Phil was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is presently living in the west central Illinois town of Hamilton. It's a small town next to the Mississippi River. Hamilton is a major migration flyway route and the winter roosting ground for the American Bald Eagle.

Phil graduated from the Columbus College of Art & Design with a major in Illustration and a minor in Advertising. Staying in Columbus, Ohio he worked for 21 years as an art director in advertising. At the same time he worked on his paintings evenings and weekends. He came to realize that in order to create the art he desired that his time could not be divided. "I finally came to the decision that in order to make it as an "artist" I would have to go full time".

"I am inspired to push my art to another level. My desire is to create powerful images that will be more than just nice paintings".

Phil works mostly in oil, acrylic and watercolor with his main subject being wildlife. His goal is to capture the "essence" or "spirit" of the subject that he is painting. "I want to go beyond portraits of animals. I hope to capture the experience of being in the presence of the subject while also conveying it's personality. It's important to me to capture the subjects natural habitat while at the same time creating an interesting composition and "mood" or "story" for the viewer to experience".

Phil was recently honored to have been selected by John Seerey-Lester to receive the "Roger Tory Peterson Award of Excellence in Art". Along with this great honor he has been asked to create 5 paintings for a 2018 show at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute.

Phil had a solo show at the WCI Arts Gallery. The title of the show "Birds of Hancock County, Illinois" encompassed birds from around his land, the Mississippi River and the local community. You can see photos from the show by going to the link "Solo Show Photos".

Phil Brevick at Gray's Bay