Four decades after completing a year-long art correspondence program while in high school, Dan dusted off an old travel box and bought some fresh oils.
His inspiration was an introduction to the art work of A.E. "Bean" Backus and Florida's other Indian River School painters - plus a longing for the unspoiled Florida landscapes of his youth.
He first took lessons in plein air from Frederick Markham of The Art League in Alexandria, Virginia, finding that oil painting brought a sense of balance to his powder-keg position as a deputy chief of staff for a U.S. senator.
Then, retirement in 2018 brought new artistic opportunities. He's been a long-time student of award-winning painter and illustrator Rita Ziegler of the Artists Guild Gallery of Vero Beach, honing a natural ability into an accomplished technique.
Dan is a member of the Vero Beach Art Club, where, in 2023, he earned first-place ribbons for oil and landscape painting in two of the club's gallery exhibits. In 2025, he received a blue-ribbon award for merit in a prestigious Vero Beach Museum of Art annual exhibit showcasing more than 200 regional artists. Also in 2025, he earned first-place ribbons for oil painting in three of the Vero Beach Art Club's "Spotlight on Art" series exhibits. He also was awarded first place in oil in the Pelican Island Conservation Society's 11th Annual Indian River Bird and Nature Art Show
In addition, Dan has traveled extensively including throughout Europe and to China, East and North Africa, India, Pakistan, the Middle East, Central and South America, and Cuba.
But it was growing up in West Central Florida - with its unique blend of rejuvenating gulf beaches, vast coastal wetlands and quiet pine forests - that indelibly shaped his artistic view.
