am a daily painter who lives in Sacramento, CA. Since I was a child I wanted to be an artist as a profession. I went to college to study architecture thinking that it was related enough. Eventually I became a general contractor. I have started to paint on a regular basis since September of 2005.
I was born in Slayton, Minnesota in 1977. My family moved to Monroe, NC when I was seven. Drawing was one of my favorite things to do in my school age years. I painted my first oil painting when I was seventeen for my art class (Railroad in my art archive). My art teacher thought it was horrid. I thought I would like to be an artist as a profession, but I did not want to be a “starving artist”. So, I attended the school of design at North Carolina State University in Raleigh in the field of architecture for two years. At the time, I thought architecture was a good balance to still be an artist and make money. I did not feel good about designing buildings that I didn’t have any idea how they were built, and I was disillusioned with school. So, I moved to Round Rock, Texas, in 1997 without knowing a single person to frame houses and experience something new. I worked in construction for four years in Texas. Occasionally I would paint (mostly acrylic at that point- see Hang On! and City Grid in the art archive).
But, hearken, what was that voice calling me??? Go west, young man. I moved to Healdsburg, California, in 2001. Since then, I have lived in Santa Rosa, Davis, San Luis Obispo and currently reside in Sacramento. I moved to San Luis Obispo to be close to my fiance at the time, Maria. It was during my time in San Luis that I got the know the artist Deborah Veldkamp. It was to Deborah that I accredit my desire in painting to arise. She was my mentor/teacher for the short time I lived in SLO. Maria and I got married in 2004, and we moved to Sacramento. In 2005 I took a painting class with painter Gretchen Ryan at the American River College in Sacramento. I have been taking classes from Gretchen ever since at her studio.
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June 3, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Bruce Hedges
Hi Darren,
Thanks for putting your work on the internet. I like the painterly look of your landscapes. Plein aire is a challenge in my opinion. I focus on still lifes and a little figurative painting. I’ve started a painting blog and would like to link to your site. Would you please link to my blog, too? My URL is:
http://www.brucehedges.blogspot.com/
I wish you the best of success in your art. Thank you, Bruce Hedges
July 3, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Michael Jensen
Hi Darren
Don´t know if you remember you but I lived with You as an exchangestudent from Denmark many years ago. Just found you and your art on the net. Just wanted to say you really gotten good at painting. Like the way u use colour and your brus.
best wishes Michael Jensen
July 8, 2009 at 7:25 am
pintubiswas
I am artist
July 29, 2009 at 1:49 am
Dave
Windsor & Newton Rules!!!!
Hello artist type dude found your site and thought I would say hi. HI. Being an “artist” myself, IMO is the most incredibly awesome and the most horrifically awful thing to be in the entire world. Its kind of like exposing your internal organs to the public for criticism. One guy will say “WOW that Spleen is really great. The color and contours! It makes me feel soooo good!” and another guy will say “that kidney looks a bit funny, who would be stupid enough to have a kidney like that…” however, it gets me through the day and then some, i don’t know what drives me. What about you daily? sounds like an immense challenge. I hope to be as successfully ambitious as you someday. For now I make art in my basement lair all the while plotting to take over the world, so on an so forth, you know the thought process.
Rock out!