Darlene Campbell earned her B.A. in Art from the University of Redlands (1979) and her M.F.A. in Painting from The Claremont Graduate University (1986). Her work has been featured at the Nevada Museum of Art, San Jose Museum of Art, Loyola Marymount University, University of Redlands, the Laguna Art Museum, the Riverside Art Museum, Barnsdall Art Park, and the Frye Art Museum (Seattle). Darlene Campbell has also illustrated two published books. In 2004, one of her paintings was used as the cover artwork for D.J. Waldie’s book, "Where We Are Now: Notes From Los Angeles". Darlene currently teaches painting and drawing at the Laguna College of Art and Design. She has also taught on the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea program. Darlene Campbell lives in Laguna Beach, California.

In what has become a hallmark of her work, Campbell employs beauty to disarm the viewer. To suggest history and age, she paints on either wood blocks or wood panels. Making use of golden-hued light and dramatic clouds, Campbell coaxes beauty out of the banal and, in so doing, mimics romantic 17th century landscape paintings.