Dane Chinnock, Oil Painter

 Dane Chinnock has an uncanny ability to capture the colors, textures, light and vistas of the Southwest, especially Arizona and Colorado. He’s an avid hiker and backpacker who paints en plein air, using a palette knife to create flat edges, sharp lines and enticingly textured images. “The Arizona wilderness is strange and diverse,” says Dane. “It demands a strength from its inhabitants that other places don’t require. It inspires awe and respect. Having spent my entire life learning its nuances, I have developed a connection to this place that is rooted in my very being. It is that connection that I strive to share through my art.”

Dane was born in Tucson, but his family moved to the mountain community of Prescott in the early 1980s. Dane has vivid memories of the colors and smells inside his mom’s paint box, and he became serious about art in high school. He was the only student in his advanced art class who was allowed to work with oil paints. He went on to study with renowned landscape painter Robert Knudson and portrait artist Paul Abbott. Dane set aside his paints for several years to focus on raising a family and owning a business, but within the last decade he has begun to devote himself to art once more.

In 2016, Dane received Southwest Art magazine’s Award of Excellence at the 42nd Annual Phippen Art Show and Sale for his painting Catching Colors. In 2017, the magazine named him an artist to watch. Dane is an associate member of the Oil Painters of America.