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Daniel Byrne | Outdoor Painting

@daanniel.art

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🎨 The diary of a daily outdoor painter in Belgium 🇧🇪
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5 years of painting the same field 😳

It's been a while since I last properly posted. Honestly, I've been (over)thinking my content these last few months. Wanting to level up my content and the next big challenge to go viral. But every time I've gone outside to paint I've been hit with waves of nostalgia and honesty. Truthfully, what I love doing is really just painting outside. I don't want to lose sight of my artistic goals in the pursuit of virality.

But that's not to say I won't be making content. I'm just going to find a way to revolve the content around my life instead of revolving my life around the content.

This is the beginning of an iterative journey to finding that style and voice.

Excited to grow into who I want to become with authenticity and integrity this year.

If there's anything you want me to talk about, cover, or explain - any questions at all - let me know in the comments and I'll be sure to bring them with me outside!

#artreels #brusselsartist #housepaintings #pleinairpainter taken in Zaventem - Brussels by @daanniel.art

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9 months ago

Trading a painting for a life lesson 🎨

I’d been searching for weeks, getting one “no” after another, and with the end of the series in sight, I was honestly starting to feel pretty deflated. But then I found this lovely house, owned by a lovely family, and everything changed.

I spent almost a week painting in the middle of their street. I actually nearly finished one version but gave up on it. It looked sunny but it felt cold. It didn’t reflect the warmth I felt when I was around them. So I started again, went for something softer and more honest, and it ended up working out in my favor.

I went through about 40 minutes of footage for this one. The whole family, the neighbors, everyone was so kind and curious. It felt like this protective little community. I couldn’t fit everything into the reel. Maybe one day I’ll make a longer version for YouTube.

Honestly such a lovely week of painting. From letting me use their bathroom, showing me round the garden, to checking up on me with smiles. The whole thing could be perfectly summed up by the saying Niko shared:

“Giving a gift isn’t about the value for the person who receives it, but about the joy of giving it.”

#pleinairpainting #outdoorpainting #oilpaintings #satisfyingart #housepainting #homeiswheretheheartis❤️ #belgianpainter #belgiumart #zaventem #brusselsart #artreels #theartistheartistheart #modernart #contemporaryartist taken in Zaventem - Brussels by @daanniel.art

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a year ago

Almost 2 months without you 💔 🕊️

4 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. My sister and I moved home, and together we cherished every moment, knowing how fleeting it was.

7 weeks ago, we said our final goodbyes. Writing her eulogy and planning the funeral felt like I was being carried by something greater. For a while, I felt proud for doing the hard things, but grief has a way of sneaking in once the world moves on, leaving you to face the reality that life has changed forever.

For me, grief has magnified childhood - in waking life, dreams, and in both myself and my mom. In the months before her death, this took different forms depending on my pain. Sometimes, I saw her as the little girl she once was, facing a harrowing destiny I couldn’t protect her from. Other times, I was the scared little boy, feeling like the universe was swallowing my mummy.

Revisiting childhood so intensely forces you to confront yourself in ways that normal life allows you to avoid. This flickering across time - between who she was, who I was, and who we became - has defined my grieving.

As I sat with photos, videos, and memories, I felt an overwhelming need to capture her life as a whole. This timelapse is my way of processing grief. A creative outlet to sift through the memories, honour her story, and express the profound impact she had on my life. In capturing her life, I’ve been able to reconnect with the person she was at every stage,not just at the end.

Arguably, what I miss most are our conversations. She truly listened, letting me explore my thoughts fully and reflecting them back with honesty and encouragement. I felt so seen and supported. I miss coming home with a new painting every day and seeing her pride grow over the years. She was an artist too, and her belief in me pushed me to paint like a madman and chase my dream.

I miss her humour, her emotional warmth, and the way she made bad days easier to bear. I still can’t believe she’s gone. Some days, I wake up thinking she might be downstairs or find myself wanting to call her name before remembering.

Love you soo much mama, thanks for everything ❤️

- Daniel by @daanniel.art

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2 years ago

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14 days ago

Memories from Ireland 🇮🇪

These were some paintings I did last year in Wexford for @artintheopen1 - a week of art from morning to evening, multiple paintings per day. It was good fun.

This painting got destroyed later that summer when I was practicing using the heat press. It no longer exists 🥲

#landscapepainting #pleinairpainting #urbansketch #belgiumartist #oilpainting

Weather changed so fast that this was more of a collection/timelapse of “ooo I like that” moments over the course of an hour than a specific one

Learned a lot about water doing this one - I still think back to it when painting today. The ripples closest to the bottom had both a softer edge and a harder one, instead of a cartoonish dash effect like I’ve done in the past. taken in Wexford, Ireland by @daanniel.art

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a month ago

Leaning crates, misty morning 🎨

Painted an old friend this morning. This beautiful stack of leaning crates.

Absolutely no blue paint was used in its creation either.

The colour that was mixed into every other colour in this painting was.. Pthalo Green!

A colour I’ve historically been scared to use, I decided to take it out because I wanted some different greys for once.

It was basically just alizarin crimson and pthalo green throughout, using some orange, yellow or red to push it one way or another. I love how it turned out!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot of colour as it pertains to the emotion of a scene, and how similar it is to music.

Early on in songwriting we must select a key (a family of notes & chords). This is what gives both musician and listener the emotional framework, structure and predictability to make sense of a song.

Just because there are 88 keys on a piano doesn’t mean they should all be played.

Just because there are 15 colours on your palette doesn’t mean they all belong in your painting.

Lately I’ve been thinking of my colour choices as if they were a musical decision, and I’ve really been enjoying it. Especially experimenting without blue. I think it can become a mindless shorthand for “atmosphere” when there really are so many more options out there.

In other news I’m trying to work on some large outdoor paintings but have been struggling somewhat with the scale. A new challenge. This was a playful break 😅

If you want to own this or anything else I post, sign up to the collectors list in my bio and be the first to know when they’re available!

#landscapepainting #pleinairpainting #urbansketch #belgiumartist #oilpainting taken in Sint-Stevens-Woluwe by @daanniel.art

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a month ago

Mother’s Tree in Brittany 🌳❤️🇫🇷

Finished working on this on my final night in France a few weeks back. Wasn’t really going anywhere with it, more of a meditation than anything.

It was my mother’s birthday. Our second one without her. I was thinking of everything and wishing I could speak to her, while holding the cross I’ve carried with me since her funeral.

I also felt a wave of deep gratitude.

Before she passed, I used to come home and tell her about this presence I felt in the landscape, one I couldn’t quite explain, but that definitely felt like a divine or spiritual one that grew stronger the more I was outside. And now, in a very similar way, I feel her presence through that same channel.

I used to call the tree near home “mother’s tree” until I realised I felt that same feeling everywhere. How blessed I am to have something like outdoor painting. To get to go out and interact with beauty, the divine, and my mom every day. And to show her that I’m still going and I’m never going to give up.

#landscapepainting #pleinairpainting #urbansketch #belgiumartist #oilpainting taken in Plélan-le-Grand by @daanniel.art

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a month ago

Cloud study ☁️🎨

I painted this the other day on my way to the gym near Zaventem, but didn’t like the landscape so scraped it down and inserted my favourite river instead before tonight’s painting session.

As always, I’m constantly trying to figure out how someone could do an impressive cloud painting outside, given how fast and unpredictably they change.

I decided to lead with design above all. I pushed and pulled for most of the painting just to get the cloud structure somewhat balanced and interesting. Then I used what was happening around to inform things like form, colour, and value.

A mistake I made earlier on (and still do) is trying to draw a very good cloud with paint, which is futile when you’re outside.

I tried to keep the river scene at the bottom very loose, inspired by Frederic Church’s cloud studies, where it’s clear his focus was on the sky and the landscape was the absolute bare minimum amount of information to ground and give a sense of scale to the sky.

#allaprima #pleinairpainting #landscapepainting #oilpainting #belgiumartist taken in Bonheiden by @daanniel.art

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a month ago

Mont Saint-Michel 🏰🇫🇷

Set off yesterday on a 2-week road trip in France with the beautiful @en.poke. After 7h of driving we decided to pull in to see this incredible scene and I just had to paint it. It was a quick one - just over an hour - but oh so special.

Sat in a field surrounded by sheep droppings, away from the main path, while Noemie went off and explored and then came back to read with me. Perfect.

#landscapepainting #oilpainting #montsaintmichel #pleinairpainter #urbansketch taken in Mont Saint-Michel by @daanniel.art

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2 months ago

Evenings on the Dyle ☁️🇧🇪

This is one of my favourite new spots. I spent maybe 10-15 evenings here last month. Started this painting the very first day I found it on an overcast evening, and have been running back ever since whenever the clouds have allowed.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Isaac Levitan this last month, going through some of the letters, the only ones we have left as he ordered all the ones in his studio to be burned by his brother when he died. I’ve been very inspired by his descriptions of nature, his melancholy, both in his personal life and in his frustration at not being able to capture the beauty of nature as he saw it.

But a phrase that stood out most was his desire to “paint nature with all of its noise removed”. Which isn’t something I think I got in this painting. The more I think of him while I’m painting, I realise I’m still over rendering in a way, or focusing on the wrong thing.

I’ve also been very inspired by the concept of the lyrical landscape, and how the mood of certain conditions resonates within each of us. That’s a direction I really want to explore in my work. The mood as the subject.

Last month was strangely melancholic, and my internal weather was quite moody. I think I’ve been experiencing new angles of grief with new events in my life, and as always, painting has been a safe haven. What’s made this spell different is trying to put my own mood/melancholy into the landscape while still painting what is in front of me, allowing myself to return over as many sessions as it takes to capture the mood I’m trying to convey.

This painting holds a special place in my heart, because it’s a visual journal entry of how I’ve been feeling this last month, or as close as I could get to it. A bit soft, a bit tender, a bit cloudy, but ultimately beautiful.

I’ve been tinkering at this one for about a month, once a week here, maybe not even, when the weather would allow it. It’s still far from finished in my mind, but at the same time, I need to move on.

#landscapepainting #oilpainting #belgiumartist #pleinairpainter #urbansketch taken in Dyle by @daanniel.art

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2 months ago

Evenings on the Dyle 🇧🇪🌿

Been drawn back to water since getting home from the States. Found this spot on the Dyle about a week ago and I’ve been out nearly every evening since, sketching, painting and just taking it in.

I consider this a warm-up - feeling out a new subject by throwing myself at it. Over-rendered in some places and not enough in others. Oh well! Already blocked in another one from just up the bank and I’m waiting on a cloudy evening to finish it.

It’s such a nice feeling discovering a new favourite place to obsess about. Like finding a new song that you can’t stop listening to!

#landscapepainting #oilpainting #belgiumartist #pleinairpainter #urbansketch taken in Mechelen, Belgium by @daanniel.art

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3 months ago

Moody Lake Wononskopomuc ☔️

Yet another lake study from my recent trip to Connecticut with the Hudson River Fellowship. Done across 2 hour-long sessions on cloudy days just before it rained. I wish there had been more overcast days as they really are my favourite conditions to paint in and colours to capture.

This one was inspired by the various paintings that Frederic Church did across his excursions to Mount Katahdin. Having started my trip by visiting @olanafredericchurch and re-reading @victoriasamericaneden ‘s biography of Church (amazing), as well as the years of marvelling at his work beforehand and him being my favourite artist, I couldn’t shake this feeling that I was in ‘his’ hometown.

He’s been a constant source of inspiration ever since I started this journey, and I wondered how he might have painted things today.

Not that my painting reflects that at all, but I guess I felt more connected to him through geographical proximity and that was nice to experience.

I’m in the process of sketching out concepts based on all my lake studies to turn them into one (or more) larger studio works. Historically a struggle of mine, but something I’m both dreading yet excited to do more of.

Also, if you’re interested in owning any of my America paintings, I’m considering doing a sale for them in the coming weeks. If you’d like to become a collector and know when they’re available, sign up to the collector’s list in my bio!

#landscapepainting #pleinairpainting #hudsonriverfellowship #connecticutpainter #oilpainting taken in Lakeville, Connecticut by @daanniel.art

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3 months ago