About the Artist
LeeAnne Chappell
LeeAnne Chappell is a California landscape painter working in oils from her studio at the ICB building in Sausalito. For more than 30 years she has painted the state's landscapes, and she graduated in fine art from the University of California, Davis, where she studied under Wayne Thiebaud. Much of her work is painted en plein air, mostly on square formats. She feels her paintings are more alive when they are made on location, and working outdoors means dealing with all the elements at once: wind, bright light or fog, floating bugs and sounds. Because nature is constantly changing, painting in it reminds her to stay fluid, flexible and open. She works with a limited palette of bright colors, never uses black, and often lets the transparency of the canvas show through to give her paintings their luminous glow. LeeAnne is drawn to the coastal hills and majestic oaks of Northern California. During the pandemic she spent a great deal of time painting at Point Reyes, and she returns often to the Sonoma coast, Lucas Valley, Nicasio, Tennessee Valley and the wetlands along San Pablo Bay. Paths have become a recurring theme, because we choose them and never quite know where they will lead; they carry a sense of adventure and a willingness to explore. Another side of her work finds mystery and whimsy in daily life. Birds, rabbits, cats and dogs appear in her paintings, at play or in quiet moments of reflection, drawn from moments of insight in the relationship between people and nature. The steepness of a cliff, the curve of a branch or a community of wintering birds can all become a painting. The rapid change of California's landscape is something she reflects on often, and she hopes her work expresses our shared connection to an ever-changing earth. Above all, she wants her paintings to offer a restful visual space: familiar, soothing and filled with light. Her paintings have been shown at the O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Sausalito Center for the Arts, the Museum of Northern California Art, Falkirk Cultural Center, Nimbus Arts in Healdsburg, the California State Fair and the Pence Gallery, and she received an Honorable Mention at the 2025 Mendocino Open Paint Out. She is a member of The Artery cooperative gallery in Davis and takes part in Marin Open Studios.
“LeeAnne Chappell is a Sausalito landscape painter who studied under Wayne Thiebaud at UC Davis. Painting outdoors in oil, she captures the light, coastal hills and oaks of Northern California in luminous, playful color.”
The Process
Inside the Studio
The Painting Process
LeeAnne Chappell paints in oils, and most of her work begins outdoors. Working en plein air, usually on a square canvas, she sets up on a trail, a ridge or a creek bank in Marin, Sonoma or Point Reyes and paints directly from the scene in front of her eyes. She believes her paintings are more activated when they are made on location. Outdoors, everything takes part in the painting at once: wind, bright sun or rolling fog, floating bugs, the sounds around her. Nature never holds still, and the light can change in minutes. That constant change reminds her as she paints to stay fluid, flexible and ready to adapt. Her palette is deliberately limited to a few bright colors, and she never uses black. Instead she often lets the transparency of the canvas show through, so light seems to come from within the painting. Playful brushwork keeps the surface lively, and the result feels both ethereal and grounded. Her subjects are the places she knows well: coastal hills, majestic oaks, eucalyptus reflected in a still pond, egrets gathering on the San Pablo Bay shoreline, and paths that wind out of sight. Back in her studio at the ICB building in Sausalito she develops ideas further, including larger works and her more whimsical paintings of birds, rabbits, cats and dogs at play. Through it all she aims to create a restful visual space, familiar, soothing and filled with light, that honors the spirit we share with the natural world.