Category: News

Sellwood-Moreland in Portland has an array of architectural styles, including Colonials, Craftsman, Bungalows, Tudors, Cape Cod, Victorians and more, all of which are part of my Portland House Portrait Series. I have always enjoyed spending time in Portland.  It's reputation of being quirky, cool, weird and green all at the same time, makes life very interesting. Its architecture follows the same mold.  In turn, the neighborhood of Sellwood-Moreland represents these same unique qualities. I discovered a feast of architectural styles in Sellwood-Moreland and well preserved and maintained homes. Beautiful tree-lined streets and colorful gardens added to the vibrance of Sellwood-Moreland, a quintessential family neighborhood, with an amusement park, plenty of parks and hiking trails, and locally owned cafes. This neighborhood is technically a combination of two neighborhoods, Sellwood and Moreland,…

Laurelhurst neighborhood homes include Craftsman, Tudors, Bungalows, Colonials, Cape Cod, Victorians are part of my Portland House Portrait Series I have always enjoyed spending time in Portland and one of my favorite neighborhoods is Laurelhurst. My series includes paintings of homes in a total of 17 favorite neighborhoods and in 15 architectural styles that I feel depict Portland. I concentrated on 10 historic neighborhoods for my Portland series. These include Alameda, Beaumont-Wilshire, Concordia, Grant Park, Irvington, Laurelhurst, Sabin, Sellwood-Mooreland and Eastmoreland. Like many of the surrounding neighborhoods, Laurelhurst is filled with history.  Stone markers flank the entrances to the area. The center of the neighborhood, Coe Circle, contains a gilded equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, which is a World War I war memorial. This neighborhood is located close to Downtown Portland, which gave…

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…

One of my favorite Portland Neighborhoods, Alameda has it all! I have always enjoyed spending time in Portland.  Its reputation of being quirky, cool, weird and green all at the same time, makes life very interesting. Its architecture follows the same model.  And while there is a myriad of unique neighborhoods in Portland, I isolated around a dozen favorites and focused on those for my series of historic Portland house portraits. I am proud to include homes in the Alameda neighborhood as part of my 100 Historic Homes of Portland Collection. Alameda has a feast of architectural styles and well preserved and maintained historic homes and like many of my best-loved areas, it has beautiful tree-lined streets and colorful gardens. Alameda sits right next to the stunning Wilshire Park and…

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…

Happy Valentine's Day! This moment was captured on a gorgeous spring day in the Capitol Hill historic district in Washington DC. Here's to a happy Valentine's Day, filled love and laughter! Leisa

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…