My father named me Leon after Leonardo da Vinci and I've inherited his admiration for the Renaissance ideal. I'm interested in a lot of things. In my pet portrait paintings I try to include elements from several disciplines, such as printmaking, photography, graphic design, poetry and spirituality. What I paint is the relationship between our selves and our pets, about the things we've learned from them and carry with us long after they're gone. The stories of our lives with our animals are so beautifully complex that they deserve much more creative ways of sharing and expression than the conventional head-shot type portrait. In addition to books and paintings I also build three dimensional memorials.