Leana de Villiers was born in 1969 and grew up in the Little Karoo, Western Cape and currently lives in Somerset West, South Africa, which is surrounded by beautiful mountains, oceans and wildlife, thus it is well suited to her love of nature.
Since childhood de Villiers has always been a naturally creative person. As an adult she ventured into making gift cards and made a lot of beadwork items which she also sold.
The hunger to find that special something which made her 'tick' and complete just became stronger until she discovered the wonderful world of painting. With no formal art education she started her painting adventure in 2000 with an insatiable hunger to learn more and nothing could hold de Villiers back once she discovered her love for art and painting.
She believes in the power of dedication, hard work, perseverance and persistence. She is a very keen learner and what she absolutely enjoys about art and painting is that the learning process will never cease, thus it never gets boring. Her knowledge has been built up since 2000 and was gained from reading many art books, doing research online, learning by watching videos, taking the odd online painting class and then putting all of this into practice.
"Painting is what I do; it forms an integral part of my being, my existence, it's my meditation. The Artists Curse is part of the daily struggle, however at the same time the driving force that pushes oneself and ones abilities further and further, striving to satisfy the Artist's soul." - Leana de Villiers
De Villiers has a fascination with how light affects her subject matter and likes to push the contrasts between lights and darks in her paintings, yet keeping it subtle and realistic at the same time. She mainly works in oils, her first love and acrylics/mixed media on occasion. Her inspiration mostly comes from nature and the world around her. Painting and drawing forms part of her daily existence and it takes her busy mind to a calm and relaxing place where she, the brush, paint and canvas becomes one.
Besides painting, de Villiers is an avid hobby photographer, with a desire to capture the beauty of nature, interesting subject matter around her and how the light affects the subject matter as a whole.
Since childhood de Villiers has always been a naturally creative person. As an adult she ventured into making gift cards and made a lot of beadwork items which she also sold.
The hunger to find that special something which made her 'tick' and complete just became stronger until she discovered the wonderful world of painting. With no formal art education she started her painting adventure in 2000 with an insatiable hunger to learn more and nothing could hold de Villiers back once she discovered her love for art and painting.
She believes in the power of dedication, hard work, perseverance and persistence. She is a very keen learner and what she absolutely enjoys about art and painting is that the learning process will never cease, thus it never gets boring. Her knowledge has been built up since 2000 and was gained from reading many art books, doing research online, learning by watching videos, taking the odd online painting class and then putting all of this into practice.
"Painting is what I do; it forms an integral part of my being, my existence, it's my meditation. The Artists Curse is part of the daily struggle, however at the same time the driving force that pushes oneself and ones abilities further and further, striving to satisfy the Artist's soul." - Leana de Villiers
De Villiers has a fascination with how light affects her subject matter and likes to push the contrasts between lights and darks in her paintings, yet keeping it subtle and realistic at the same time. She mainly works in oils, her first love and acrylics/mixed media on occasion. Her inspiration mostly comes from nature and the world around her. Painting and drawing forms part of her daily existence and it takes her busy mind to a calm and relaxing place where she, the brush, paint and canvas becomes one.
Besides painting, de Villiers is an avid hobby photographer, with a desire to capture the beauty of nature, interesting subject matter around her and how the light affects the subject matter as a whole.
Member of the Western Cape Art Society
Artist Statement
I paint my
past, my present and my future; my
reality, my dreams, needs and desires, which all fills my subconscious mind and
spills over onto the canvas.
In my paintings my main aim is to capture
emotion, harmony and balance while at the same time I respond to the effects of
colour, light, atmosphere and the feelings stirred up within my being when
painting and viewing the subject matter.
I enjoy utilizing the characteristics that the paint offers in terms of
tonal values, transparency, opaqueness, warm and cool colours to create depth
in my paintings. I have a complete
fascination with how light affects my subject matter and I like to push the
contrasts between lights and darks in my paintings, yet keeping it subtle and
realistic at the same time.
I use Professional Artists quality products and a variety of mediums
ranging from oils, acrylics and mixed media , as I enjoy the unique quality
that each medium has to offer.
On the back of each painting you will find
the following information: Reference
Number, Title of painting, size and substrate information, medium the work was
painted in, my name and full signature as proof of authenticity.
I take pride in my work and believe in
delivering high quality art work.
