I talked to Daniel Painter while participating in Scribble (a mini-Scrawl) at the Columbus Arts Festival 20223.

Tell me about your art journey.

I went to CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design). I was focused on ceramics and at the very end, I switched to art and painting. This is my side hustle. I studied ceramics in Japan for a little bit after high school. I moved to Columbus and went to CCAD. I dropped out, then got a design job. I went back to CCAD and took night classes until I finished. My first event was the Urban Scrawl in 2015. I have been doing it ever since.

What is your process? How would you describe your work?

The media is mixed media. I use acrylics, charcoal, inks and pencils. I use iron and copper in an acrylic medium. I oxidize it so copper turns blue. Iron turns rust and red. It is an organic thing that I can control; but, only a bit. That little bit of not having control helps define the process. My work is abstract figurative. Generally, there is only one figure in each work. When people ask why I describe it this way. Go to a party that you don’t want to be at. You see somebody on the other side of the room and you know they don’t want to be at the party. It makes you feel better that you can withstand it because someone else is going through the same thing. That is how I approach art. If it needs to feel like that, rather than look like that. I don’t care if I render something that looks really realistic. As long as the message is there, we are there. I am not writing pop music, it is more like jazz.

Sidebar: I love it! I viewed the final work on his Instagram account.