About
 Leanne drawing as a child Lucy painting with her feet Ben’s painting at age 4 |
I’m an artist who has loved and lived; this is portrayed in my own paintings, in the happy and sad times.
Art has been my passion since I was two, when I discovered crayons looked good on walls. Daydreaming and drawing as a child, an artist was ultimately what I was going to be.
When I left school, I entered the world of Advertising agencies and Newspapers. There I learned graphics and illustrations, which, to this day still forms the backbone of my art.
Itchy feet got a hold of me, and I headed off to Aussie, where I dabbled in screenprinting, graphics and signwriting. After 5 years of being a ‘gypsy’ home beckoned, and I returned to New Zealand.
Portraits became my new hobby in the following years, while raising my two gorgeous children – Lucy and Ben.
We spent a lot of the time in the kitchen; but it wasn’t for baking, like most other mothers did. We spent hours on the kitchen floor, painting, doing paper maché, and generally getting messy! That was our recipe for good times.
Now that they are hitting their teenage years, they are developing their own artistic skills, which leaves me free to focus on my lifetime dream of being a full-time artist.
Leanne
Up the Garden Path Gallery & Café
I had always wanted to have my own gallery and café. I had the pleasure of creating ‘Up the Garden Path’ in Motueka in 2002.
There I began to paint from the soul – in between doing the dishes – which never seemed to end!
Up The Garden Path Gallery was sold to new owners in 2008.