Eileen Oda Leaf

Eileen Oda Leaf was born in Sacramento and was raised in the art-centric world of Venice, California.  Some of Eileen’s fondest memories were copying pictures from a reading primer as a child.  She cut her teeth creating art and writing poetry from living in a Bohemian community rich with artists, musicians, poets and writers where it was natural to be free to express oneself in this culturally rich environment.

With influences from her favorite artist, Vincent Willem van Gogh she feels art should be unfettered by rigid concepts of what art should be.  Instead, she entertains with what art can be.  With this spirit , and a lifelong love of Nature, she has crafted a unique approach to how she sees the world and wants to share it.

After studying art at Venice High school she continued studying life drawing and business administration at Santa Monica College and the University of Hawaii. While living in Kona, Hawaii, Eileen fell in love with the vibrant colored tropical forests, seas and sunsets.These vivid colors left a lasting impression with an irrepressible positive life-affirming joy that can be seen in Eileen’s art.
 

After honing skills over decades through graphite and colored pencil drawings oil painting captured her heart with its rich deep palette of colors that led her to discovering a new style of painting she has coined, “exsculpainting:”3-D oil painting on canvas/es and sometimes underneath, or, not he backside.The “ex” represents the expressionistic use of color.“Sculp” describes the use of a sculpting medium, and, “painting” with oil paint.

This innovative way of painting, Eileen has created 3-D landscapes, portraits and food art.  Some of the food art has dozens of hand-cut canvases that are shaped, sculpted and then applied to another sculpted background canvas.  To her knowledge there is no other artist in the world who is creating this style of 3-D oil painting.

Eileen Oda Leaf has donated many works of fine art to medical centers in Los Angeles and Orange counties including the Los Angeles French Embassy.  Some of her food exsculpaintings have been donated for auction to fundraise to benefit Harbor Interfaith Services of Long Beach that supports homeless families and underprivileged children.  She has selected art for years and has been a judge for the Annual Neptunian Woman’s Club Student Art Show for grades K-12 in the Manhattan Beach School District where she resides.