A big thanks to Bicester Community college year 11s art group for these questions and good luck with your still life project. I thought it might be interesting for everyone else, so here you go!
Did you like art at school?!
DY: Yes, very much, on my first week at secondary school I got lost on my way between lessons and was found by my future art teacher (Mrs Byrne) where I was given a lovely antique pearl handled gun to draw. A great way to make friends with the Art teachers.
Are you naturally good at painting or did you learn it?
DY: I have always drawn and painted so, it is probably a healthy mix of lots of practice and enough natural ability to keep me practising.
Have you got better by painting/drawing everyday?
DY: Yes, definitely! That was one of the things that started me on this project, I wanted to see how good I could get at something by doing it everyday.
How do you select your objects?
DY: Lots of different ways is the quick answer, but I have a set of rules which I break every so often but that’s what rules are for (especially if you have made them up yourself!)
One key rule is the objects have to be a certain size, for the first year of oil paintings the size had to fit your hand so I would be able to paint most of the objects in a similar scale. But this year I have made the paper different sizes, which has allowed me to paint slightly larger things and smaller things! Another important rule is that the objects have to have something to do with the day they are painted on, even if it’s just that the object caught my eye and I wanted to paint it on that day. Another rule that I haven’t broken is that the object has to fit entirely on the board/paper. Which means I never paint a small section of a larger object.
Lots of them are food related/half eaten why is this?
DY: I eat food everyday. The half eaten aspect is a useful device that allows me to include other textures into the painting, for instance the jam doughnut painting would be a squashed brown ball with no jam visible if I didn’t half eat it. So by taking a bite or two I can reveal both the jam and the fluffy pale inner dough of the doughnut, helping the painting tell the story of what it is to be a jam doughnut! It also stems from an early painting in year one when I suddenly realised as I bit into a rich tea biscuit that I had found my subject matter for the day! Plus, I get to taste what it is I am painting while I am painting it.
When do you paint them? Same time daily or not?
DY: It does vary a bit but, during the week I tend to paint in the evening around 8 to 9 o’clock but the weekend can be very different.
Do you have a proper job?
DY: Mmmmm sort of! I work as a Fine Art Technician at The University of Gloucestershire and also teach evening classes in painting and life drawing
Have you ever missed a day during Dan Young Daily? If so why?
DY: No, I am hugely proud of the fact that I haven’t missed a day in the last 465 (and counting) days. I have had two close calls however, one evening I was working late, got home about 9ish had something to eat and relaxed into the evening then suddenly realised at about 11 o’clock that I hadn’t painted so, very quickly made a painting of a lime and just got it listed at I think 11:55. The other close one was a few weeks ago when Debbie (my partner) cut her finger and we ended up in casualty until 11, we rushed back and I made a painting of a dressing and micro-pore tape.
Do you allow yourself to paint the same object twice in the year?
DY: No that’s another rule! I do allow myself to paint the same thing in different years, although a few days ago I did paint an elastic band and the next evening I painted the same elastic band but incorporated into my elastic band ball. A minor infringement of the rules.
