Tom Daellenbach's Biography
In my mid-teenage years I was a serious piano student and one of my favorite records featured a
piano recording of Chopin's Andante Spianato. Equally mesmerizing was the cover which reproduced
a painting by Alfred Sisley. In vain I sought a print of that painting but it was simply not
available. So, with typical teenage enthusiasm and unfettered optimism, I pulled a box of
inherited paints off my dad's closet shelf and started in at making a copy of that lovely
painting. Thus was my youthful start at painting and learning about the world of art, focusing
on the French Impressionist style.
After graduating high school, I was an architecture student at the University of Minnesota. One
of the classes we took was a drawing class, which was both enlightening and enjoyable. Although I gave up architecture and became a pianist and piano teacher, I retained my curiosity and
interest in art despite there being no time to paint. Years later, in mid-life, I signed up for
a plein air painting class at the local community center and began painting oil paintings in the
plein air style. I visited the Irvine Art Museum in Irvine, California, on numerous occasions,
and was inspired by the rotating exhibits of impressionistic (plein air) art depicting the
California landscape. I was hooked, and this paved the way to my current approach and
fascination with painting.
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