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Leta Belleque Bunnell Being a fifth generation Oregonian, Leta Belleque Bunnell has a lot to inspire her to paint. The Stevens family homestead near Mt. Angel, where she spent her early childhood, gives her fond memories of rural farming of the 1930's. She knows the Pudding River well, having lived near it all her life. Her paintings seem to reflect its moods and are sensitive, poetic and have a sense of place. She began painting when a family friend noticed her interest in oil painting at the age of thirteen, and bought her a set of oils and built an easel for her that she still uses in shows for luck. After years of experimenting, failures and reading how-to books, she says she is self-taught except for a few terms at Clackamas Community College with an art teacher whose work and style she greatly admired. Sharing her skills and talents with others by teaching for Canby community Schools for over fifteen years was rewarding, as well as promoting the arts, organizing art shows for General Canby Days and a partnership in a local gallery. After raising three children in the country, creating more inspirations for paintings, she retired from teaching and devotes full-time to improving her own skills. "Learning is endless," she adds and recently added painting murals in local homes and businesses. "I've always enjoyed landscaping and realized one day that I was planting paintings! I am greatly rewarded when I can express a feeling or mood with my paintings and when someone responds with emotions of joy, tears or memories, I feel I have succeeded." Her paintings have gone to England, Brazil, Canada, Alaska, the San Juan Islands and the western states. She is well-known locally and has shown her work in businesses and galleries throughout the area. The Artist reserves all rights to the reproduction of the Artworks.
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