Sketches for Sun and Shadow by Daniel J. Izzard

Born in London, England, he became interested in drawing at a young age. His first exhibitions of drawings were hung in the ‘Rogues Galleries’ of fighting ships of the Royal Navy during his service in WWII. He continued with the navy after the war and served on the battleship HMS Vanguard which was refitted for the Royal Tour of South Africa in 1947. He conducted fine art courses for the ships company and was art editor for the ship’s magazine. Subsequently he studied art at Messina, Sicily, and at the Fine Art School of the Belfast Technical College in Northern Ireland.

He came to Canada in 1951 and settled for a time in Toronto where he was a buyer, purchasing agent, then general manager for Refinery Engineering Co. Ltd. He continued painting and concentrated on watercolours. He then began working in oils. He held his first major solo show at the Eaton’s Fine Art Galleries, Toronto and was represented by Eaton’s in Eastern Canada. He was elected a member of the Ontario Institute of Painters in 1963. An exhibition of his work was held in Winnipeg and Vancouver and while he was attending the latter, he explored the West Coast and decided to settle there. He established himself in Vancouver where he married Denese J. Gordon in 1965 (a painter in her own right and veteran gallery operator) and he opened his own gallery, The Gallery of the Golden Key. Eileen Johnson noted in Vancouver Life, “The Gallery, operated by Izzard and his wife Denese, is a haven for representational artists in the area, as Izzard feels too much attention is paid to abstract ‘shock-value’ paintings.”

Johnson described his work as follows, “Izzard spends three or four days a week painting, and his repertoire includes landscapes, seascapes, industrial paintings, nude figures… His landscapes reflect a genuine mood of this country. Late afternoon sunlight striking horizontally through the dripping forest. Breakers crashing against the rocks at Long Beach. Incredible cloud formations hanging low around the mountains at Pemberton. The drama, even the smell, it seems, of low tide on the mud flats at Boundary Bay, or the slick gray stones in Vancouver harbour. Izzard’s paintings are boldly impressionistic, but spontaneous and realistic. Detail is suggested, but the mood is vigorously full brush.” He is represented in the collections of the Lieut-Governor of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the Eddy Match Company, Toronto, and many others.

Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume II”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1979