About

My Story

I live a life divided, truth be told. When it comes to work, there are two of me.  First, there is Sharon the Muralist.

That statement comes at the culmination of several overlapping careers.  The first 25 years of my career was as a commercial sign painter. All my work was hand executed, years before and during the great vinyl invasion. A chance invitation into the world of decorative painting proved so potent that I spent years in both camps. You cannot sell a lettering business. You need to be able to walk away. I spent three long, sixty to seventy hour work weeks, developing my decorative arts, supported by hand lettering.

Decorative arts included mural painting as well as artisan finishes, such as plaster. That portfolio also included stenciling, faux bois ( wood graining), faux marble and metallic leafing. The past few years have made it clear that my true love of all of these is mural painting. I’ve reached a point in my career to know it’s time to do the work, and only that work, that my heart is in. So this simple sentence now suffices. I am a muralist.

But….

There is another part of my creative spirit that needs to be recognized. I’ve spent years, indeed decades, waiting for the time when I would have free time to learn and paint in oil. I studied it formerly only for one semester at the Paier School of Art. I promised myself there would be time for it  sometime in the future. I treated it as if it might become my hobby. How wrong was I.

It took a lot of self examination, but I finally see that I want to develop my fine art skills as part of my business. It’s the business that’s always driven things. How could it not? A business of totally engaging in work I love and that fulfills me. The fine arts needed to become  part of the work schedule and earn its time in my schedule. And so, I add this second sentence. I am an artist.

I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know both sides of Leichsenring Studios.

I want to be your muralist.

I’d love you to own one of my original paintings.