About Leah

I am a Sydney-based artist creating modern impressionist abstract artworks for homes, corporate spaces and boutique businesses. Although I pursued a career in Teaching for most of my adult life, my innate yearning and wonder from a very early age, always guided me towards fostering my first love – my heart calling to creativity! In 2021, I took a leap of faith, let go of the security and predictability of a 9 to 5 job and directed my time, attention and energy into fully embracing and becoming a ‘professional abstract artist’.

I consider myself an intuitive painter. Intuitive painting is the process of allowing, surrendering and letting go while exercising the concept of non-attachment and self-guided exploration. Each layer of paint reveals what comes after it as you embrace the mystery of the unknown, the journey of self-expression and the letting go of expectations. Each artwork transforms layer by layer, as you encompass the space between your heart and the soul – a disconnection from the mind and a presence in the ‘now’, where the artwork takes on a life force of its own. Intuitive painting has been a process of finding out who I am as an artist, finding my own unique voice and uncovering my style and signature over 40 years of play, experimentation, imagination and refinement.  

I work primarily with acrylic paints on canvas while experimenting with pigmented inks, alcohol inks and mixed media to create a body of works consisting of gestural brushstrokes and active mark-making coupled with an emphasis on space, colour, texture and composition. My art collection is a reflection of my personal ideas, thoughts and emotions, my innate knowingness, my struggles and triumphs as well as my awe of nature and connection to Spirit.

 

“Despite the struggles I have endured in this life, Art has been my one constant. It has been my ‘happy place’, my comfort and security blanket. Art defies logic. Art has no judgments and makes no demands. It is the gateway between the outside world – what we project and the inner world – who we really are. Just like my artworks, I find myself beginning in one place and evolving into something else. With every brush stroke, I continue to push the boundaries of paint and mark-making – a metaphor for my entire state of being, knowing that each artwork is perfect in its imperfections.”

- Leah Ryan