House Portraits in Vibrant Tampa FL neighborhoods

House Portraits in Vibrant Tampa FL neighborhoods

House Portraits, News
Updating my Tampa House Portrait Series Craftsman, Bungalow, Tudors, Ranches and tasteful new builds... Tampa has it all! What a diverse architectural experience Tampa has proven to be! I had no idea of the number of interesting architectural gems that were hidden in the city;s leafy tree-lined streets and historic urban avenues. I started my Tampa house portrait series two years ago and feel I now have a eclectic and interesting mix of architectural styles in my collection. I will be including my favorites in the Tampa section of my coffee table book that will be released later this year.  In the meantime I wanted to show off this lovely array of homes that depict the best of Tampa and show the pride and care that Tampa residents, and now…
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New Project to Help Artists Flourish

New Project to Help Artists Flourish

News, The Flourishing Artist
Why not make your living from your art?   While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world in unprecedented ways, one of the hardest hit sectors is the global arts community.  Museums had to close their doors. Concerts, art festivals and individual shows which so many artists rely on, were suddenly cancelled. Regrettably the end is not in sight. Not only am I fortunate to work mainly from home, but by increasing my marketing efforts I continued to receive commission requests for my architectural art from around the country. After achieved my goal of creating paintings of homes and historic buildings in all 50 states, I used the lockdown period to compile a coffee table book which documents that journey. However, my heart aches for fellow artists who have not fared…
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East Grand Rapids House Portrait Collection now Grown to Forty Original Paintings!

East Grand Rapids House Portrait Collection now Grown to Forty Original Paintings!

House Portraits, News
Craftsmen, Tudors, Colonials, Cape Cods and more architectural styles captured in East Grand Rapids Collection. Grand Rapids,  known as the City of Churches,  has always had a soft spot for eye-catching architecture. Nestled just 20 miles east of Lake Michigan, the second largest city in Michigan is home to a diverse selection of beautiful neighborhoods and suburbs, both historic and eclectic but still growing with modern styles; seemingly paying homage to the designers who paved the way. One of these communities is East Grand Rapids. one of the oldest suburbs in Kent County. It sits on Reeds Lake, named after the Reed family who founded the city back in the 1830’s. It boasts a variety of home styles and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed creating each of the forty original house portrait…
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Bringing Spring into Your Home

Bringing Spring into Your Home

House Portraits, News
While turmoil rages in the world . . .  spring is here and knocking at your door  In the words of William Shakespeare....   “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." Being that I love to travel, my first response to being stuck at home was outrage. When I got over that and faced the fact that this is a necessity right now, my usual optimism set in and I decided to find a silver lining in this situation.  Besides doing my usual house portrait work, I realized this is the perfect opportunity to make great strides in compiling my coffee table book so it can be published and released later this year.  I confess that I have made more progress on this project in the last two weeks…
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Nashville Homes Series!

Nashville Homes Series!

House Portraits, News
Georgian, Craftsman Homes, Bungalows, Tudors, Colonials, Cape Cods, Ranch style, and more in my Nashville House Portrait collection. Nashville is such a fun and vibrant city and its architecture is just as interesting.  Commonly known as "the Music City",  Nashville is an icon in American culture. Its where talented artists migrate for a chance to break into the industry and achieve their dreams.  With architectural gems like the Ryman Auditorium and Belmont Mansion , Nashville also has a rich history and over the decades it has attracted artists of all genres.  Though I did bring my guitar, my aspiration was to find some architectural stars for my Nashville home portrait series. One of the first architectural icons I visited in Nashville was the Replica of the Parthenon in Greece. The…
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Returning to my Auckland NZ roots. . .

Returning to my Auckland NZ roots. . .

News
Retracing my artistic journey and being shocked at what was no longer there Going home to New Zealand is always a sentimental journey for me. While I have returned to my Auckland hometown many times since marrying an American and living in the USA for the last three decades, this time was different.  I decided I would retrace my footsteps of those early days when I abandoned a formal art education and opted for the adventure of going it alone and making my living from my art. It was Auckland's inner-city historic homes and architecture that sparked my passion for architectural art.  Images of my paintings and photos from this time are sparse, but I dug around and collected up every remnant I could find.  I was determined to go…
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San Antonio House Portrait Collection

San Antonio House Portrait Collection

House Portraits, News
Watercolor Paintings in San Antonio When I ventured into San Antonio for the first time while touring Texas I was pleasantly surprised at the sheer diversity and impressive array of house portrait styles. I guess I was expecting to see many more Spanish style homes but I found that the Greater San Antonio area has it all! In studying up more, I learned that architecture in San Antonio comes from a wide variety of sources. While it is true that many of the city's homes reflect Texas' Spanish and Mexican roots; with some influence from French builders, rapid growth in the city since the mid twentieth century has led to a fairly wide variety of interesting contemporary architectural buildings as well.  San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the U.S. and the 2nd largest…
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Columbus Ohio House Portrait – a lovingly maintained historic home

Columbus Ohio House Portrait – a lovingly maintained historic home

House Portraits, News
Columbus, a preservation conscious city Over the last 10 years, I have travelled to every state in the USA and as I now embark on my new series of paintings of Columbus homes, I am finding a wonderful mix of architectural styles. From welcoming Craftsmen homes, to Victorians and Queen Anns, to elegant Tudors, Colonial Revivals, Italianate styles, Ranch homes and more, Columbus has it all!  I am also seeing a general trend in the city where there is an increased awareness regards the need to preserve and protect older homes and buildings. My own experience regarding historic preservation, after traveling 50,000 miles across the USA,  is that it is the homeowner who is the unsung hero in terms of investing their time, efforts and finance into lovingly restoring and…
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Announcing the 10th Anniversary of Leisa Collins Art!

Announcing the 10th Anniversary of Leisa Collins Art!

News
Highlights of the Past Decade. . . I don't spend a lot of time looking back as I'm usually too busy moving forward. However, surviving a decade as a small business while doing what I love is something worth celebrating! So before diving into the next decade, I decided to take a moment to reflect on the last 10 years, where I've come from, what I've achieved and the things I can truly be grateful for. So many of you have contributed to my success and I would like to sincerely thank you for that and share with you here some highlights of the last decade. The travel bug...  30,000 miles across the USA At the end of 2018 I achieved my dream of creating portraits of homes and historic buildings…
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