"Beauty is easy for Nature and she endows it with such a casual air. It is my ambition to see and transcribe this with Truth and Dignity"

Optimist, self assured, brutally honest and totally delightful, would be just a smattering of adjectives describing artist; Leif Ostlund.

Certainly no neophyte, Leif has been exhibiting his art professionally for over 30 years. He was a gifted child but not by chance. His talent was in the DNA. Leif's mother Olive Ostlund, as well as his uncle, David Nehring are both outstanding painters, greatly influenced by the Group of Seven. “Some kids grow up with hamsters and tinker toys, I grew up with paints and brushes ...Mom gave my hand a gentle, active line for drawing, but it was my uncle who sparked my interest in colour, luminosity. There isn't anything that attracts the human eye in a more visceral way.”

Hailing from Prince George, British Columbia, Leif became mesmerized by colour and nature. His devotion to painting ultimately brought Leif to the Ontario College of Art where his survival instincts first took him in a commercial direction as his friends suggested; he would starve to death in the Fine Arts business. However, as life has a habit of changing course, Leif transferred to Fine Arts in his final year and never looked back.

Leif Ostlund is one of those rare painters with a gift for recording the emotional as well as visual properties of his subjects in a manner that touches everyone. You have only to look at the curl of an ocean wave or a painting of kids being themselves...a dog poking along a sandy shoreline...a cocky rooster to see the tenderness is there, emotional and soulful.

Leif Ostlund has mastered his craft and has taken his place as one of Canada's important artists.