Brian Belfield

Most of my paintings are created en plein air and are completed on location. Each represents a specific time and place, painted impressionistically with emphasis on the real rather than the ideal. They typically feature harmonious color and a strong value structure. I prefer painting with oils on high quality canvas panels.
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I'm fascinated by the act of interpretation. Translating the world around me into a new world of paint and brushstrokes. I'm not at all interested in creating an illusion or something photographic. My goal is to indicate rather than render what I see and let the viewer pull everything together in her mind.
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I fall in love with my subjects and I feel they should be treated with respect. While I may change the specifics somewhat for composition or simplification I always try to preserve the greater truth. I find myself intrigued by: the great volumes of shadow created by sea cliffs, the chaos and complexity of a sycamore tree, and the incessant motion of ocean waves.

After two years preparation at a community college I attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and earned a B.A. in illustration. Here I studied under some amazing teachers including: Craig Nelson, Harry Carmean, Dwight Harmon, Gene Fleury, Phil Hays, Burne Hogarth, and Paul Souza.

While art school gave me a broad academic understanding of the fundamentals and exposed me to a wide spectrum of ideas, it was only by going out, time and again, and applying those fundamentals to the canvas that I really learned to paint.

I've been influenced mostly by the great painters who are also great teachers, the books of Carlson, Schmid, Macpherson, Hawthorne and Payne. I find the principles more valuable to me than trying to copy someone's style.

For the past nine years I've been going out painting with the San Diego Plein Air Painters Meetup Group. We get together to paint weekly at locations all over San Diego. This constant support has been tremendously valuable to me in my growth as a painter.

Select Exhibitions and Group Shows:

2018: COAL Open Juried Awards Show

2018: COAL Member Awards Show

2018: Exhibition of Fine Art, San Diego County Fair, San Diego, CA

2017: Exhibition of Fine Art, San Diego County Fair, San Diego, CA

2016: Exhibition of Fine Art, San Diego County Fair, San Diego, CA

2016: San Diego Plein Air Painters Meetup Group Art Exhibit, Solana Beach, CA

2015: Plein Air Paintings of Point Loma Art Exhibition, Point Loma, CA

2015: San Diego Plein Air Painters and Urban Sketchers Meetup Groups Art Exhibit, Solana Beach, CA

2014: Saltwater on the Rocks, Paintings by Brian Belfield, SOE Gallery, San Diego, CA

2014: Exhibition of Fine Art, San Diego County Fair, San Diego, CA

2013: Exhibition of Fine Art, San Diego County Fair, San Diego, CA

2013: San Diego Plein Air Painters Meetup Group Art Exhibit, Solana Beach, CA

Select Awards:

1st Place, COAL Open Juried Awards Show 2018

1st Place, Oil - Representational Landscapes, Exhibition of Fine Art, San Diego County Fair, 2018

3rd Place, Oil - Representational Landscapes, Exhibition of Fine Art, San Diego County Fair, 2018

2nd Place, Oil/Acrylic, Plein Air Painting Contest, San Diego County Fair, 2018

1st Place, CO...