Meg Leonard chosen to paint the 2009 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Poster

Artists have the best job in the world. We get to watch the miracles of nature closely, patiently observe, record our experience and have fun getting dirty. We can change a space with our strokes, add life and energy to places that need human touch. Our higher purpose derives from the inherent sensitivity to serve as social and environmental barometers, hopefully creating to evoke a response in others, stirring their soul, awakening a memory, catapulting change in how we, as a culture, look at our world.

My work is derived from what I see around me and developing what was compelling about that view. I paint land and sky-scapes in oil or pastel, preferring pastel in the field for the seductive brilliance and spontaneity it affords. Most often I am captivated by a quality of light, relationship of colors, or a brief , crystalline moment in the midst of change. Music or bird songs provide the work with rhythm and tone. Most often I start the work outdoors and refine later in the studio.

2009 Balloon Fiesta Serigraph Poster

Balloon Fiesta Home Page