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nancy@nancyisbellarts.com.
Artist Bio: Nancy Isbell
Nancy Isbell is a San Diego-based painter and muralist with decades of professional experience. A cum laude art graduate of Humboldt State University, Nancy balances a diverse fine art practice that spans vibrant acrylics, luminous oil paintings, and large-scale public and private murals. Heavily influenced by her time living in San Diego and the Virgin Islands, her personal work blends real-world coastal observations with memory and imagination to translate the emotional resonance of a horizon line. Since founding Isbell Arts in 1980, she has created custom murals and fine art for businesses, hospitals, and private residences nationwide, bringing a sense of idyllic serenity and quiet wonder to both canvases and public walls.
Artist Statement: Nancy Isbell
My work is a celebration of the natural world, specifically focusing on the expansive beauty of oceans, skies, and transient sunsets. Having been born and raised near the beach in San Diego, and having spent time living in the Virgin Islands, I am deeply moved by the constantly changing colors and reflections of tropical and coastal waters. While some of my pieces are rooted in real coastal locations, others emerge entirely from memory and imagination. Rather than replicating a photograph, my goal is to translate the emotional resonance of a place—blending the physical truth of a horizon line with the subjective feeling of having stood there.
This exploration takes form across distinct mediums, from studio canvases to large-scale public walls. In the studio, I create dedicated acrylic paintings to capture fast-changing light with immediate energy, as well as separate oil paintings to leverage the slow-drying, luminous quality of the paint for rich textures and soft gradients. When transitioning to murals, I adapt these concepts into the public sphere. Painting murals allows me to scale up the vastness of the sea and sky, transforming commercial, medical, and residential walls into immersive natural vistas. Ultimately, whether working on a portable canvas or a permanent wall, my goal remains the same: to create an idyllic setting and a visual pause that invites viewers to connect with a sense of quiet wonder.
More About Nancy Isbell
News story: Meet the Muralist Behind the Scenes San Diego Evening Tribune
After graduating with honors and a bachelor's degree in art, Nancy Isbell began her career at Sea World of San Diego as the sole artist designing gifts and souvenirs. She later moved to the U.S.Virgin Islands where she worked at an advertising agency as a graphic artist and illustrator. Upon returning to San Diego, after completing a teacher credential for teaching art, instead of teaching art she began working for a restaurant chain based in San Diego, painting large works on restaurant walls, traveling all over the United States.
Her favorite challenge is to create a mood through the use of her own imagined idyllic settings. Some of the tangible results are in the form of murals, found in private residences, schools, hospitals and businesses. There may be an open window painted on a wall, sometimes just a faux finish and a few well chosen areas of detail are all a space needs. If you would like information about having your own custom artwork created, send an email to nancy@nancyisbellarts.com, visit the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100036759757812, or fill out the contact form.
Isbell Arts has been creating and providing commissioned Custom Art in a variety of forms since 1980.. On this website is a sampling of a few; paintings and murals featuring animals, large format paintings or portable murals, acrylic, oil and watercolor paintings, carousel restoration, trompe l' oeil and faux finishes, decorative wall art, murals for restaurants, hospitals, homes, children's rooms, businesses, hand drawn and painted illustrations.
In addition to producing artwork, she has been teaching seminars and classes in art techniques to adults and children in private lessons, painting parties, summer camps, and in the public schools.
Visit these pages and look at the sampling of the various projects completed over the years. The work ranges from canvas paintings, to large murals. Nancy has traveled extensively to restaurants and homes around the country, decorating walls with her own style of scenery and trompe l' oeil.
Partial Client list.
Newest Fine Art