About Leanne Hanson
My art is to show how nature's uplifting happy energy can be an oasis from our hectic draining society. My passion is connecting to nature and spreading its radiance and joyfulness through my paintings. I feel a sense of rejuvenation and happiness when I am witnessing the sparkle of sunshine and flowers in bloom and hiking through forests, along streams, and lakes and gardens. I paint these joyful experiences as a visual story by using bold, vibrant colors and strong contrast with light to uplift and spark joyful feelings and be an oasis for my viewer. Hiking through nature continues to be my inspiration to create radiant paintings to share with others and provide moments of relief and happiness from our hectic lives.
Leanne's love of the outdoors began early. She grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, surrounded by the beautiful nature of the north shore of Lake Superior. She spent hours exploring and playing in the woods, streams, and the shoreline right out her back door. In addition to time spent outdoors, art was a significant part of Hanson’s childhood. Her father was the head of the art department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She spent a lot of time in the art department studios and the university’s art museum. Her home was filled with art collected by her parents from students, other artists and her fathers own paintings. Leanne gained a sense of adventure as her family traveled the country in the family motor home, often visiting artists. She developed a love for flowers and gardening with her mother. Honed by these experiences, It was almost inevitable that Hanson would begin creating art herself as she has been drawing and painting from the earliest time she can remember.
While her love of art began early, various life experiences impelled Leanne to grow more serious about art. She made her first sale as a student, selling watercolor paintings at a high school fundraiser. After graduating high school, Hanson attended the University of Minnesota for landscape design. The program provided her with a sense of how to view the relationship between man and landscape and how to share her vision of the world realistically in illustration. Though she wasn’t majoring in art, she took extensive art classes in studio arts along with her father, an art professor, and an artist himself was instrumental in Leanne's art education with years of personal instruction. After college, she and her father were featured in a show with their watercolors. The tremendously positive response to the show encouraged her to pursue her passion for art. After graduating, despite demands on her time from work and family, Hanson’s passion for creating art continued, and she set up a studio in her home in Minnesota.
Leanne's creative process starts with photographs she has taken while enjoying her outdoor adventures. She chooses one or several to create a composition on canvas from these reference images. After lightly sketching it out, she add an underpainting with up to three different colors. After that, she begins painting the composition, often in layers, washes, and glazes then topping it with thick impasto strokes for texture. Leanne’s work has evolved from photo-realistic transparent watercolors to painterly realism in her oil paintings with strong color, light and texture using the impressionist's techniques. Leanne has been an active member of various professional art organizations, Minneapolis Artist Guild, the Northeast Minneapolis Artist Association, Oil Painters of America, National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society, and Hopkins Center for the Arts. She has also has her work in several Galleries in Minneapolis and surrounding areas. Everett & Charlie, The Orange Dragon. Leanne Hanson’s art has garnered recognition and numerous awards, along with acceptance in over 30 juried art fairs.