About the Artist

Bio of Indiana artist Derek Collins

Modern Impressionist paintings with texture and light.

I was always under the impression that I didn't like art.  My only experience with art in school was always some sort of drawing. You had to show some skill before they would let you us actual paint. I really get that now, that stuff is expensive. To this day, the detailed aspect of drawing just isn't the way my mind works.  At the age of 26 after a back injury, I was immobilized on the floor for a few months. Being that I wasn't inclined to watch daytime soap operas,I discovered the painting shows on PBS.  Within that first year I began selling paintings, and shortly afterwards I started doing outdoor art festivals. That was 41 years ago, and since the year 2000 I have been a full time artist.

I paint in both abstract and Impressionist landscapes  But in both styles, I am really a colorist.  I strategically place warm, cool, and complementary colors in such a way as to make the colors pop. You will sometimes see unexpected colors in certain places and it's likely two complimentary colors beside each other. All the while I try to express a strong sense of light. I have to say, after painting 41 years, painting is more fun now than when I first began. 

I have collectors throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. My paintings have appeared in the movies The Duff, and Draft Day starring Kevin Costner; as well as in the television series Criminal Minds. I have won awards in both landscape and abstract styles. My abstract baseball painting, “You're Outta Here” is in the permanent collection of the National Art Museum of Sports in Indianapolis, Indiana.