Leslie Venola Artist Oil Painter Artist

Leslie Venola

Oil Painter Artist

Welcome to my website.

Some years ago, after 6 years of constant drawing, I decided to jump straight into oil painting and with a little research I started to teach myself along the lines of the old masters. Since those early days I have constantly painted using oils, developing my own methods and styles to bring my ideas to life.

My inspirations for my paintings flow from the Victorian and the first decades of the 20^th Century, when the world recognised the need to surround themselves with art, elegance, class, beauty and still built and made things with this in mind.

The architecture for one, the houses built by craftsmen to look beautiful, complete with hanging rails so residents could decorate their homes with their own paintings and paintings from their favourite artists.

Items were made that lasted in those days but also made with some flair.

People had their portraits painted and photographers were producing artistic photos that have a special air of elegance that has never been bettered since.

The writers of those times like Tolkien, C S Lewis, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J M Barrie [who can forget Peter Pan??], Lewis Carroll, W B Yeats created rich and wonderful worlds with their amazing imaginations that continue to entertain us today and are made into movies.

The musical pieces that were written and performed by masters, the painter William Adolphe Bouguereau created mythical masterpieces, the fashions and the way people dressed elegantly was art itself.

Spiritual streams also started to grow that opened the world to new ways: the Rosicrucian Order, Madame Blavatsky and the Masters who founded the Theosophical Society, Western Mystical traditions, Spiritism, and the Spiritualist Church, Seances, Tarot reading, a fascination with the Faerie world and nature.

Simple terms like “cottage garden” and “Opium dens” bring one straight back to those times when there seemed originality, imagination and artistic flair were treasured traits.

It was a special time for sure.

As I tell my own stories on canvas my hands work in my studio in our present times while my mind is off elsewhere, a hundred years ago maybe, when the world was still amazed with beautiful things.

Would these creations bring a sense of period wonder and magic to your homes? Would you like to be painted in one of these scenes? Would you like to visit in person and view the paintings in real life just to experience them without obligation? If so, please contact me.

I also draw from my Celtic/Italian heritage and spiritual experiences, stories, and traditions when I create my paintings.

My wife and I live in our 1892 built house in Newtown Geelong surrounded by what inspires my art.

Yours sincerely