Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Leal.
Hi Christina, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Drawing is something I have done since I was a child. I always had a love for doing art projects or taking art classes in grade school. I found that, through all my experiences in life, art remained a constant passion of mine. I attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in children’s books. After graduating I moved to Los Angeles for a year, where I illustrated two children’s books that were published. Having the opportunity to see my work published was an honor and is one of the most rewarding experiences of my art career. After leaving Los Angeles I returned to my hometown of Houston and stayed with my family briefly while I plotted out the next direction of my career. Shortly after returning to Houston, I attended an art show downtown called “The Pancake and Booze Art Show” that ultimately had a huge impact on my life. Not only did I meet the person who would come to be my fiancée, but it was there that I was inspired to start creating my own oil paintings. I fell in love with the medium, with how I could move, shape, and form the paint however I wanted. The feeling that I got from painting with oils was absolutely incredible. Things were going great, both in my personal life and in my career, and I eventually moved in with my partner. Soon thereafter we began having problems and my art began to suffer as a result. There were both incredible highs, like getting engaged after 4 years, and devastating lows, with constant arguing over finances. In an effort to help maintain the household, and after going through a series of jobs, I put my art on hold so that I could pursue a career in the financial industry. As much as I would’ve liked to continue working on my art, I was just too exhausted from my day job and everyday life, and I couldn’t find a way to focus seriously on it. Then in late 2021 life really took a turn. First, the company that I had been working with for the past 5 years decided to let me go. That was an extremely difficult change for me. I had become really invested in my job and my colleagues and to suddenly lose it after dedicating so much of myself made me feel like my world had just ended. I was aimless, in shock, and trying to figure out my next step. With the help of a former colleague, I was able to find another job with a different financial institution. But before I could even process everything, one month after our 7-year anniversary, my fiancée and I decided to end our relationship. The hits just kept coming. The relative I had moved in with after breaking up with my fiancée kicked me out. I lived in a hotel briefly until my former colleague generously opened up her home to me so I could find an apartment. My car was wrecked shortly before I was scheduled to pay it off. And right before I was able to secure an apartment I was let go by my new employer. I had officially hit the lowest point in my life. It was at this stage that I realized that I had forgotten who I was and what I was born to do, which is paint and sharing the joy painting brings me with others. My mind had become so clouded by work, finances, my relationship, that I had forsaken the very thing that brought me happiness and purpose and had led to all the things that I most treasured. Working a regular 9-5 job wasn’t what I wanted, I wanted to make people smile through my art. Now I’ve started a new YouTube channel that looks to guide people through the business side of art, created a new Instagram page to display my artwork as a portfolio, and have made painting my primary focus again. It might sound odd, but I am grateful for my experiences because through them I have been able to return to my true passion in life, creating oil paintings for the world to see.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Nowadays, I would describe myself as a fine artist that specializes in oil paintings. I mostly paint still life, self-portraits, pet portraits, and landscapes, but I am prepared to paint anything that a client can imagine. I’m known for my bright colors, loose, expressive designs, and realism. I have painted for birthdays, anniversaries, wedding proposals, holidays like Christmas, and for those in times of grief. I have artwork displayed at Southwest Vision in Austin and G6 Studios in Houston (and of course all of the homes of my clients). My proudest moments are when I am able to look at a completed work and then present it to a client. Seeing their reaction to the painting, the smile on their face, it’s a gift that I want to give to everyone I paint for. My primary objective when I paint is gathering all the things my clients feel the deepest connections to in life and placing it on the canvas, trying to use the right brush strokes to portray that spirit, so that in the end when the completed work is revealed to them, they can
see and feel the love and passion that I put on the canvas for them.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Never lose sight of your dream. Once you set it aside it is so hard to bring it back. Try to find time to indulge your artistic passion, even if it’s only for one or two hours a day, depending on your schedule. There is nothing wrong with having other things in your life, you don’t necessarily have to be consumed by your artwork. But when I sacrificed my art completely so that I could focus on everything else in life, I felt lost and sad. Now I wish that I had set more time away for the thing that I love most and that makes me shine, even if had only been for brief moments. So never quit and never give up.
Contact Info:
- Email: insideapaintersbrain@gmail.com
- Instagram: @insideapaintersbrain
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCl6YVq4Jck2-bt4-P7Fhw
Image Credits
Christina Leal
