Maia Leisz

Artist Statement

I’ve always been creative, deciding at the age of 8 that I’d rather be an artist than a mermaid. In high school and college, I single handedly painted several murals.

I majored in Art at UC Santa Cruz, doing a semester abroad and being offered an art scholarship to the Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing in Aix-en-Provence. I loved the structured instruction, life drawing, and cultural experience.

I’ve been a working artist for most of my adult life, always completely supporting myself with my art. I bought my first home with the proceeds from my line of hand painted silks. After marrying my husband, wilderness photographer Charles Phillips, I switched to oils, and with his help have been supporting the whole family ever since.

While my work is very much my own unique style, having a linear quality from the silk painting days, I am most deeply influenced by the impressionists. I love happy, vibrant color and mix my palette from the primaries, working on a burnt sienna ground so that everything is basically underlined by earthy warmth. I strive to paint in a way that evokes the poetry more than the prose…an emotional feeling of place rather than a literal interpretation. I try to capture the almost paradoxical peacefulness and energy of nature through complex color and energetic, decisive brushwork. I use relatively small brushes so the marks I make have detail and definition.

I believe that art is a language. It’s a way of conveying your individual view of the world in a manner that others can understand. As with a literal language (even your native one), you can always become more articulate. Fluency comes with regular speaking. There is always room to grow and learn, expressing different things. One of the greatest joys of being an artist is knowing you can always have something new to say… Even if you live to be 100…

My goal is to create art that is comfortable in any setting and is timeless in nature. I want it to outlast passing fads and bring consistent enjoyment to the viewer. I feel that in a world of transitory possessions, our art should rise above. We shouldn’t buy it to match the couch. Rather, we should feel a response to it because it speaks to us. In this way, our collection will become a legacy that we love enough to hand down to future generations. If art touches you on an emotional level, it is a wise investment. You will enjoy it every day for the rest of your life. It is my hope that my work brings great joy to my collectors and adds much needed happiness and beauty to our world!