It was a rainy day in Wisconsin that opened Dan Gerhartz’s eyes to his future career. Gerhartz, who grew up 40 miles north of Milwaukee, loved to be outdoors. As a teenager, he did a lot of hunting and fishing with friends and family in nearby woods. But one rainy day, a friend suggested that they do some drawing instead.

“We had some Walker Foster how-to-draw books,” Gerhartz remembers. “That’s how it got started. I found out that I enjoyed it and that I had an aptitude for it.”

He entered a few high school competitions, won a couple of awards, and decided to study illustration at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois. That’s where he ended up working in a frame shop in with his classmate T.A. Lawson, who introduced him to plein air painting and to Richard Schmid, an artist who became his teacher and friend.

Daniel Gerhartz

Bohemian
Oil
30″ x 30″

“Young love, wide-open dreams, and music….”

Daniel Gerhartz

Campfires and Camaraderie
Oil
30″ x 40″

“With this work, I endeavored to capture the joy that music can bring to any occasion, uniting all ages and breaking all boundaries.”