I think one of the most, amazing things that come from my artwork is that it gives me the ability to connect.

My name is Daniel Lopez, and I'm from Southern California.

I've lived up here in Washington for about 15 years now.

Daniel Lopez is a muralist and portrait painter, whose style is built on his life growing up and the masters of the past.

Growing up, I especially remember my dad's tattoos.

He had like these, street Chicano art, prison and, like, pain and love and suffering and all these things, it was almost like a mural to me.

But then I also love the Renaissance work because it's so extreme and so dramatic those two styles just kind of naturally started, like, mending together.

And I could try to smooth everything out if I wanted, but I love all those brush strokes and all these scratches and everything.

Theyre just going to make the painting look even cooler.

The more I paint, I almost will probably start to feel like I know these guys and get more interested in them.

And, you know, I will have actually, like, spent time painting their faces.

I think that's pretty intimate.

You look at people and you guess what their whole story is and what they've been through.

I sketched and I drew a lot in elementary school.

And my grandmother, she really nurtured that.

Daniel lived with his grandmother as a child.

When Daniel was in high school, he fell in love with street art, graffiti, and murals In public spaces.

But towards the end of high school, art drifted out of Daniel's life.

This was when my addiction was starting to really ramp up, I dropped out of high school about 18, and then I was— used until about 31.

Then in 2013, Daniel's grandmother passed away and his life began to spiral out of control.

And I was at a point where I was either going to, like, make a really bad decision, or get some help.

Daniel had family who lived in Spokane, so he decided to relocate and seek help.

He entered Teen Challenge, a faith-based program helping those struggling with addiction.

Afterwards, Daniel began rebuilding his life.

He was hired as a dishwasher at Indaba Coffee.

And I would draw on these little books for, like, an hour before work and people are looking at my artwork and they're like, man, you got to do something with this.

It was 2015, and I had gotten the opportunity to paint my first real mural.

It was the YFC building off of Ash Street, it was like this big long wall, this was my first, whole city block type of mural.

I was trying to get linked up with the Spokane arts, I finally went in with my book and I met Ellen Pitkin.

At the time, she was on the Spokane Arts Commission and an artist.

I showed her my work and she's like, oh, you're the one that did the big mural over there.

Nobody knew who was doing it.

And then it just kind of snowballed.

It was crazy.

Over time, Daniel began connecting with more and more artists and community members, leading to more and more gigs creating art.

Each piece of art Daniel completes, he signs under his pen name, Godffiti.

The Godffiti is the idea of, if God were a graffiti artist, what would he paint?

I guess in my mind, it's like he would paint more matters of the heart.

Like, things that are meaningful and get people to think I always feel like the community is helping me, as much as I'm, like, giving back and trying to paint something beautiful.

Daniel volunteers at Westview Elementary School, sharing his love of art with the kids.

Yeah, I do Doctor Seuss week every year, Ill go in and I read this book “Im NOT just a Scribble”, and then I'll draw with them, and then I partner with them and the Shadle Park High School.

And they work, they work together.

And I kind of, just back it.

Daniel even designed a mural for the kids to work on together.

I went in and just, like, talked to the kids for a little bit gave them assignments.

And then I came in and just pieced it all together.

Creating art and connecting with his community has helped give Daniel purpose and a sense of belonging.

Its a beautiful journey, and it helped me reflect on my life, and find healing, and reach people, and connect to people.

And so it has been one of the most amazing things in my life to be a painter.