His Inspiration and Work

 ‘John Leaf a traditional landscape painter’ – ‘John Leaf a painter of landscapes in contemporary style’. Two opinions, two extremes; both could be true, and both are true! He comes from the traditional painters academy, and went his own way from there. When going on his first excursions to paint while being at art school he was fascinated by the cliffs of Dorset, those were his first motives. Having been granted a travelling scholarship he went South where he became entranced by the luminosity of the Mediterranean: Greece, the South of France, Catalonia, and then over thirty years ago he chose Mallorca as his residence and inspiration for his work. There he found the lines and shapes, the colour, the light, which fascinated him. Most important for him however was to be near the coast. In his landscapes there is always a hint of the sea, even when it is not a coastal scene the sea is never far away.

Text: Mo Henkel