About Leanne Hanson
My oil paintings explore how the sun’s light illuminates vibrant colors in the landscape. Always calling us forward and uplifting us. My inspiration comes from the way sunlight shifts throughout the day and interacts with the landscape creating array of joyful moods from happy afternoons, exciting sunsets to calming mornings.
All my paintings start with my reference videos and photos I have collected from my explorations and moments in nature. Then I create my compositions using vibrant colors and light of Impressionism and technical influence of realism. I layer my oils with glazes and brush strokes on canvas to create depth and richness. Through my art, I invite viewers to be uplifted and connect with nature’s beauty and the sun’s energy.
Leanne Hanson’s radiant paintings seize the very heart of nature’s joy, transforming sun-dappled forests and luminous meadows into vibrant works of art that beckon viewers to pause, breathe, and rediscover happiness. Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, Leanne’s childhood unfolded in a landscape of verdant woods and babbling streams. Her mother tended her flower gardens bursting with color, while her father—a watercolorist and head of the art department at the University of Minnesota—filled the family home with the spirit of creative inquiry and artistic tradition.
From her earliest memories, art was never a question, but an identity. “I have always thought of myself as an artist,” Leanne recalls. That conviction was affirmed in high school, when she sold her first painting at an art auction, an early milestone that hinted at the meaningful career to come. Formal education followed, blending intensive art classes with a degree in landscape design, while mentorship under her father deepened her artistic voice and technical skill. “He taught me patience,” she says, “and the ability to see the world not just for what it is, but for the energy and emotion it holds.”
After college, Leanne balanced art with family and the demands of business, continuing to create watercolors part-time for three decades. With her children grown, Hanson took a decisive leap: oil painting became her new language, and she embraced art as her full-time pursuit. Her creative process is rooted in the natural world. Every painting begins on her walks, with reference photos and videos capturing those “wow moments” of sunlight, vibrancy, and the unexpected magic of the wild. Back in her studio, she sketches lightly, lays an underpainting, and then builds each composition in jewel-like layers and glazes, investing her images with energy, depth, and tactile richness.
Leanne describes herself as a “realistic impressionist,” combining impressionism’s color, light, and texture with the discipline of realism learned through years of hand-drawn design. Her hallmark is the use of bold, high-contrast color, radiant highlights, and intricate brushwork, all aimed at creating paintings that feel joyful, uplifting, and somehow “lighter” than reality itself.
More than technique, though, it is Hanson’s intention that makes her work singular. “I want to translate the joy and happiness I find in nature,” she says, “to inspire happy feelings away from the chaotic life.” For Leanne, painting is a way to offer solace and hope, reflecting a deep belief in the restorative power of beauty and a longing for society’s reconnection with nature and calm. Viewers have described her art as “touching souls” and “making a tremendous difference in people’s lives,” recognition that affirms her mission to spread happiness in an often-stressful world.
An active member of the North East Minneapolis Art Association and the Minnesota Artist Guild, Leanne continues to exhibit her evolving work in local galleries and Art Fairs, Leanne Hanson’s art has garnered recognition and numerous awards, along with acceptance in over 30 juried art fairs where her luminous scenes find delighted collectors and admirers. Her art is both a personal journey and a community gift—a sunlit path guiding others, through color and light, back to the joy that is always waiting in the natural world.