Today we’d like to introduce you to Dani Wilson.
Hi Dani, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story has never followed a straight line. I’m a self taught abstract artist and songwriter from Baltimore, and I came to both of those things through a life that has had some incredibly beautiful chapters and some very difficult ones. I lost my father when I was 12 years old, and that loss affected me deeply. Later in life, I went through addiction, homelessness, and periods when I was simply trying to survive. I’ve now been in recovery for nearly nine years, and creativity became a huge part of rebuilding my life.
I didn’t begin my career with formal art training or a carefully mapped out plan. I began creating because I needed to create. Painting gave me somewhere to put things I couldn’t always explain in words. Over time, that instinct grew into a full time art career. My work is bold, colorful, abstract, and often chaotic, because I think there is beauty in imperfection and freedom in refusing to follow rules. My artwork has been published, exhibited, recognized with awards, and has found collectors, but what still matters most to me is that I get to wake up and make something that didn’t exist the day before.
More recently, songwriting became another extension of that same creative voice. I started writing songs drawn from my experiences, my sense of humor, my losses, my recovery, my confidence, and the person I’ve become. My music moves between country trap, hip hop, Afrobeats and Afropop, and I love combining genres that people might not expect to hear together. I released my first album at 56, just weeks before turning 57, which feels incredibly significant to me. It’s proof that there is no expiration date on becoming something new.
Today I paint, write music, run my art business, and keep pushing myself into places I never imagined I would go. I don’t try to separate the difficult parts of my story from the successful ones, because they all belong to me. I think everything I’ve lived through has made my work more fearless. At this point in my life, I’m less interested in fitting into anyone else’s definition of what an artist or songwriter is supposed to look like. I’m interested in making work that feels alive, honest, colorful, sometimes messy, sometimes funny, and completely mine.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth road? Not even close. My life has had potholes, detours, dead ends, and a few stretches where there barely seemed to be a road at all. I lost my father when I was only twelve years old, he died right in front of me, and that kind of loss changes the architecture of a person. It was the day my childhood went away. Later in life, I went through addiction, homelessness, and periods when simply surviving took everything I had. I have been clean for nearly nine years now, and rebuilding my life taught me more about myself than success ever could.
Becoming a full time artist brought a completely different set of challenges. I am self taught, so I didn’t arrive with an art degree, a gallery handing me a career, or a roadmap telling me what to do next. I had to build my own opportunities, hear “no,” be overlooked, sell my own work, promote myself, and keep creating during times when the money simply wasn’t there. There were plenty of reasons to quit. I just never found one that was stronger than my reason to continue.
And now, at 56, I’ve added songwriting to my creative life and released my first album, which has reminded me that there is no expiration date on becoming something new. I think that may be the greatest thing my struggles have taught me. You can lose years, people, money, opportunities, and even your sense of direction without losing your ability to begin again.
I don’t romanticize the difficult parts of my life. Some of them were brutal. But they gave me a voice, and today that voice comes out in paint, words, and music. I stopped waiting for the road to become smooth. I learned how to make something beautiful while walking on the broken parts.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a self taught abstract artist, designer, and songwriter, and at the heart of everything I create is one thing: emotion. I have never been interested in making work that simply looks pretty or sounds good. I want people to feel something.
As a visual artist, I’m known for bold color, movement, texture, and what I like to call colorful chaos. My work is intuitive and expressive. I use acrylics, mixed media, mineral paper, and unconventional techniques, allowing the materials to move and react rather than trying to control every outcome. That unpredictability has become an important part of my artistic language. My artwork has been published and exhibited, and I’ve had the privilege of seeing my designs move beyond the wall and into wearable art and other functional pieces.
More recently, that same creative instinct led me into songwriting. I write across country trap, Afrobeats, Afropop, hip hop, and emotionally driven storytelling. I’m fascinated by taking things that seemingly shouldn’t belong together and making them work, an acoustic element against a heavy 808, vulnerability beside profanity, pain beside humor, or country storytelling over an unexpected rhythm. In many ways, I write songs exactly the way I paint.
What I’m most proud of is that I built my creative life without waiting for someone else to give me permission to call myself an artist. I’m self taught. I experiment. I take risks. I’ve failed, changed direction, started over, and kept creating.
What sets me apart is probably that I don’t stay inside one box long enough to become comfortable there. I paint, design, write, experiment, and follow an idea wherever it wants to go. There is a recognizable piece of me running through all of it: boldness, vulnerability, humor, rebellion, color, and a refusal to make myself smaller for the sake of being easily understood.
I don’t create to fit in. I create because I have something to say.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
My favorite art book is Because I Can by artist Priscilla Batzell, but Priscilla means far more to me than a book on my shelf. She is my muse. In 2016, when I first got clean and sober, I suddenly had to figure out what to do with myself and with all the hours that had once been consumed by a completely different life. My daughter introduced me to Priscilla’s art videos on YouTube, and something clicked. I had painted before, but watching Priscilla made me fall in love with painting all over again. She helped awaken a part of me that had been sitting quietly in the background, waiting for me to come back to it.
What makes the story even more special is that years later, Priscilla and I actually became friends. We call each other, we talk about art and life, and I still joke that whenever I’m talking to her, I feel like I’m talking to a movie star. She knows exactly how much I admire her. To go from watching her on YouTube during one of the biggest turning points of my life to now being able to call her my friend is incredibly meaningful to me.
I was also featured on the No Pix After Dark podcast, which gave me another opportunity to share my story and my work. But when I think about the resources that have truly helped me become my best self, I always come back to art, and to Priscilla. She didn’t just inspire paintings. At a time when I needed something new to pour myself into, she helped remind me that I was an artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Daniwilsondesigns.com
- Instagram: @abstractsbudani
- Facebook: Abstractsbydani
- LinkedIn: Daniwilsondesigns
- Youtube: Dani Wilson
- Soundcloud: Dani Wilson
