Music helps drive Handy poster artist

FLORENCE — Daniel Nichols said he never has had much luck with attempts to play musical instruments.

Put a brush in his hand, however, and he can create a different type of art.

Nichols loves to paint and often listens to music while painting, selecting something that matches the feeling of what he is creating.

He has found an additional way to combine the two arts this year. Nichols’ painting of Handy was selected for the official poster for this year’s festival, which is July 15-26.

“This is my way to contribute to the music,” Nichols said. “Art and music go together like peanut butter and jelly. Both are ways to share artistic expressions and convey feelings.”

He has a designated area in his living room where he paints every day after a day at work at Amrize in Tuscumbia.

“I work a full-time job during the day and do this at night,” Nichols said.

He creates videos on social media featuring time lapses of him doing his art, including the Handy poster.

The Florence resident has wanted to enter the contest for years.

“We moved here from Anniston in 2008 and we instantly fell in love with the place,” Nichols said.

This year, a visit to his pharmacist motivated Nichols to enter the contest.

“I was a Chad’s Pharmacy and he has many of the past posters on the wall,” Nichols said.

Nichols’ poster features Handy playing a trumpet and includes a depiction of O’Neal Bridge, a copy of his “St. Louis Blues,” and a downtown resembling buildings from Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee.

“I wanted to convey the feeling you get the moment you put on an album and you just feel the music,” he said.

It also has several purple features as a nod to the University of North Alabama.

“I love to incorporate the purples for UNA,” he said. “It just invokes the feeling of Florence.”