Leanna Taylor

Leanna Taylor is a self-taught charcoal portrait artist based in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She was raised in Oregon where she did her undergrad at Portland State University before moving overseas. In 2020 she moved to Virginia with her husband, where she currently works as a custom framer. All her artwork is self-framed with solid wood moulding and museum-quality glass and matting. 

Her artistic journey began in 2017 on a yearlong service trip to southeast Africa. Severely limited internet access and dependency on solar power for energy created the need for a more traditional means of entertainment, and she began experimenting with the paint and drawing supplies in the school she was volunteering at.

After initial practice drawing some of the African wildlife, she transitioned to drawing her friends and neighbors. She has a great love for drawing eyes and the reflections they cast, for wrinkles and facial detail, and for the brightly colored headwraps that the women she met in Mozambique would wear.