Internationally renowned oil painter Daniel J. Keys creates gorgeous florals, landscapes, still lifes and figurative works that exhibit a mastery of light, color and form. However, for his newest show at A Sense of Place Gallery in Fresno, California, he is exploring a new medium: pastels. 
Crimson Glow, soft pastel, 18 x 12"
“I began dabbling with it after being encouraged by Ginny Burdick,” says Keys. Burdick is the owner of A Sense of Place Gallery and the “champion of our local art group that meets on weekends at the gallery.” One day Burdick, who works in soft pastels, offered to let him try out her vast collection.“I immediately took a liking to them,” he says.
Works in the exhibition, titled Ephemeral, are a continuation of a series of oil paintings Keys started last year that highlight “the ephemeral moments of light and the delicate nature of flowers,” he says. A particular emphasis was placed on roses and the quality of light at dusk. These pastel pieces take the soft and delicate painterly qualities of Keys’ signature oil paintings and seem to place an airy filter over them, as though the softest, lightest cloth were wiped across them. “All of the fundamentals of painting [still] apply—drawing, value, color, edges, composition—but pastels are much more tactile. I also feel a sense of whimsy comes out when working in the medium that I don’t naturally exhibit when working with oils,” says Keys. 
Summer Garden Roses, soft pastel, 18 x 24"
Magenta Roses, soft pastel, 12 x 9"
Burdick and Keys have painted together every Saturday for more than five years. “When you see and experience Daniel’s work you understand that he is not only painting what he sees but what he feels about what he sees,” says Burdick. “His paintings are an expression of himself. What I have learned from Daniel is his love of the land and flowers…moves him beyond the commerce of the art industry. [Rather, he is] creating art that will move us and his collectors…Just watching him create has made me better at my craft of painting.” 
Pastel Glow, soft pastel, 12 x 9"
Keys adds that working in soft pastel has lent a new dimension to his floral series, with layers of rich color and texture that are used to depict these fleeting, ephemeral moments in nature.
“Perhaps it’s reminiscent of coloring with crayons, or the immediacy of seeing the colors glide on,” says Keys, “but there’s certainly a joy amidst the challenges of painting with pastel.”
Ephemeral will be on view at A Sense of Place from March 12 through 26 along with an artist reception. —
A Sense of Place Fine Art Gallery
2003 N. Van Ness Boulevard • Fresno, CA, 93704
(559) 392-6775 • www.asenseofplacefineart.com
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