I recently found an artist online who knows how to speak my language: that of sexy, furry, masculine (not to mention hung) older men. I managed to get in touch with Danny for an interview for the HOM blog. Danny is a very friendly and intelligent guy. I enjoyed interviewing him almost as much as I enjoy looking at his paintings of hot and hung daddies... almost.

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CR: I understand that you are mostly self-taught. How did you get into painting?
DB: Yes, I am mostly self-taught. I painted for 25 years until I moved to Florida 6 years ago and decided to go to college and get some art training.  The classes were great and did give me new ways of looking at things and the classes also helped me technically.  I got into painting when I moved to Los Angeles from my small town in Louisiana in my mid-twenties.  I saw this big giant art store one day and it fascinated me.  I went in and couldn’t help but buy a few brushes, paints and canvases and started dabbling.  Dabbling in male figures of course.

CR: I'm always curious about the process of an artist. How often do you paint? Is it something that you are drawn to doing? 

DB: I do my art full time.  I paint quite often.  There was a time when I did it everyday for many hours, but now it is a little more spread out, but I always have ideas in the works.  I’m blessed to have that freedom with a partner who is behind what I’m doing.  I’m drawn into doing a painting when I get inspired by a particular photo or an idea that pops into my head or seeing a very sexy man out in public.  Being a creative person, there are times when the canvas is calling me to create.

CR: How do you get ideas for a new piece?
DB: I get inspired by the masculinity in mature men. That inspiration usually comes from photos or seeing a hot daddy out and about. Also, I have thousands of catalogued images in many different categories. I often get inspiration and ideas just from looking through those images. Something will spark my creative juices, no pun intended……..I’ll then create my models from 2, 3 or 4 different pictures, then I manipulate the images even further as I’m in the process of painting, letting my instincts guide me as to how the painting will turn out in the end.

CR: How has your work changed over time?
DB: I think my work has become more mature over the years. I think my colors, compositions, and techniques have grown from a very simple palette to one with more complexity.  I do a lot of glazing which I did not do two decades ago. That gives paintings much more depth and richness.  When I first began painting men, I would never paint faces, I would only do the torso because they seemed to difficult but obviously that has changed over the last 20 years.  I also starts painting in oils and did that for many years, but because of clean up and fumes I switched to acrylics about 5 years ago and it was a whole new way of approaching painting.  I had difficulty at first but now, I love acrylics and have adapted.  I will not go back to oils.  Also, I did a lot of graphite on paper early on and I do less of that these days, color seems to be more fun for me, but I will still do drawings as well. There are many on my website.

CR: Your work features so many hot and hairy silver-daddies. Your works certainly feature the type of men that turn me on. Have you always been turned on by mature men?
DB: I have always been attracted to the mature, handsome, ruggedly masculine hairy men.  Even as a kid at, ten years old, I was looking at my school teachers with silver hair and furry arms.  Stalked a few of them and followed them around the campus just to look and gawk at them.  I saw a beauty in them for some reason and that always seemed to have stuck with me.   Now I’m able to translate that mature beauty into art.

CR: I know it can be hard to describe what gets us going, but can you try to explain your attraction to daddies? 
DB: If you notice on my website “Masculine Art” is in the subtitle.  I believe that is my attraction to the daddies, their masculinity. Hairy men are the embodiment of masculinity in the physical sense, and it seems that the daddy types have that alluring testosterone lingering about them.  In mature men there is also experience, wisdom and caring that only adds to their physical beauty. Character lines in the face, deep set eyes with thick brows and facial and body hair are important in my art and I love silver hair.  Maturity is often looked at as a bad thing in our society, but to me there is strength in it and that is what I try to capture in my art.  It is like the male lion with its huge mane of hair around its head with a strong, virile and commanding body.  The female lion is not as interesting as that.

CR: Who do you think is the hottest older celebrity? 
DB: Hmmmm, not sure?  I guess any silver-daddy star over 50 with a bit of a belly that is hairy and handsome.  To me that’s hot.

CR: Do you have any upcoming shows or things we should be looking out for?
DB: My art is not really traditional in the sense that I can hang much of it in galleries.  But I’ve done shows with landscapes, still lifes and such and have gotten good reviews and awards.  But, my love of the masculine art remains my favorite art to create so I do mostly that.  I just keep promoting my website and my art to my ever growing email list.  If anyone wants to see my new work before it gets on my website just send me an email at onward1@earthlink.net and say “Add Me.”  You can also check my website for all my new art.  It’s ever changing.