About Me
Leanne Bishop grew up in Kamloops, BC and graduated from Thompson Rivers University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She later moved to the Fraser Valley to continue her nursing career and start a family. With an innate ability to do well with all things creative, Leanne’s drawing talent was unleashed in 2020, during the pandemic. As a reprieve from the stress and a focus on self-care, Leanne picked up a pencil and her artistic development flourished with every new piece of content. Each new challenge strengthened her unyielding determination to create portraits that document an emotion or an event that is as real as the memory or photograph it represents. Leanne’s medium of choice began with graphite pencils and later moved to predominately charcoal on paper. From small sketches to full-scale commissioned projects, Leanne delivers unparalleled depth and intrigue. With every swipe of the pencil or fade in of personalized video content, her social media savvy creates connections with her followers to promote art that is fun, soulful, and healing.
Artist Statement
I have always loved creative self-expression. My passion for drawing was ignited during a fun family drawing session at our kitchen table in April, 2020. My love for hyper-realistic artwork grew with the inspiration from my children. Their eyes lit up and their voices filled with excitement at every project reveal. The sense of accomplishment felt at the completion of each drawing motivated me to continue practicing this new craft. I aspire to bring every portrait to life and create precise, detailed work giving the viewer an enhanced interpretation of reality.
My drawings are not exact replications, but rather subtle layers of illustrated narrative added to the reference photograph. The process is dynamic yet organic. My medium of choice started with graphite pencils, then progressed to using primarily compressed charcoal with the occasional graphite and colored pencils for details. Through trial and error, I discovered a variety of tools, such as paintbrushes, sponges, and cotton swabs, to be effective in achieving different textures.
My artistic journey parallels all the other aspects of how I approach life, so naturally I set goals to further my knowledge and skills. In relationship to drawing hyper-realistic portraits, I have found this to be the most challenging yet rewarding artistic accomplishment.
Through my creative self-expression, I aim to convey a story. Every portrait drawing is unique and tells that story.
