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Iona Leishman

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About Iona Leishman

I paint landscapes and still life pictures, working primarily in oil adding ink, pastel, collage and charcoal. The immediacy and zest of in situ painting works well for me and with inside work, I aim to bring the same degree of vibrant ambition.

It is the artist Peter McLaren, whose painterly, energetic command of surface and texture and extraordinary integrity and passion for painting, who is of major artistic importance to me. Flexible, productive working with Peter and others has enabled me to progress over the years while parenting four children.

Whilst my route here has been unorthodox, it has been fruitful. My degree is in English and that has lead to the discovery of close parallels between paint, prose and poetry.


Landscape and I

Landscape and I get on together well.
Though I’m the talkative one, still he can tell
His symptoms of being to me, the way a shell
Murmurs of oceans.

Loch Rannoch lapses dimpling in the sun.
It hieroglyphs of light fade one by one
But re-create themselves, their message done,
For ever and ever.

That sprinkling lark jerked upward in the blue
Will daze to nowhere but leave himself in true
Translation – hear his song cascading through
His disappearance.

The hawk knows all about it, shaking there
An empty glove on steep chutes of the air
Till his yellow foot cramps on a squeal, to tear
Smooth fur, smooth feather.

This means, of course, Schiehallion in my mind
Is more than mountain. In it he leaves behind
A meaning, an idea, like a hind
Couched in a corrie.

So then I’ll woo the mountain till I know
The meaning of the meaning, no less. Oh,
There’s a Schiehallion anywhere you go.
The thing is, climb it.

Norman McCaig

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Iona Leishman Gallery

Image of April Morning, Schiehallion from Loch Ranoch
'April Morning, Schiehallion from Loch Ranoch' by Iona Leishman
Size: 30" x 30"
Medium: mixed media on board
Location: With Artist
Price: £1,350
Image of Clarice Cliff Teapot with Matisse Pink Nude
'Clarice Cliff Teapot with Matisse Pink Nude' by Iona Leishman
Size: 24" x 32"
Medium: mixed media on board
Sold: Yes
Image of Elegant Pitcher
'Elegant Pitcher' by Iona Leishman
Size: 19.5" x 19.5"
Medium: mixed media on board
Location: With Artist
Price: £895
Image of On Ancient Ways
'On Ancient Ways' by Iona Leishman
Size: 39.5" x 32"
Medium: mixed media on board
Sold: Yes
Image of Spring Abundance, Inverness Cathedral
'Spring Abundance, Inverness Cathedral' by Iona Leishman
Size: 36" x 32"
Medium: mixed media on board
Sold: Yes
Image of Wild Wood
'Wild Wood' by Iona Leishman
Size: 23.5" x 16"
Medium: mixed media on board
Location: With Artist
Price: £1,100


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