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
daleleelife101.blog 
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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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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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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Roads, tracks seem to attract us too, that’s why we included the Capertee Valley painting amongst them 🙂
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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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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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Hunter Valley would have been part of mine too as a honeymoon memory.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Instant decor- Nine paintings, how lovely. Certainly not dong anything by halves.
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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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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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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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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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His little miniature canvases are so wonderful
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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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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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What a lovely idea, and some beautiful pictures to show for it. Congratulations. 🙂
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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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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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These are fabulous! How lucky you are to have such an artistic relative. Well done buying all these – awesome! 😀
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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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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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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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Art with so much more meaning when you know the artist in a special way…
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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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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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Thank you. We’re looking forward to many years of enjoying them… and planning to add a few more 🙂
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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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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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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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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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