Danny Pickett's STUDIO D

My hobby became my career… and led me to Thailand
By Danny Pickett ’85

(Article originally published in the September 2005 issue of Mays Business Online, the Texas A&M University Business School Magazine)

“How did I get here?” was the thought bouncing around my head on that sweltering Bangkok day. Actually, it was probably my teeth bouncing around as the ancient motorbike taxi dodged pickups laden with too many people, hand-pushed fruit carts, belching buses, and the stray grandma who wandered into traffic. A typical day in Bangkok traffic, and it was becoming a typical day for me.

Pickett leads a group of grinning orphans in a song and dance at the Ban Kru Noi Home for Poor Children in Bangkok.

How did this small town boy from Bryan, Texas end up in Thailand? Well, the road began with an accounting degree from Texas A&M, working for Arthur Andersen in Dallas, and Ernst & Young, PepsiCo and Magna International, all in the Denver area. But I realized I wanted to embrace something more personally satisfying, and in July 2000 I bowed out of the accounting profession.

Lounging around the swimming pool at my home in Colorado got old after a week, so I booked a trip to Thailand. Lounging on beaches in the Andaman Sea seemed like a more productive endeavor. I thought an adventure in Thailand might shake things up a bit, and I was right. After a couple of months, I returned to Colorado knowing that there was no turning back. I loved the steamy climate, the jungle atmosphere in the countryside and the friendly Thai people. I learned a bit of the Thai language, explored the chaos of Bangkok, scuba dived in the Andaman Sea, rode elephants through the jungle and made some friends along the way.

I returned from this first trip to Thailand to the discovery that a friend booked my first art exhibition for a July 2001 debut in Denver. I painted a bit when I was a child, and then I started again in 1996 just for fun. I wasn’t sure that I was ready to show my work to the public, but I was committed, so I went through with it. I sold an original painting that night and decided I wanted to become a professional artist even though I had no formal training. Over the next four years, I held exhibitions in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Bangkok selling more than 110 original paintings to date. My exhibition in Bangkok was attended by the Australian deputy ambassador, the Mexican cultural attaché and a Thai pop singing star. I now consider Bangkok my second home, traveling there as often as I can. The climate, people, colors, peacefulness and chaos infuse my paintings with an intensity of color and emotion.

Pickett at a recent gallery opening showcasing his work.

One night I found myself wondering what the street kids were doing up so late. Turns out they were trash pickers, searching the garbage for recyclables. I started to wonder about Thai orphans, thinking that even in this gentle Buddhist society there must be castaways. I asked around and discovered the Ban Kru Noi Home for Poor Children in Bangkok. Over the next couple of weeks, I visited often and became friends with Kru Noi, the elderly woman who runs the home. Most of the kids are orphans, and they are all desperately poor.

I had volunteered my time in the past as a board member for non-profit groups in Colorado, but this time, I wanted to help in a more direct way. I organized a raffle of two of my paintings, asking my friends and clients to donate money for the orphans. I raised $2,300 and delivered the money in May 2004 to Kru Noi, who accepted the gift with tears. Ban Kru Noi supports 125 children with food, clothing, a small allowance and school tuition. The aim is to ensure that all the kids go to school so they can one day escape poverty.

I have so far raised $6,000 for the education of the orphans, giving away four original paintings and other art work in the fundraising process. I also volunteer my time to teach the children English through an art program. My free time is now mostly dedicated to helping this specific group of poor children in the ways I can — teaching them, providing a role model and raising money.

From accountant to artist in four years… sometimes it makes my head spin. I feel fortunate that I can support myself through my paintings, and that I can use my artistic talents to help the Thai orphans realize a better future. Bangkok is a long way from my home in Colorado and my roots in Texas, but it has become a part of me.

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Danny Pickett is an acrylic painter in the style of impressionist, expressionist, hyper-impressionism, and abstract. Danny's subject matter includes flowers, florals, portraits, still lifes, landscapes and abstracts. He is a resident of Galveston, Texas, a former resident of Longmont, Colorado and a frequent traveller to Bangkok, Thailand.