I'm Daniel, a vagabond painter

^{Plein air self portrait - Oil on board 8x12"}

Hello Steem community! My name is Daniel, I'm a vagabonding oil painter. A few weeks ago I was in Sintra in Portugal, setting up a little street gallery to sell some of my artwork, when the scabies-ridden steemit-promotion-hobo @shla-rafia sat down next to me asking me for a lighter for his big joint. I had never heard about steemit before, but some hours and some grams later I knew a big lot more about, steemit, cryptocurrencies, the blockchain and those rich fucks who always vote on the wrong stuff. So, now I made an account.

^{my street gallery in Sintra}

^{@shla-rafia lecturing me about steemit}

^{a small sketch I painted at this spot}

I'm living out of a backpack (I will probably make a post about my lightweight oilpainting kit soon), moving mainly by hitchhiking and sleeping outside or with friends, family or hosts. I do this because I have the drive to find new places and people to paint, and to get to know. I try to sell my Paintings on the street like in the photo above, which sometimes works good, sometimes not so much, depending on place and season. To augment this I am looking more into selling online in the future. I also draw quick ink portraits of people for money, which is a lot of fun but also super exhausing.

^{gotta keep that back straight}

I paint exclusively from life, which in my opinion is the only way to make good realistic paintings. Photos lack the immediacy, the range of contrast and the focus, that I like about direct painting. Painting from live for me is a very intimate way of connecting to the nature and people that I encounter. It forces me to be in the moment, slow down, taking a close and precise look at what surrounds me and allows me to share and express my sensual appreciation of this visual world we live in.

^{Playa del Muerto, Spain - oil on canvaspanel 8x12"}

I paint figuratively/realisticly because for me our visual world, the world made up by light bouncing around, is an essential part of the universal human experience. I see realistic painting as a universal language that can be understood, or rather felt, by anyone regardless of cultural background, concepts, education or status. Right now I don't think or conceptualize much about my subjects. I just look for something that visually interests me, a light situation for example. My focus lies in deepening my understanding of this visual language, studying, trying to extend my technical abilities, not with the illusion that there will be an end to learning, but to build a strong foundation for my future work. Im painting quite small at the moment, but in the future, when I get faster and more firm in my technique I want to work on bigger canvases. My all time favourite painter and inspiration is Joaquin Sorolla who painted enormous light filled canvases directly from life.

^{Plein air sketch - oil on paper 8x6"}

I will be posting works on steemit, but am also planning to do blogposts about travelling, busking, painting equipment etc. I also want to start filming timelapses of me painting and later getting into making painting tutorials, as I'd love to share what I'm learning. I'm interested in meeting other painters on this platform and to exchange skills and experiences.

Thats it, now I'll leave you with some photos and paintings!