LEDA DANIEL When Leda Daniel decided to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts at university in her home country of Argentina, she never actually thought about what would she do after finishing her degree. "In those days, the perception was you had to study something in university but the focus wasn’t so much on what you would do after you finished!" she says. It has taken her almost 30 years to finally develop a mindset where her career is taking a priority in her life. Nowadays, Leda and her Kiwi husband and three children live in a farm on the outskirts of Helensville. "The children are growing up, so I felt the time was right to seriously think of the next step of my personal development," she says. "Although I have been painting all these years, I feel the last three years are where my biggest growth has taken place. I let go of all the barriers I had set myself and really started to enjoy my art. The first change was moving into the world of abstract art and researching new techniques."
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Last year she sold more than 20 paintings, a record for her: "I think it has been mainly due to developing new knowledge of different media, specifically resin art. Since I started painting with resin I can barely keep up with the demand." She participated in The Year of the Dog exhibition and charity auction in Parnell earlier this year with her dog, Loyal, one of the top selling artworks of the event, aimed at fundraising for Starship Foundation. Leda recently launched her new website ledadaniel.com and within a week had her first sale to the US, much to her delight: "This fantastic new platform is something I would have never dreamed of a few years ago." Her paintings have an alluring quality, colourful and vivacious, much like her. "I feel the next step of my career is to be represented by an art gallery in the city while also building a bigger studio that will allow me to get into more sizeable paintings," she adds.
LEDA DANIEL, ARTIST | ARTWORK: NEXUS