Donna Leonard is an artist who paints portraits of grizzly old cowboys and American Indians. Sometimes her work expands to painting other interesting models or pets but she definitely chooses Western themes over other subjects.
Donna has been drawing and painting since she was a child living in Northern Virginia and it was in high school that she decided that she wanted to pursue a career in art. At the time she was attending the American Community School of Athens, Greece and the resources were not available to enable her to be competitive in compiling a portfolio for admission to art colleges in the U.S. She returned home and decided to follow a career in law enforcement and graduated from Northern Virginia Community College with an Associate Degree in Police Science and continued her education at The American University in Washington, D.C., graduating with a degree in Administration of Justice.
Donna came to Arizona in 1999 and was in awe of the place on the first visit. She fell in love with the light, landscape, history and people of the West. That trip was the inspiration to move here in 2006 and to take up painting again. She started taking classes at Scottsdale Artist's School and Brio, studying with different instructors and learning to paint professionally.
"I am blessed to be able to do what I enjoy the most every day, which is to be creative and paint. I am thankful for my good health and being blessed with an artistic gift that allows me to do what I have desired to do all my life."