Carol M. Leif - Artist
Carol's Professional Affiliations
Oil Painters of America
California Art Club
American Impressionist Society
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Salon International hosted by Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio Texas, 2010
received one of the juries "Top 60" awards
Artist's Statement
Beauty intrigues me in all of its forms and nuances as it has for people over the centuries. Through all its irregularities and permutations, it remains a stable factor in our lives - magnificent, engrossing and challenging to capture.
The play of light and contrasts in texture are sources of inspiration for me.
I consider myself lucky to be able to paint...the more I see the more I know and the more I know the more I see; an endless cycle of refinement and fascination.
I would characterize my work as tending towards the "up close and personal" and some would say that description also characterizes my personality. I see beauty in the details so I often focus on the specifics. A cow is not just any cow but ‘Gertie on Bloomfield Road’ and so, is categorized here as a portrait. Similarly, a small piece of a landscape can intrigue me and so, take on the feel of a still life.
OPA Salon Show - Oct 2015
Birmingham Alabama
Exhibitions
Carol is a native San Franciscan, then a long time resident of Marin County, and currently lives in rural Sonoma County.
She paints in oils, watercolors, and pastels. Her wide range of interests lead her through the subject areas of landscapes, seascapes, still lifes, figurative, and portraiture.
Her landscapes reflect her love of the Sierra Nevada and the Northern California coast. The animals are figuratively in her back yard, as are the roses in her still lifes.
Carol loves the broad scope of Nature's gifts, from rugged rock to the lacy skeletons of decomposing leaves, from the rough- hewn to the elegant, from Mountain ranges to birds' nests. Perhaps what moves her most is the tenderness of things which she tries to capture in her work.
