Featured Artist: Jim Daly

JIM DALY Jim Daly’s tender and nostalgic portrayals of children have earned him a wide and ardent following among collectors. Born in Oklahoma and raised throughout the West, Jim developed an early appreciation for the art of Norman Rockwell and at a young age knew he wanted to be a painter himself. He can recall—and his parents still own—a painting he did at age 13 of an old-fashioned barbershop. “Even back then,” he said, “I had an interest in the past ... and I still prefer the warm palette I used then.”After a stint in the army in the mid-1960s, Jim studied nights at the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design while working days at an aerospace company. Within just a few years, he was able to devote himself entirely to his art. His wife, Carole, and their four now-grown sons frequently modeled for him. Now his favorite model is grandson, Trevor.Today, Jim’s paintings are represented in many private and corporate collections and have earned a wealth of awards, including the Favell Museum’s Western Heritage Award for excellence in portraying realistically and accurately early Americana. Articles about Jim’s work have appeared in Southwest Art, American Artist and Art West magazines among others and in a U.S. Art magazine poll, gallery owners named him one of their top 20 most popular artists. Jim has won the Mill Pond Press Award and "People's Choice" Awards at the Western Rendezvous of Art; Peoples Choice Awards in 1981, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2007; and he was a winner of Gallery One’s People’s Choice Award at Masterworks in Miniature.Daly has toured across the U.S. and Canada giving lectures and seminars about his art and he has taught at the Scottsdale Artist’s School. He is also an elected member of the Northwest Rendezvous Group of Artist’s. His paintings were used as book illustrations in “Mother, I Love You” published by Baker Book House Co. and “Sugarbush Spring” published by Lothrop, Lee and Shephard, a division of William F. Morrow (now Harper Collins Publishing). “Sugarbush Spring” was selected by the Ohio Farm Bureau to receive their 2002 Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Award for Children’s Literature. A number of his books have been published by Harvest House including “What Little Boys are Made Of” and “Mother Do You Remember When.” Several of Jim’s books have sold well over 100,000 copies. In addition, foreign editions have been released.“Emotion is probably the key to everything I do. An emotionally conceived painting is going to project itself to the viewer more than a painting where your only interest is in shapes, and forms and brush strokes. They all have their place; they are all important in making meaningful art, but I don’t see anything wrong with telling a story. I try to keep the story understated. I don’t want to overstate and give the viewer too much information. I want to pull back a bit and leave something to the viewers’ imagination so they can participate in the painting and make their own discoveries.