Dan Young

A long-time resident of Silt, Colorado, Dan Young’s plein air impressions often depict beloved locations and pastimes of the West. Over the years Young has mastered the challenges posed by painting on location regardless of the season and has earned a reputation as one of Colorado’s premier landscape artists. From his plein air winter scenes dotted with fences, structures, or moonlight on irrigated fields, to the summer fly fishermen and towering mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains, Dan often captures the boundaries where nature meets man.   

Young’s work feels familiar to those who know the wild of the West, sometimes taking the viewer right back to an experience and place. He continually delights in discovering new subject matter in familiar surroundings, and finding inventive ways to paint it. The Colorado native has always found his inspiration in the outdoors. “Camping and fishing throughout the Rocky Mountains as a child has been a strong influence on me and my work,” reflects Young. “I still spend about 50 percent of my time painting on location. That’s what drew me to painting — the love of being out in nature and trying to accurately capture it on canvas. I still get excited when I head out for a day of painting. It doesn’t matter if I paint in Alaska or just out my front door. It helps keep me fresh to paint on location,” he says.  

After attending Colorado Institute of Art, Young established a successful career in illustration in Dallas, TX. Missing the landscapes and activities of Colorado, he returned to his home state in 1989 to begin painting full time.  

Dan Young enjoys painting the rural life of the west, the ranches that dot the mountain valleys and river bottoms. He explains, “Though I’m a landscape painter, I like introducing hints of man’s presence in the landscape. Sometimes I feel I’m in a race to paint a disappearing way of life. It’s hard to watch so many of the family farms and ranches being swallowed up by development.”  

Dan Young’s work has been shown in exhibitions throughout the US, including the US State Department’s Arts in the Embassies Program (Belgium); Salmagundi Art Club (New York City); and the Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa, OK). Young has also been featured in Western Art Collector, Art of the West, Southwest Art, American Art Collector, and Cowboys and Indians magazines. From 2013 to 2017, Young was invited to participate in the Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale, and has been selected as the featured artist of the Coors 2018 exhibition.