Mandurah Indigenous artist Daniel McHenry on where he finds inspiration

As someone who has suffered with depression and anxiety, and who has seen loved ones go through the same, Daniel decided to try out art as an outlet and has never turned back.

"Art is something I always knew I had when I was at school.

"I wasn't really the best student at school and had a different way of learning than other people."

Growing up in a close-knit family, the proud Noongar artist began drawing inspiration for his paintings from their time together.

"A lot of it is to do with me, my brother and my mum growing up. All we had was us three - but we had a lot of support from our aunties too."

When tragedy struck in Daniel's life, he used it as a means to work through his feelings.

"I lost my brother to suicide five years ago.

"When I was upset and was feeling the way I felt I would get the paints out and tell my story through my Indigenous art."

As more people began to see Daniel's art, people in the local community started to reach out to him about possible commissions.

"I had a mate's wife ask me if I could do a painting for Headspace in Mandurah," he said.

"When I did the picture, I was told I would need an ABN so I figured I'd get an ABN and get started.

"People just started to take a liking to my artwork - I started getting into motivating kids and letting them know you can have a hard background but we all have something that pulls us away and pulls us to the side."

Daniel's 10-year-old son James also started to show an interest in painting, and when MANPAC commissioned Daniel to paint a mural, James decided he would come along to help out.

"We homeschool our two sons and one of them comes with us to work and helps out - I give him a bit of pay for pocket money.

"It was really good watching him grow into a young man - (during the MANPAC project) people were coming over wanting to chat with me and stuff and he would go over and give them a card and say 'go onto Instagram to see how it turns out'.

"He evolved from at the start of the hob being quite shy and now knowing what to do to at the end of it telling them stories while I'm still painting."

Daniel's art business started to gain even more traction and he was contracted to do art workshops at various schools in WA.

"I'm at John Tonkin College at the Tindale campus this semester - we are finishing off some projects that we've got there.

"Another will be at Harrisdale Senior College - that will be my next one."

Daniel said that he has two rules only for the children when he is teaching at workshops.

"Rule one is don't tell me you can't do it, that just means you don't want to - and the other one is no painting on each other," he laughed.

"Art is something you can express in so many different ways which is why I like it. Once you get into it and are concentrating and you start chatting with people - that's when they start opening up and you get to know them - when they're concentrating."

He added that his advice to students was "find what you love to do and find a way to make money doing it."

"That way you will never have a bad day at work.

"I also really want to thank Ben and Kaye Helene, Colin and Danielle and Jurgen Prinz who have been part of my team and the people who got me on board for these projects.

"Art is one of the best things you can do."

To follow Daniel's artwork, you can follow him on Instagram @dmchenry05.