About Nancy
My journey to become a painter. I began making personalized name paintings for the youngest loved ones in my life. It was a way to introduce their name, their existence and their uniqueness into the world of art. I wanted to create a keepsake that they live and grow with. People started asking me to make an artwork for their children and grandchildren and Pride + Joy was born. What am I doing in making art.
Artist Statement
I spent nearly forty years as a designer first and an artist second. I love design: it is creative within the confines of solving problems. Moving into abstract painting in 2024 the problem I am solving is what’s in front of me —the evolution of a blank canvas. I am expressing and exploring thoughts and emotions through color, gesture and mood as opposed to pixels, form and typography.
Each of my paintings is a creative process with many layers. Often I alternate wet media with dry, back and forth. I apply, I scrape off. See what appears. I call it excavation. There’s a lot of unexpected discovery. Deciding what to leave, add or erase is much of the creative challenge and I fight with my cognitive brain not to judge or overthink things too early in the process to allow for the most profound outcomes.
I see my paintings as windows to their own world where there is mood, beauty and interesting details to discover every time you view them.
Nancy Daniels 2026
Education
BA, Studio Art and Art History, Stanford University
MA, Learning, Design + Technology, Stanford University
Selected Exhibitions
2026 Studio Door Gallery, San Diego CA "HOPE"
2026 Studio 1608, Palm Beach County, FL "20/20Vision"
2026 Hugo Rivera Gallery, Laguna Beach CA “Free Expressions”
2026 Art on 30th, San Diego CA “Bloom and Gloom”
2026 Art on 30th, San Diego CA “Blush & Brute”
2024 Orinda Library Gallery, Orinda CA “Stories We Tell”