One of California’s leading abstract expressionist painters, James Leonard was heavily influenced by German painter Gerhard Richter. Working with a massive palette knife, Mr. Leonard pulls, scrapes and turns multiple layers of acrylic paint across his canvasses to emote his abstract landscapes. Using a technique he calls ‘sgraffito,’ Leonard adds dropped and fragmented color, then scrapes it off in lines to reveal the underpainting. His paintings can have up to thirty to forty layers. James likens this to a weathered fence post, repainted through the years yet withstanding the test of time, each color revealing a bit of its history. James Leonard’s work can be found in collections throughout the world, including installations at NASA, Yale University, and the personal fine art collection of Dale Chihuly.