Original Oil Paintings of Wisconsin & the Driftless Region
Bold, post-impressionist paintings inspired by Viroqua, small-town streets, and the lived-in beauty of rural Wisconsin.
Original Paintings
Looking for something personal?
Commission a one-of-a-kind painting inspired by a place, story, or memory that matters to you.
Original Oil Paintings of the Driftless Region and Rural Wisconsin by Dan Howard
Dan Howard is a post-impressionist oil painter based in Viroqua, Wisconsin. His work captures the barns, backroads, small towns, and quiet corners of the Driftless region with bold color and grounded emotion. From La Crosse to Madison, Dan’s original oil paintings celebrate the real Midwest — not the polished postcard version, but the lived-in beauty of crooked fences, snowy hillsides, and streets with stories. Painted on birch panels and signed on the front, each piece reflects Wisconsin life through a lens of color, memory, and honest observation. If you love rural landscapes, small-town scenes, or the feeling of standing still in the middle of something familiar — this work is for you.
I make almost all of my own painting panels—and yes, the process involves birch plywood, gesso, a saw, and a suspicious jar of leftover paint sludge. 🎨 I just put together a step-by-step guide showing exactly how I make them, from cutting and sanding to priming and adding the warm ground I like to paint on. If you’ve ever wanted to make your own oil painting panels, this is the whole process.