Dan was a 1940s "war baby," born into a family living in rural Indiana. Having a much older brother and sister (10 and 12 years older) and living in farm country, Dan had no neighborhood kids to play with. Because of that he became rather introverted, as well as introspective, playing with his toys for hours by himself. At an early age he found that he loved to use crayons to color. One of his happiest days was when his mother bought him a big box of Crayola crayons, holding 64 of various colors. Later it was finger painting and then onto the use of watercolors. It did not take long before Dan learned he could color and paint outside the lines and get by with it. And so he did! The beginning of his abstract painting stage.