Dan Schultz
(b. 1975)

Every person is born with creativity. We might use it to draw. We might use it to write. Maybe it’s gardening or cooking or imagining shapes in the clouds. I’ve come to believe that it’s all a reflection of God’s creativity. In my creative story, the supporting characters have turned out to be paint, brushes, and canvas.

I grew up in rural New Mexico without much exposure to the arts. My bicycle took me all over the place and I loved spending as much time as I could outside. (Both have continued, by the way.) In high school, after a family move to Colorado, I took a few art classes. My art teacher encouraged me to enter a statewide art contest for high-schoolers. I entered an ink drawing and was surprised to be awarded first place. The drawing went on to win first place again at the national level. So I decided to further my art education and found a strong commercial art program at Pensacola Christian College in Florida.

After graduation, I landed a graphic design job at a book publisher back in Colorado. In my free time I was painting portrait commissions and venturing outdoors to paint the landscape. Finding that my enjoyment of painting was growing, I began taking landscape painting workshops at a small art school in Colorado Springs. It was there that I first met artists who were selling their paintings in galleries, which opened up a whole new direction for me. I was invited to join the faculty and became the school’s youngest instructor. The other instructors encouraged me to pursue fine art and to exhibit my work. I spent the next five years painting and beginning to secure gallery representation. In 2005 I left graphic design and started painting full time. I also married my wife, Sarah, herself a graphic designer, painter, and all-around creative person.  

The gallery scene was successful for me, selling my landscapes, portraits, and figurative paintings. But even with representation in six galleries across the U.S., my work wasn’t selling consistently enough. Sarah and I wanted the freedom for her to stay home with our young son. So, I started exploring the possibility of opening my own gallery. After an extensive search, we moved to California and rented a storefront in downtown Ojai in 2011. The move has allowed me to paint the beautiful Ojai Valley landscape, to interact directly with collectors of my work, and to support my family (now with two sons). 

I am also represented by American Legacy Fine Art in Pasadena, California and Oh Be Joyful Gallery in Crested Butte, Colorado. Artists Magazine and Southwest Art Magazine have published feature articles about my work. I have been honored to receive awards from American Impressionist Society, Art Renewal Center, California Art Club, Oil Painters of America, Plein Air Salon, and Portrait Society of America.

If you visit Ojai, I’m the guy you might see perched with my easel on top of my Jeep overlooking one of Ojai’s many citrus orchards. Or you might find me painting in the studio room of my gallery. You’ll notice the strong sense of light and atmosphere in my work, as well as the subtle color changes which become apparent upon closer inspection. I hope you’ll see my love of the outdoors coming through in my work and that it will resonate with something inside of you. And I hope it will help you feel inspired to explore your own creative story.