Leanne Xiu Williams
Sydney-based, self-taught artist Leanne Xiu Williams has a passion for still-life, figures and portraits, exploring how painting can allude to experiences beyond realism or representation.
Words: Hande Renshaw I Photography: Miki Mikka, Jacqui Turk & Alfonso Chavez-Lujan
‘Ever since I was a child, I’ve been drawn to colour and drawing. I’ve always loved to play with materials – I feel like it’s always been an inherent part of how I choose to express myself,’ says Leanne Xiu Williams. Photo: Jacqui Turk
A Vase with Flowers by Leanne Xiu Williams. Photo: Alfonso Chavez-Lujan
‘By showing up for myself and going to the studio, even when I’m not actively creating or painting, I nurture the mental space and freedom to create. By focussing on the process I believe that everything else will come organically,’ says Leanne Xiu Williams. Photo: Miki Mikka
Leanne Xiu Williams has been creative for as long as she can remember, prioritising art as a consistent and sustainable part of her life, yet her trajectory as an self-taught artist has been one that has been unconventional. A somewhat untraditional creative path has led Leanne to fuel her passion for painting, exploring experiences beyond realism in her still-life, figure and portraiture paintings.
‘After high school, art was never something that I considered as a career path and I ended up studying commerce and changed my degree a few times,’ shares Leanne. After graduating from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Art History and Japanese, Leanne completed a year-long exchange in Japan, returning home just before the lockdowns. As with many creatives we’ve interviewed, lockdown provided Leanne with valuable time to dive into painting. ‘Fortunately for me, I was very privileged to be able to use the time and space provided by these circumstances to start painting again,’ says Leanne.
Learning mostly through trial and error, and as is the modern-day learning method for many, Leanne watched YouTube videos and scrolled through Instagram for inspiration to study the work of artists and also better understand what she wanted to create. ‘Since then, I’ve focussed on making my practice a sustainable part of my life - something that, regardless of the outcome, I would continue to do because of my passion for it – I’ve tried to maintain the mindset and approach.’
As a visual person, Leanne works best learning and communicating through imagery. ‘I'm incredibly moved and influenced by visual mediums such as photography and film, and so painting is my way of engaging in the process of image-making and storytelling. The urge to participate in these visual modes of storytelling and trying to communicate something unique and personal about my own experience is what drives my creativity,’ she says.
‘I’ve always been a visual person - the way I learn and communicate is visual, and likewise the memories which have left the biggest impressions on me are visual also.’ Photo: Miki Mikka
‘I love painting light, shadows and reflective surfaces like glass and metal - they’re incredibly fun to paint because they’re so abstract and suggestive.’ Pictured: Incense in Morning Light by Leanne Xiu Williams. Photo: Alfonso Chavez-Lujan
Eva Before Korea by Leanne Xiu Williams. Photo: Alfonso Chavez-Lujan
Cheri Tomatoes by Leanne Xiu Williams. Photo: Alfonso Chavez-Lujan
“As an artist, one of the best lessons I’ve learnt is that making art is a lifestyle choice, as well as a creative practice. I’ve prioritised making art a consistent and sustainable part of my life, regardless of whether I ‘feel’ like making work or not.”
Glass with Iris by Leanne Xiu Williams. Photo: Alfonso Chavez-Lujan
Candlelight at Dusk by Leanne Xiu Williams. Photo: Alfonso Chavez-Lujan
Leanne’s process starts by conceptualising a piece with a rough compositional sketch. She then arranges a scene and captures photos, before culling and editing them down to her favourites. ‘With these photos as my references, I will make sketches and colour studies, which help me plan out the values for a painting as well as the rough palette I intend to use. I don’t pre-mix my paint, so experimenting with the palette before I start the painting saves me a lot of time in the long run.’
For Leanne, expressing through still-life and portraiture is a mode of storytelling. The artist’s still-life vignettes include simple, yet beautiful everyday scenarios such as incense burning in the afternoon sun, a vase of flowers or pieces of freshly cut fruit. Each painting captures a transient moment that the viewer can relate to, ‘The objects that we surround ourselves with contain layered histories, yet they also shape us and leave impressions on us. I love that still-life can capture stillness and evoke memories or sensations that others may feel intimately connected to,’ she says.
Leanne’s paintings feature beautiful dappled light and shadow play, elements she loves to capture, ‘I love painting light, shadows and reflective surfaces like glass and metal - they’re incredibly fun to paint because they’re so abstract and suggestive.’
Coming up for Leanne is a new body of work, which will focus on the figurative, while incorporating aspects of still-life. She has also collaborated with Two Good Co on their next cookbook, which will feature some of her work within it’s pages, launching later this year.