Catalog of Available Work

ARTIST STATEMENT

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The type of art that moves me is powerful pieces that showcase lots of lights and darks.  I feel like any object placed in the right area giving off the right amount of contrast can become eye-catching.  I love to pull out the strength and power within an object using different colors to capture the lights and darks.  I work with different mediums such as Pencil, Charcoal, Watercolor, Oil, and Acrylic paint.  I enjoy painting the traditional way with a brush, but my true passion is my fingers on the canvas.  I flow so much freer by using my fingers as the brush and not being so constricted by trying to be precise with what I’m doing.  

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ARTIST BIO

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Darryl Montez Tucker Sr. was born August 30th, 1976, and he was raised in the West End of Louisville, Ky.   Darryl’s parents, Harry and Margaret Tucker were hard workers from the West End of Louisville who taught him the value of money, respect, love, and God.  Darryl also has a brother who is 6 years older who instilled the value of working hard to get what you want in life.  Darryl’s dad was an artist but never went public with his art.  Darryl would sit and watch him draw and try to do what he did at a very young age.

Darryl discovered in kindergarten that he had a talent for drawing.  Drawing and color choices seemed to come naturally to him. He had fun copying cartoon figures and would sometimes trace the characters.  As Darryl advanced into grade school the drawings were getting even better.  Kids would ask him to draw different Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck.  Once Darryl got into Middle school the teachers would ask him to draw different things for the class or even for the yearbook.  Middle school is where Darryl made his first dollar drawing different characters for students.  Darryl’s parents also placed him in an after-school art program that was in the basement of a church in West End Louisville. He was first introduced to painting there and how to use it correctly. At the time, painting didn’t seem to be Darryl’s strong suit, so he focused more on his drawings.

Not finishing college, Darryl needed to work more to help provide for his family.  After a few restaurant jobs, UPS, and Terminix, Darryl landed a solid job at Humana.  8 Years into his Humana employment, Darryl received a Well-Being role which allowed him to think of ways to use his talents to help the associates there.  

Darryl and his wife Jennifer attended a paint and sip class to see how they would like it.  Darryl rediscovered painting from his classes back at the church in middle school and through this paint-and-sip class discovered how good he was at it. His painting came out nice compared to others in the class and allowed him to see a lot of potential in what he could do with paint.  He felt he could instruct paint and sip classes of his own, so he tried a demo class with his wife and daughter. He discovered he could teach the vision to participants and the paintings came out as expected from an experienced paint instructor. Darryl put the painting his wife and daughter did on social media and that’s how Darryl’s business, “Painting with Tuck” took off.

A few years after getting his Well-Being position at Humana, Darryl introduced “Painting with Tuck” to Humana leadership and discussed how painting can help associate mental and emotional well-being. He pushed for providing Art therapy to meet Humana’s Well-Being goals of healthier associates.  He helps hundreds of associates every other month with his Art painting classes that are offered throughout the company.

In 2020, when COVID-19 shut down the world, Darryl stumbled on yet another form of creating art. While sitting in the house looking at social media, he noticed someone finger-painting a lion and he was very curious about trying this technique. This became Darryl’s newfound passion!  Darryl would paint “Live” on social media in front of people in parks, at events, or in his yard.  Darryl is very motivated by all the face-to-face interactions and social media comments he receives while he fingerpaints.

Darryl has been invited to multiple art festivals, shows, and exhibits. In 2022, the Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear invited Darryl to display his work in the Kentucky State Capitol. This was a finger-painted piece representing the Kentucky Derby. Darryl considers this his most exciting exhibit to date.