When Dan Young took his fly rod and backpack into the high country as a young boy growing up in Colorado, his angling success came from learning to read lakes and streams with a fisherman's eye. Little did he know then that he would return to Colorado years later, again to read nature and try to replicate it, but this time with easel and oil paints, and with the eye of an artist.

Just as fly fishing is an acquired skill, so is plein air painting. Over the years Young has mastered the techniques of painting on location, in all seasons, and along the way has built a following among art collectors and a reputation as one of Colorado's premier landscape artists.

Young was born in Denver, and grew up in western Colorado. He attended Colorado Institute of Art, hoping to find his direction in art. After graduation he moved to Dallas to pursue the commercial art field. Even with a successful illustration career, the landscape was always calling him back. In 1989 he returned to Colorado to begin painting full time. Though he had been a successful commercial artist, Young quickly learned he had a lot to learn as a painter. On the advice form artists he respected, he abandoned the studio to work from life.

By painting on site, not only does his work acquire a more natural feel and sensitive light, but it also allows him to spend his time back in nature. Young continually delights himself in finding new subject matters in familiar surroundings, and new ways to paint them.

As happy as he is with his growing popularity, he admits that he occasionally has those days of conflict, deciding whether to fish or to paint.