Adventures on the Gringo Trail

Leeann Lidz has been a painter and artist for the last fifty years. She has worked in pen-and-ink, watercolors, acrylics, mosaics and more.  Her style developed from apprenticing with Baila Feldman, a California artist, who specialized in “naive, primitive” paintings with bright colors, hard edges and interesting detail. Leeann’s goal as an artist is to spread love and peace through the world with her own artwork and teaching others to be creative. Leeann spent years traveling through Europe, Israel and Central and South America. She took art supplies with her while traveling through Latin America and the drawings and paintings she did there became the basis for this book. She found that creating art on location was a spiritual experience like meditation and looking at her completed work would bring her back to its place in time. Living in Ventura, California, for thirty years, Leeann worked and raised her three children as a single mother while continuing to pursue her passion for painting. She had numerous shows in Ventura, Ojai, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles and won many awards. One of her dreams was to paint a large mural, and in 1991 she had that opportunity.  She painted a 500 square foot mural on the side of a gymnasium in Ventura with local children and gang members. She was instrumental in developing a creative arts program for foster children and youth-at-risk, called Kids’ Arts. As a teacher in the program, Leeann inspired many children and teens. She has continued teaching in her grandchildren’s elementary schools and for eight summers at Camp Winnarainbow. Leeann is currently retired and lives in Ferndale, California. She continues to paint and write.