Artist's Biography

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About the Artist • Art Education • Memberships • Awards • Exhibitions • Collections

About the Artist
Darlene Hansen Morris began her art career when, at an early age, she received her first new box of Crayola crayons from her artistic mother. Taking art classes each semester, she sold her first watercolor painting to the high school secretary. Her work was exhibited in the annual student show at Balboa Park in San Diego when she was a high school senior.

In the intervening years she has continued her studies with well-known artists, including Annette Paquet, Roger Folk, Gerald Brommer, Katherine Chang Liu, Morten Solberg, Louise Cadillac, and Pat Dews. Her work has been exhibited in the Southern California area since 1983. Her paintings have been juried into shows at the San Diego Watercolor Society, Carlsbad-Oceanside Art League, Fallbrook Art Association, the San Diego County Fair at Del Mar, and the La Jolla Art Association. Her paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylics are in private collections across the United States. She is currently working in acrylic with collage, oil, and watercolor.

The subjects she chooses to paint are a reflection of her love of the natural landscape and her appreciation of man-made structures. During her youth she traveled with her family by car across the United States several times. As a result, she loves the variety of landscape scenery. Her attraction to architectural forms led her to study architectural drafting and rendering, which increased her understanding of structure and strengthened her work.

Darlene believes art should be an uplifting experience for the beholder as well as the artist. She strives to see grace, beauty, and soul expressed in each work to bring a sense of peace and harmony into each painting.

EDUCATION (Selected list)

Mesa College, San Diego, CA
Art history, life drawing, printmaking

Palomar College, San Marcos, CA
Color and design, acrylic, watercolor painting

Workshops (Selected List)

Roger Folk, Newport Beach
Watercolor

Gerald Brommer, SDWS & Sedona, AZ
Watercolor and collage

Marilyn Hughey Phyllis, SDWS
Watercolor

Katherine Chang Liu, SDWS
Watercolor and artist goals

Morten E. Solberg, SDWS
Watercolor animal painting

Louise Cadillac, SDWS
Acrylic and collage

Claire-Lise Matthey Anderegg, SDWS
Acrylic, mixed media

Pat Dews, SDWS
Acrylic, collage, mixed media

MEMBERSHIPS

Twentynine Palms Artists Association

Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, Inc.

San Diego Watercolor Society

Western Federation of Watercolor Societies

AWARDS (Selected list)

First Place Under Glass, On Upward Wing
Twentynine Palms Artists' Guild, Open Judged Southland Show, November 2009

Second Place Under Glass, Stonehenge Revisited
Twentynine Palms Artists' Guild, Annual Juried Members Show, December 2008

Best Landscape, Field Thistles I
Creative Catalyst Productions, Judged Spring Art Show, June 2006

Second Place Oil & Acrylic, Evening Aspens
Carlsbad-Oceanside Art League, January 2004

Honorable Mention Mixed Media, Children of the Light
San Diego County Fair, June/July 2003

Honorable Mention Mixed Media, Epi Impressions
Fallbrook Art Association Spring Membership Show, April 2003

Aquent Calendar 2003, Field Thistles I
Mixed media image featured for October

Honorable Mention, Torrey Pines Collage II
Digital collage, San Marcos Art Association & the City of San Marcos, June 2002

First Place Photography, Torrey Pines Collage II
Fallbrook Art Association Spring Membership Show, April 2002

EXHIBITIONS (Selected list)

April 2012  Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Exhibition, 37th Annual, Juried
    Cattle Pen - Pickle Meadow, acrylic

April 2011  Twentynine Palms Art Gallery Judged Member Show
    Hi-Desert Winter, watercolor; Mother Bobcat & Son, photography;    
    Gate at Pickle Meadow, photography

November 2010  Twentynine Palms Art Gallery, Open Judged Southland Show
    Joshua Tree National Park, Early Morning Pinnacle, oil
    Strata #1 - Moon Set, mixed media

November 2009  Twentynine Palms Art Gallery, Open Judged Southland Show
    On Upward Wing, acrylic with collage, First Place Under Glass
    Joshua Tree National Park–Early Morning Pinnacle, oil

June - August 2008  Twentynine Palms Art Gallery Summer Show
    Four paintings featured

November - December 2007  Twentynine Palms Artists' Guild, West Gallery, Invitational Exhibit
    23 paintings and original prints in various media

November - December 2005  Hi-Desert Water District, Invitational Exhibit
    Several paintings on exhibit, acrylic, mixed media, watercolor, and original prints

November 2005  Hi-Desert Playhouse, MBCAC Invitational Exhibit
    Five paintings on exhibit, mixed media and original prints

September - October 2005  Twentynine Palms Art Gallery
    California Hills, mixed media; Sedona Red Rocks, mixed media

May - June 2005  Allied Artists Association of San Diego at Wyndham Hotel in San Diego
    Evening Aspens, acrylic; Epi Impressions, mixed media; Sedona Red Rocks, mixed media

July/August 2004  Vista Art Association’s Vista Village Gallery, Featured Artist
    Seven original paintings and limited edition prints on exhibit

January 2004  Carlsbad-Oceanside Art League, Juried Membership Show
    Evening Aspens, acrylic

December 2003  La Jolla Art Association New Member Show
    Epi Impressions, mixed media; California Hills, mixed media

August 2003  Carlsbad-Oceanside Art League, 53rd Annual Open Juried Award Show
    Epi Impressions, mixed media

September 2002  The Fine Arts Institute of the San Bernardino County Museum
37th Annual Open Juried Exhibition
   Children of the Light, mixed media

June 2002  San Diego County Fair at Del Mar Juried Show
    Field Thistles I, mixed media

COLLECTIONS (Selected list)

Mrs. Sarepta Ann Krotzinger, Reston, Virginia
Oil, Spring Walk

Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Anderson, Portland, Oregon
Watercolor, Liz
Print, My Cats
Print, What's Up?

Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Lockhart, Hemet, California
Acrylic, Papa Pruett Fishing and watercolor, Rock Landscape I

Sunland Home Foundation
Giclee print, Sedona Red Rocks

Alan & Phyllis Galt
Watercolor, Leo Carillo Ranch II
Giclee print, Ghost Town I, Bodie, California

Mr. & Mrs. Chris Swift, Vista, California
Portfolio of multiple giclee prints

Ms. Patricia Ann Tisdale, La Jolla, California
Giclee print, Matilija Poppies

Ann Webber, San Marcos, California
Mixed media, Serene Seahorses
Mixed media, Epi Impressions

Elena Ann Webber, San Marcos, California
Mixed media, On Upward Wing

Dave & Dee Barret, Oceanside, California
Watercolor, Vermillion Farmstead, Pontiac MI

Anne Lear, Twentynine Palms, California
Acrylic and collage, The Smile of the Great Spirit

Mike Giblin, Corona, California
Acrylic, El Bosque Morado