Van Fossan was born in Vail, Colorado, and began oil painting at the age of 12. She went on to study Fine Art at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and at the Syracuse University Center in Florence, Italy. After school, Van Fossan stepped away from her craft for nearly a decade, to explore the business side of art and to build her family with husband, internationally-acclaimed painter, James Van Fossan. It was with his persistent encouragement that Leigh Ann finally decided to revisit painting in 2014. The hiatus served her well. Van Fossan was featured as a cover artist with Art Voices Magazine for the Fall 2014 Issue. She was also presented at the prestigious SPECTRUM MIAMI event in 2016 with the Artbox Gallery of Switzerland. Her work is now collected around the globe.