Pastel Podcast Episode 17: Daniel Keys

Daniel Keys bought his first paint kit at 11 with birthday money, taught himself to paint with no formal training, and went on to win the Portrait Society of America's Draper Grand Prize, the PleinAir Salon Grand Prize, and covers on seven major art magazines. In this episode, Daniel joins Kari and Lisa to share how a magazine cover at 22 became his big break, what it was like quietly absorbing everything from a decade at Richard Schmid's easel, and how pastel's "visual mixing" — layering broken color instead of blending on a palette — has changed the way he now paints in oil. Plus, why drawing and values (not composition) are the real gap in most students' work, why he now reaches for pastel over oil for portraits, and a peek at his recent painting trip chasing 500-year-old thatched-roof cottages through Yorkshire, England.