ENCINITAS — Local artist Geoffrey Allen recently took third place at the San Diego Watercolor Society’s “Where the Fun Is” members exhibition.
Allen, of Encinitas, won the honor at the water-based media event, juried by award-winning artist Roberta Dyer, for his watercolor painting entitled “Far and Away,” depicting a scene at Oceanside Harbor.
“What used to be the Jolly Rogers, there’s a nice building on the harbor’s north side,” Allen said. “There’s an open space, and that’s what I was looking at and creating some atmosphere. I loved painting the water portion, especially in watercolor, because it is such a cool medium to do it in.”
Allen began his college career studying economics at UC Santa Barbara. But after taking a singular photography class while completing his bachelor’s degree, he discovered a new life through a lens.
“I would just go into town and walk around all day,” Allen said. “I’d end up taking several full rolls of black and white film and go back and develop it spending nights in the dark room. It was all about walking around and looking for a moment.”
After graduation, Allen’s street photography culminated in a solo exhibition, “Suburban Views,” at the Reno Art Museum.
But as time continued, Allen realized he wanted to explore more as an artist. In his postgraduate summer, he took a plein air watercolor painting class, and that is when he got hooked.
Allen returned to Claremont Graduate University in 1990, graduating with a master’s in fine arts. He went to Hollywood, teaching drawing and running several college galleries before moving to Encinitas.
“I left the complexity of Los Angeles and began an illustration business in Encinitas with my wife, Jennifer Brinley, who was my girlfriend in high school after we met in art class,” Allen said.
Through a more calming environment, Allen began to practice more plein air painting again with the plentiful coastal views he was offered.
“Plein air is a traveler’s state of mind,” Allen said. “You show up somewhere new, and you see things differently.”
When COVID-19 hit, Allen started going outside to paint local landscapes in Encinitas for his “Coastal to Local” collection at Encinitas City Hall last September.
“I doubled down more on plein air painting because I wanted to get out, and being outside was safe,” Allen said. “‘Coastal to Local’ was a show of paintings I had done here in town after Covid hit, mostly plein air style, representing my efforts to capture the sense of places before they changed. Covid made it impractical to travel, but I discovered so much here where I live.”
Besides the multiple exhibitions he has held, he was recently awarded, on top of his third place, Best of Show at the 2023 7th Annual Waterworks Exhibition of the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, First Place at the 2023 Huntington Harbour Art Association Plein Air Competition, and First Place at the Oceanside Museum of Art Plein Air Festival.
Allen’s work can be found on his website and Instagram, along with upcoming events he will participate in.
