Daniel Taylor is an artist, instructor, Wildlife Conservationist and international television host of 'When Paintings Come Alive. He has taught art to children in Africa, written three educational art books, is 'Ambassador to the Arts Of The Handicapped' through the 'JFK Centre For The Performing Arts' and is a UN Critically Endangered Species artist.
"On a cold winter's day, with a pencil and paper in my small hand, I lay on my mom's kitchen floor, cozy and warm beside the oil-heated range, creating an intricate sketch inspired by a National Geographic magazine. A photograph of King Tut's mask. Suddenly a flash breeze raced across the floor, flipping my drawing into the air! That's strange, I thought, but even more odd was the clash of adult strangers suddenly standing above me, popping bright camera lights, people excitedly asking silly questions and scratching notes on paper for articles in newspapers and magazines.
As an innocent blond-haired boy of four in the 1950s, although I didn't understand it, this was my first introduction to my 15 minutes of fame. They called me a child prodigy, able to sketch such high-caliber pictures well beyond my young years! To me, unimpressed, I felt, "This isn't unusual? Everyone can do this!"
It has been said that 'One cannot be taught to be an artist but must be born as one… it's a gift of creativity.' From that very tender age, painting has always been a deep passion. Something that came naturally with a wanton need to create more.
For a number of years I was creating work for well-known movies and television shows. At times it was tough work and thrilling, and yet the only one feeling gratification with my creations was me. Other than my commitment to the productions and paying my bills, it was unfulfilling and had no lasting benefits.
Maturing into a master painter, I am able to paint in all mediums, creating all sorts of images, be they portraits, seascapes, landscapes, wildlife, and so much more, but I found my forte, away from oil painting, with acrylic paints. As a photorealist painter, I create a painting in many layers using a very small, single-hair-like brush, painting translucent colors one on top of each other, layer after layer, daily creating just one painting over the process of a year.
With the passing years, I have displayed my work in many prestigious galleries, exhibitions, sales, celebrity auctions, news coverage, magazines, interviews, and so much more. I never wanted to stop and wished to do more, much more. Something directly beneficial for others.
Knocking at my door, the JFK Center for the Performing Arts (Very Special Arts) and the then American president, George H.W. Bush, honored me by making me the Ambassador to the Arts of the Handicapped, encouraging awareness and education toward the needs of the handicapped in Canada. Oh, how I enjoyed helping to encourage precious programs for the handicapped through the arts!
Although feeling fulfilled and enjoying this new venture through the arts, I also have a passion for wildlife. I educated myself on the endangerment of 'critically endangered species' in Africa and found a way to bring international awareness and funding toward the wildlife programs. Little did I know this was to become an exciting journey for a lifetime.
Using my ability in the arts toward the benefit of others, both human and wildlife, as well as the endangered turtles, mangroves, flora, and fauna, has been nothing short of an impossibility becoming a reality!
My lovely wife Ginette and I, who is such an invaluable support and encouragement on all levels, set on trail to engage in a program toward a little-known, highly endangered 'Cross River Gorilla.' Only 300 are known to exist!
Bringing two very large 'Root' bags of art supplies and candy for the kids to the Cameroon villages so as to educate the children in these remote schools about their endangered neighbor and then to paint a picture of a gorilla in any color they so wished was fun and wonderful! For the village kings, 'Fons,' and chiefs, we helped to encourage a means, outside of poaching, to help families survive through farming, micro-banking, and work as rangers. A truly fruitful and engaging endeavor!
Now think of that movie 'Indiana Jones' in that famous jungle scene at the start. This was the same atmosphere that we were about to undertake. We were traveling ever deeper into the heavy rain-laden forests in search of the elusive, near-extinct 'Cross River Gorillas.'
Hiking into these remote areas in search of these ever-elusive gorillas, you needed to be intrepid as well as blind to the dangers you were about to face. Ignorance is bliss? Facing machete-wielding poachers with the possibility of never returning to camp. Relentless rains falling from the heavy canopy of foliage above. Sleep-deprived while carrying heavy-laden wet backpacks while crossing steep, crumbling hillside paths with nothing to grasp onto but a damp wall of rotten roots, flying insects that eject an acid-like substance into your eyes, and a distant, misty village of witches far below that you hopefully won't slip down into. No one to save you. No one to carry or fly you out!
Exhausted, finally reaching a level area on a bluff overlooking a beautiful valley below, you set up a wet camp. After such a long, arduous journey, you might have the fortitude to eat cold food and bed down in your forever-damp clothing in a rain-drenched tent and still say, "What an exciting time you just had!" and mean it! That in itself was a reward.
Toward the preservation of specific endangered wildlife and for the kids' educational programs, nine photo-realist paintings were created so as to educate and present prints internationally, using the proceeds toward the programs in need as well as creating three illustrated children's educational books with mascot 'Professor Warty,' widely distributed and used in schools across Africa.
Although my wife and I are still involved with these programs, we needed to create something that would not only bring joy to others but also present a 'soapbox,' if you will, for others to be noticed and to bring educational programs and values to an international audience. So, through trial and, of course, error, we created a television series, "When Paintings Come Alive," which slowly gained momentum and became a unique popular series. Now in its 16th year, the show continually airs globally with a barrage of interesting subject matters, bringing enjoyment, enlightenment, and entertainment to the masses, always presented in a positive manner.
Well, the passion of creating still burns within me, always present, and as I look back to that little blond-haired boy, a child fulfilling his creative passions on my mom's cozy kitchen floor, a long-held dream to be realized was yet to unfold before me."
