Dawn Downpour Painting

"Siobhan Leonard found her ideal inner landscape in forests. When she heard Suzanne Simard’s talk on the complexity of forest ecology, in which she argues that the forest bears comparison with neural and social networks, something clicked with her. She realized she had found her subject. The beautifully flowing, interwoven patterns of her paintings embody the collective nature of both forests and human communities" - Aidan Dunne, Irish Times Visual Arts Critic My work is an exploration of where I am in this world using the context of the forest. Inspired by the theory that trees do not compete with each other for resources, but are a holistic and functioning community, where trees communicate through a mycorrhizal network, so no tree works alone. ​ I paint in acrylics allowing an immediate response onto canvas that can be worked on and built up quickly. It is a quiet and personal investigation. There is satisfaction in seeing the loose brushwork and the honesty of the raw and incomplete.