Collection: Leonard Matte

My family and I reside in the Camrose area of Alberta after having moved from Creston, BC, in 2023. I am excited to expand my inspiration from the mountains and lakes of British Columbia to Alberta with its powerful skies and endless prairie landscapes. I have been particularly captivated by the wilderness between the hamlet of Nordegg and the Rocky Mountains. Soon to be fully retiring from teaching I will be able to devote much more of time  to my passion of painting Western Canada.

Visual art has two equally important stages: the first is the creative process in developing a work of art; the second is the relationship between the art and the viewer. My greatest joy is in the former; I love to paint. I love the surprises, the discoveries, the very physical nature of paint. However, I appreciate a universally accepted goal of art, specifically to move people at an emotional level in recognition of that which inspires the artist. The strength of my acrylic paintings lies in an expressive wet-on-wet technique developed to celebrate the flow of nature through the use of broad, loose brushstrokes of vibrant colours and rich tones. For years I was known as a watercolourist. There was no turning back when I switched to acrylics.