ABOUT THE ARTIST

Leigh was born and raised in Melbourne with close ties to animals during his formative years. Some of his early memories include feeding an Asian Elephant and playing with monkeys. Over recent years after working as a comic illustrator and signwriter his passion for wildlife was rekindled as he extended his skills into the realm of realist artwork.

He held his first solo exhibition in 2006 and followed the success with the formation of the Untamed Artist Network, a group of wildlife artists spanning the globe who shared his passion for wildlife conservation and pledged to donate a portion of their profits to wildlife programs.

His giving nature also extended to others as he became an active participant in online forums such as wetcanvas, showing his working methods and helping nurture the skills of his fellow artists. His passion for teaching soon lead to online art classes, allowing each student to learn at their own pace in their own space. He also earned a reputation as a talented demonstrator, sought out by many art shows around the state.

Early 2008 has seen the first of his collaborations with Melbourne Zoo come to fruition in the form of the Twilight art demonstrations taking place throughout February as part of the annual Twilight concert series.

Following on from this Leigh donated artworks to Zoos Victoria for fundraising auctions.

Leigh worked with Patrick Hedges in 2008 to create the Tears of Leaves exhibition which was on display at Monarto Zoo, South Australia from October 2008 to December 2008. The show was opened by Dr Jane Goodall.

In 2009 Leigh had 2 works make the finals of BBC's Wildlife Artist of the Year competition.

More recently Leigh's focus has moved on to training the next generation of artists. He now teaches 4 days a week at various locations across Victoria.

In addition to his traditional artworks Leigh has recently completed some large scale illustration assignments, one of which was for the Alaska Siberia Research Center. The works from that book will be on show in Juneau, Alaska later this year.