STELLA CANFIELD was born in Varna, Bulgaria. She graduated from the Academy of Sports in Sofia, profile Pedagogy (the science of teaching). In 1980 she left illegally her native country to escape the oppressive regime of communism. After living and working for five years in Germany she moved to the USA in the 1985.
Stella dedicated the first thirty years of her life to sports and achieved considerable success as a national competitor in rowing. In Germany she worked with ceramics which marked the beginning of her artistic career. Being an admirer of watercolor since her childhood, she became an avid follower of this exciting medium. She was fortunate to study with some of the best American master watercolorists such as Milford Zornes, Serge Hollerbach, Carla O’Connor, Frank Webb, Robert Wade (Australia) and many others. Today she teaches watercolor, demonstrates, participates and juries exhibits, initiated by art organizations in the USA, Europe and Asia.
Since 2001 Stella was invited annually to teach at Daniel Smith Inc., the leading global manufacturer of  artist-quality watercolor paints, oil paints and mediumst. The company purchased one of her paintings for its permanent collection and included her DVD Debunking the Myth of Talent in their distribution network. She was recently honored by Daniel Smith with two Stella Canfield’s Artist Master Sets of her favorite colors and included in Daniel Smith CEO John Cogley’s one to one video interviews titled In the Artists' Studio. Stella is official brand ambassador of DANIEL SMITH. She is the USA representative for UrbinoInAcquerello.

Stella’s work and contribution to American art are published in the book by Karlyn Holman Watercolor - The Spirit of Spontaneity. Her biography is included in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Women.&