Inspired by the native wildflowers of the rolling flint hills of Kansas, Michelle Leivan has expanded her exploration to the floral form. Hiking in the luscious meadows and along the rustic roadsides Michelle delights in recording each floral sighting with anticipation of interpreting each with her expressive and distinctive impressionistic style. Her bold pallet and energetic paintings weave philosophical and intuitive compositions for modern contemplation of nature.

I have not seriously worked in oils before. I had the chance to learn a new technique from Barbara Waterman-Peters. I was delighted to learn from her, as I have admired her work for years. So here is a place for you to see this new venture as it matures. 

A few pieces that have been selected from the Kansas Wildflower Series original paintings to be offered as giclee fine art prints, note cards and stemware charms.

A creative, wacky drawing card game that offers on the spot fun for four to ten players. It takes minutes to learn to play and a lifetime to perfect. Each spontaneous stroke challenges you, sparks the imagination and offers limitless possibilities and healthy self expression. Your fellow Artist provides that first stroke and the Juror a word of thought provoking direction. Your task is to quickly finish the picture, in any way you want. Keep in mind, you must please the ever subjective Juror to become the Art Genius and win!

This game is the result of the creative work of Michelle Leivan. She has conceived, designed, illustrated, published and hand assembled the game and packaging. She also reserves the creative copyright for this
game

Please contact Michelle for any questions or comments.

My enduring subject is the female form with a subversive twist on the classic nude. Stripping the figure of the culturally significant cues of beauty, I dare the viewer to find the subtle essence of facial expression and gesture. My unexpected pallet provides a multicultural, non-ethnic specific tone which captures the universal aspects of femininity. This has developed into 2 series, “Feminine Desert” which presents impressionistic portraits with prose considering the duality of co-dependency and “Celestial Correspondence” which are dominated by abstract female nudes inspired by the complex social and emotional soul searching which developed during the deployment of my husband and I have recently resurrected this series with current events cycling back to another deployment.

This series is just developing... as with many journeys I am not sure where these are headed, but here they are for your inspection nonetheless. Many of these are a result of the Adult Life Drawing Sessions that I coordinate at Washburn University.

This series is based on the perception duality many young women present to the world. The conflict of the independence they believe they portray versus the true co-dependency they actually exhibit to the world, a contradiction they are too often unable to recognize. Each piece is dominated by abstract female figures. The style used allows expression of the human form in a multicultural, non-ethnic specific tone, capturing the universal aspects of humanity. Notably the use of color creates a striking contrast to the expected outcome in portraiture. Utilizing many levels of double meaning within the prose and images the full project digs deep into the psyche of the subject and viewer.

The newest and most ambitious series the “Five Element Tarot” in which I am creating and re-conceptualizing the traditional Tarot into a 100 card deck. As a sojourn of the soul, each painting explores the connection to the global consciousness revealed by the symbolism within each card. My previous work with the figure as can be seen in "Feminine Desert" and “Celestial Correspondence” series; combined with my more current work with the "Kansas Wildflowers" series seemed to be preparing me for this very project.