richness of nature
There’s no point in doing things by halves I say, so when we visited the G.O.’s landscape artist cousin Ian Lean, I took full advantage of a reshuffling of his art studio to buy nine of his beautiful paintings, with a view to creating a small personal gallery in our living room at Taylors Arm. Ian also takes commissions so I’ve asked for paintings of the old farm belonging to their grandparents at Red Hill, Coffs Harbour and that of my grandparents’ at Scone.
You can view Ian’s paintings virtually at the IanLeanArt Etsy store or via the Argyle Gallery’s website.
Born in Bellingen, country NSW, Ian grew up in Coffs Harbour. After leaving school he followed a career in land surveying, married and had a daughter.
After a horse riding accident at 13 years old, Ian started oil painting and developed an interest in landscapes in particular. He renewed this interest in painting again as an adult and had limited tuition from James Wynne, Allan Fizzell and John Wilson, but is mostly self-taught.
Ian has lived in Berowra, on the northern outskirts of Sydney, for 38 years and mainly draws inspiration for his paintings from the Hawkesbury River, the waterways of Middle Harbour and Pittwater, the Blue Mountains and country NSW. As well as regular landscapes he specialises in miniature landscape paintings.
(Information taken from Ian Lean Art Facebook page)
“The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration”
Claude Monet
September 11, 2015 at 6:14 pm
I dearly love an original painting, and am strongly in favour of supporting our home grown artists. It’s lovely that he’s affordable, too. Something to remember come birthday time!
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September 11, 2015 at 7:15 pm
I had not been a fan of landscapes until I first saw Ian’s paintings in galleries in Dorrigo. I’m sorry we hadn’t gotten around to unpacking these at the time of your visit, but they’ll still be up next time. If you have a photo of a favourite landscape, Ian does commissions from photos.
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September 11, 2015 at 7:50 pm
I’ll bear it in mind. I have a fair collection of original paintings, and for some unknown reason, they almost all feature a road, track or path winding away into the distance. You’ll see them when you make your return visit!
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September 12, 2015 at 6:55 am
Roads, tracks seem to attract us too, that’s why we included the Capertee Valley painting amongst them 🙂
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September 11, 2015 at 6:35 pm
Oh yes, they are perfect for Taylors Arm. I like any landscapes, local or otherwise but I think it’s lovely to have some landscapes that mean something to you in your home, and even better with a personal connection. I’m lucky to have some original prints of my home county and they give me immense pleasure. I’m sure Ian’s lovely paintings will bring you much joy and good feng shui.
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September 11, 2015 at 7:26 pm
Thank you. They do suit our house, far better than what was there… I didn’t put up the before pics of the ‘art’ that was on the walls, none chosen by me. It’s all gracing the G.O.’s shed now!
I immediately recognized the Hunter Valley landscape so there was no doubt it was going to be part of the collection.
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September 11, 2015 at 7:34 pm
Hunter Valley would have been part of mine too as a honeymoon memory.
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September 11, 2015 at 6:51 pm
Lovely works, Dale. You will never regret having bought them, and will enjoy them for many years. If I could paint like that I would still be painting!
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September 11, 2015 at 7:30 pm
Thank you, we’re so pleased with them. I agree, it would be wonderful to be able to turn a scenic view, paint and canvas into something lovely to hang on a wall and enjoy. Sadly, not me though.
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September 11, 2015 at 8:19 pm
What a wonderful artist. I’m particularly taken by the tall unframed painting of the single tree overlooking the lake, His work is stunning and I’m not surprised you’ve taken the opportunity to buy a few. I’m sure the ones you’ve commissioned will be equally as good and help you both retain good memories.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
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September 11, 2015 at 8:54 pm
Thank you. You have good taste. That picture was a had to have, the only unframed in that style. It is of the Hawkesbury River locale, favorite of both the G.O. and myself.
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September 11, 2015 at 9:05 pm
Oh, lucky you! There’s some lovely ones in that lot. I loved the Bellinger valley one and the Nymboida. Gorgeous.
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September 12, 2015 at 7:01 am
Thank you. Me too 🙂 Each of them captures something of the essence of the place as well as visually. Ian certainly has a great feel for his genre.
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September 11, 2015 at 9:16 pm
Instant decor- Nine paintings, how lovely. Certainly not dong anything by halves.
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September 12, 2015 at 7:02 am
It may appear so, but it doesn’t feel instant to me… ten years I’ve been plotting and planning an overthrow of the living room wall regime!
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September 11, 2015 at 10:06 pm
Gorgeous landscapes – our current house doesn’t suit them – we have lots of abstract art on the walls, with the exception of a few of my mother-in-law’s scenes of the Texas hill country and flowers and which are lovely – and very soothing! You’d like them, I think.
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September 12, 2015 at 7:08 am
All art interests me, colour, form and expression. Landscape I’ve come late to. And the old house suits it; Ian’s landscapes wouldn’t have the same effect hung on the walls of our of city apartment.
I like the sound of Texas hill country and flowers. In the rest of our house, there’s a lot of old flower paintings.
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September 12, 2015 at 4:20 am
I can see why you purchased those. Outstanding works. (Like little windows out into the world )
Perfect idea to have him paint places you love.
Thanks for his link!
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September 12, 2015 at 4:22 am
His little miniature canvases are so wonderful
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September 12, 2015 at 7:15 am
I thought so too! There’s a spot -in place of the “Mother” plate- I could hang one, plus room on the walls for another couple of full size 🙂
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September 12, 2015 at 7:12 am
Thank you. It makes us so happy to have our own small collection; and the personal connection with the artist and the places both 🙂
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September 12, 2015 at 9:17 am
What a lovely idea, and some beautiful pictures to show for it. Congratulations. 🙂
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September 12, 2015 at 11:57 am
Thank you. We’re not usually in a position to buy artworks… unless they’re old, from an op/second hand shop as is our preference but we’d talked for a while about getting a couple of Ian’s paintings…
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September 12, 2015 at 1:58 pm
These are the purchases of a lifetime – the kind you enjoy forever, or kick yourself for not buying when you had the chance. 🙂
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September 12, 2015 at 11:56 am
These are fabulous! How lucky you are to have such an artistic relative. Well done buying all these – awesome! 😀
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September 12, 2015 at 12:05 pm
Thank you 🙂 It wasn’t easy to choose even that selection from all Ian’s wonderful paintings, and once they were up we both agreed we could do with a couple more!
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September 12, 2015 at 3:16 pm
ElleDee, you got some nice paintings that you can enjoy for a long time. Art becomes so much more personal when you have a connection to the artist. My girlfriend is a watercolor artist and I have collected her paintings for years.
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September 12, 2015 at 4:13 pm
Thank you. It is nice to know or meet personally whoever created the piece, it adds that little extra detail to its story. I love watercolor paintings and have even done classes… it’s harder than it looks.
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September 12, 2015 at 11:24 pm
Art with so much more meaning when you know the artist in a special way…
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September 13, 2015 at 8:33 am
I think that’s a lesson we can take to many things… books, food, jewelry, etc… which is why I love markets and the blog world, it puts me in contact with real people, unlike Retail.
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September 14, 2015 at 5:20 am
Such lovely artwork. It’ll be great to have paintings of those family places. They’ll be memories on your walls.
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September 14, 2015 at 6:26 am
Thank you. We’re looking forward to many years of enjoying them… and planning to add a few more 🙂
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September 15, 2015 at 5:02 am
It never ceases to amaze me how talent comes through when someone develops an interest almost by accident (literally in this case). Hard to believe Ian is self-taught and I should imagine you’ll get many years of pleasure from those 9 paintings, the thrill of first seeing them returning every time you share them with a guest at Taylor’s Arm. And just spotted your Goodreads review of Sugar and Snails, so off to see what you thought of it.
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September 15, 2015 at 6:47 am
There’s something calm and deep about Ian’s paintings that I like, which I think can’t be taught. And although they’re not huge in size but manage to come across as bigger than the sum of their parts. And practically, now at least I can go into the living room without thinking I must do something about those pictures…
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October 12, 2015 at 2:00 pm
Wow. He’s amazing. Those landscapes are so calming. I can see why you wanted to create a collection in your home.
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October 12, 2015 at 2:13 pm
Originally it was going to be one or two paintings! But then I had the stroke of creative genius 😉 to turn the living room into a mini-gallery… it’s so easy to get carried away with enthusiasm, but it worked and it’s amazing how the space for changed the better, because of their calming energy 🙂
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