Jim Leland
City Spaces, Favorite Places
Jim Leland: Contemporary Place Painter
Jim received a Bachelor of Architecture and Urban Design Degree from Texas Tech University and set out for California where he has been involved in community development for most of his life. Whether designing homes, new home communities or planning for cities and rural areas, Jim has always utilized his drawing skills.
In 2011 Jim ventured into oil painting for the first time, choosing local landscape scenes as his subject. More recently, Jim has begun to explore cityscapes. His paintings attempt to capture the essence of the places that are the subject of his art.
“What fascinates me is trying to capture the essence of a physical place. Whether it is natural or man-made, there are qualities innate to that place. Those qualities are what we remember when we long to return to a place which is special to us. That quality is what I am searching for and trying to capture through my painting. Oil is the perfect medium for that expression.”