Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Leonhard.
Susan, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
As far back as I can trace the Leonhard Family tree, there were artists in each generation. My father painted when I was a child and I would sit and watch him with admiration. When I was ten years of age, my parents enrolled me in private lessons with an art teacher who lived in our neighborhood. She later opened a studio/gallery and at that time I joined her group lessons every Saturday morning. Unfortunately, my parents encouraged painting to be a hobby and not a career, even though it has always been my passion. My father worked hard as a dentist and felt that art was not a career choice. I continued to paint throughout my teenage years, college years and throughout my many career choices. I went to dental hygiene school to please my father but soon found it was not for me. I spent ten years working for Columbia Pictures, starting in the mail room and finishing off working in the office of the President of Television at that time, Barbara Corday. I was a very quick typist and spent a few years working on the show “Hart To Hart” as a script typist, which I loved. After leaving the studio, after the company was taken over yet for the third time, I enrolled in court reporting school. I was a quick typist but learning the stenograph machine was another story. I spent six long years in school and supported myself by doing medical transcription and waitressing at night. During these years, I always sought refuge in painting. Many weekends, I would stay in my apartment painting rather than dating and going out with friends. My husband and I laugh about it today after I confessed to him that I even canceled dates with him so I could paint!
Shortly after we got married, we planned for the arrival of our first child. I painted during my pregnancy and continued to work as a court reporter. Life throws us curves for sure and at 28 weeks, I went into labor. After a hospital stay of three weeks, our daughter was born at 31 weeks, healthy but very premature. It was then, that I quit my court reporting career and stayed home with my daughter. I began painting every chance I could. Our friends, most of which didn’t know that I painted, started noticing my paintings in our home and wanted to buy them! My husband encouraged me to keep painting and to start doing small shows. Then, as life does, tragedy struck, and my father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. We spent as many moments with him as we could in the short three months he had left. As we began to heal from our loss, then my worst nightmare, my father was diagnosed with cancer. I went through the next year spending as much time as I could with him and bracing myself for the inevitable. I had dealt with grief as a child when I lost my grandmother, but nothing prepared me for the grief I experienced after losing my father. I was in a numbing fog for the first three years and was unable to do much but cry and try and process the grief. I painted some pretty dark paintings during this period and threw myself into learning as much as I could about art, grief and myself. My professional art career began then, in 2003. It was a decision that changed my life! I started doing as many art shows as I could, studying and painting everyday. I found that I could connect with peoples’ emotions through my paintings and that is so important to me. My success has been earned, but I think that my Dad had and still does have a hand in it.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I’m a creature of habit. I began in oils, and that is the medium I love. I have experimented with acrylics but I always return back to oils. I began my career, solely painting landscapes and, like so many artists, am inspired by and love nature. After probably about 30 years of painting landscapes, I experimented with portraits, pet portraits, botanicals, abstracts, etc. but always returned to landscapes. On my website, I have four series of paintings: Landscapes, Laguna Beach/Beaches, Kauai and now Underwater. My Underwater series is my newest series of paintings which I began in 2014. Kauai has always been my favorite destination and a big inspiration for my work. I have been going there since the early 80’s and it is just as beautiful now as it was then. In 2014, I was snorkeling with my daughter and just enjoying the beauty of the underwater as I had for many years. She had an underwater camera that day and we took several photo. To my surprise, the photographs came out great! I thought to myself, how can I capture this to the canvas?The challenge was to capture the reflection of the light on the sand, the transparency of the water, and convey the quiet and peace I feel when in that underwater world. Well, I worked on small canvases, trying different techniques and color palettes and experimented with various perspectives. I practiced and learned a lot, slowly working on larger canvases. These days, I work on very large canvases… the larger, the better. I experiment with different perspectives, colors, moods, and depths. My focus is solely on the water and reflections of light; I don’t paint marine life. I want to keep the simplicity there, so the viewer’s mind floats and explores. The response has been great! It blew me away how many people can relate to how soothing and serene being under the water can be.
Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
Find your own style! It may take years but be you! You are unique! It has to come from your soul. Paint what you want to paint and try to paint every day. Cherish your masterpieces and forgive and learn from your practice pieces. Toss out disaster pieces. It feels good to get rid of those and not keep the clutter. Do commissioned pieces, you learn a lot, and I think the pressure to work with someone else’s vision is great practice. It makes us better communicators and better artists.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My current galleries are Artist Eye Gallery in Laguna Beach and The Artisan Gallery in the Mission Viejo Country Club. Each year, I do the Balboa Artwalk, Art-A-Fair in the summer months located in Laguna Canyon, Art In The Park in Newport Beach and Affair In The Gardens in Beverly Hills. I will be doing an upcoming exhibit at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach on June 25.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SusanLeonhardFineArt.com
- Phone: (949)929-5126
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Susan Leonhard
- Facebook: Susan Leonhard and Susan Leonhard Fine Art
- Twitter: Susan Leonhard
Image Credit:
Susan Leonhard
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