Landscapes From The Heart

Always inspired by the natural world but through a surrealist’s eyes, this artist believes you should always follow your own instincts and paint from your heart.

- Leesa Padget

As a child, I was always drawing, colouring, knitting, sculpting with clay, basically anything arty and creative that I could find would keep me quietly amused for hours. This passion followed me into high school where I took every art subject available at the time. Unfortunately not many realistic opportunities existed for artists to earn a practical living and so my creative side was put on the back-burner for some time once I left school and entered the ‘real world’. After meeting my husband our lives were filled by work, running a small business, building three homes, raising two kids, etc,etc, you know, that old chestnut!

I have been fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mum and when my kids were small I always encouraged their creative sides with countless craft kits and activities, however this usually meant that any painting and drawing materials that I had optimistically cobbled together normally disappeared during the school holidays. My daughter has since grown into an accomplished artist in her own right with sales and awards to her name already, however my son thinks it’s all a bit silly, but he can always be relied on for brutally honest opinions!

As my family got older, I found myself inspired by amateur art shows and once again began to create. At first I was just trying to fill up some blank walls in our house and it took me quite a while before I had the courage to enter an exhibition. My first public exhibition was a nervewracking experience for me as I had no idea what to expect, but as it turned out it was also a success as it resulted in my first sale.