With its roots in childhood, Christopher Leeper’s artistic path has been long and steady. Along the way, he taught art at the university level for 20 years, and he still conducts workshops. His informed advice to developing painters? “Find the path that is really you,” he says. “Find that inspiration that moves you to paint. If you want to paint horses, paint horses. Don’t listen to what the academics want you to do. Don’t worry what other people say. We have access to so many things, and we hear so many voices. You must gravitate toward something that is you. If we are more honest with ourselves, it makes us better artists. Me, I love being in the woods and I love plein air. It’s who I am as an artist.”
MEET THE ARTIST
Christopher Leeper, seen here painting on location in Texas, makes his home in Ohio, but travels across the country to participate in plein air invitationals. Although he also paints in oils and acrylics, he calls watercolor my “native language.”
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