James Leonard has emerged as one of California's leading abstract expressionist painters. Working with acrylics on both canvas and panel, he uses a palette of vibrant colors. Leonard uses bold horizontal and vertical strokes, along with a palette knife to create one layer at a time, creating a sense of history in his paintings. He works from the inside out, allowing emotion, feeling and the process of unfolding to take precedence. Aiming to make seen the unseen is what has drawn Leonard to the art of absraction.