ALOHA ke AKUA:

My full name is ; LeLand Kirk Leonard

I was born on September 6, 1951 in a private hospital (Swingle Hospital) "Rt.1 Johnson City,Tennessee" in the 'Cherokee National Park'.

My family moved up to Allentown, Pa. to be near my Grand Parents. Mr. and Misses Clarence Mortimer ( We called them, Nanny and Daddy Clarence)!

Shortly afterward, we moved to the village of 'Finland', in Bucks County,Pennsylvania when I was around four years old. Finland is a village at the northern end of the 'Philadelphia Boy scout Camps'. I was told they were the largest Boyscout Camps in the U.S.A. at that time.

So I played in the woods and on the "Unami (Swamp) Creek" with my 5 brothers,4 sisters and 3 friends whose mother (Roseanna Hein) owned "The Finland Inn", Gus, Michelle and Michael Hein. Population about 100 people in village while growing up there.

One day while walking with 'my Spirit friend' (Alm.S.); watching some men swirling plaster on a barn wall with trowels. {Later I learned they were 'stuccoing' the barn.}

I said to my Spirit Friend;"Alm.S." ( abrv. for Almighty Spirit),"This is so neat! Do you see how they could move that plaster around and create all kinds of things like ,mountains, birds, trees and ocean waves or they could just write with it on the walls"!

My Spirit Friend.(Alm.S.) just kept agreeing with me, saying "I've never seen that done before".. At that moment, an unbelievable feeling came over me. Like some kind of, 'Out of Body Experience' and I have no words to describe this feeling that came over me. My Spirit Friend;(Alm.S.) was speaking to me in a totally new language and I was understanding every word that was being told to me.

I soon forgot about that experience until many years later, when I started learning to finish drywall with my brother in-law, Rick Reppert "www.RLReppert.com" . We were finishing ceilings and walls of a new house in the Pocono Mountains when I recalled my childhood memories of those men Stuccoing that barn and that "My Spirit Friend (Alm.S. )" was agreeing with me and saying to me, "I hasn't seen that done yet".

I realized I had never seen or heard of painting with plaster before myself either! So I started playing around with joint compound on scrap pieces of drywall. First using drywall knives , I soon thought if I use paint brushes I could smooth out edges to become rounded.

Those visions I had experienced as a child, were going to become reality if I kept working at it. You cannot imagine my thoughts on this art my Spirit Friend was telling me about, and even if I think I was just dreaming, It stands as a 'New Art Touchstone' alone! I kept practicing with it, all the time learning to create this 'New Art Form'.

My first creation became a reality in Panama City, Florida. An open rose viewed , looking down on it from above. The pedals coming off the canvas approximately one inch and curling back , for the opening effect. I gave it to the woman whose house I was painting in Bay Point Harbor. Fla. because all the material I used were hers and she love it very much.

Being a vegetarian for many years not getting along with my meat eating wife. My marriage soon ended and I move in with my brother in Parkersburg, West Virginia and met the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

Got remarried and we moved to Norfolk, Virginia. There I started an Interior construction company named "LeLand Interiors". I was contracted to up-grad a settlement of town-houses, originally built to house the Portsmouth Ship Building Company workers during World War One. These old cracked walls gave me an opportunity to use them as canvases to create many different designs. Ocean and beach scenes , using quick drying plasters.The owner loved what I was creating, It quickly moved to include exterior walls, too. This new art form was extremely well received at "The Virginia Home and Garden Show" in Virginia Beach, Va. The new art form prospered and workers were required to sign a nondisclosure agreement on 'Texture-sizing[ The art forms name at the time

My path changed for personal reasons and I moved back to Finland, Pa. and stayed at our friends hotel, "The Finland Inn" One night Roseanne; The Finland Inns owner was asking me about this new thing I called 'Texture-sizing'. She became very interested, and asked me to do a 'Texture-sized Painting on the Finland Inns wall that faces the Unami Creek. So I started a 'Texture-sized Painting',I called ;The Three Trees , a local swimming hole on 'Swamp creek' in Finland.. As I was working on the wall, I noticed a woman kept coming by every day and watched me working on the wall. One day she finally came up to me and told me she was an Art Director at the 'Allentown Art Museum' and said , She never seen or heard of any person painting with plaster before and how exciting it was to watch me do it. She told me that if I had any paintings , she would give me a 'One man Show' in the Allentown Art Museum if I wanted. Than she said to me,"But you would have to come up with a name for your style of 'New Art',I quote her saying; "this is "'A New Art Touchstone" and you need to give your art a name".

A couple days later, another woman came by and was watching me work and said "this is beautiful and so sculptuesque"! SO I went into the 'Finland Inn' and got a dictionary and looked up the word 'sculpturesque'. The word 'sculpturesque' in 'Websters Dictionary.states: Sculpturesque; Possessing the quality of sculpture; in the manner of sculpture; statuesque; majestic; defined , and "Sculpturesque- Painting" became the new art forms name.

Feeling I was just learning to do this, I declined the

`Art Directors`. offer After the Finland Inn , I was asked to create a' ' 'Sculpturesque Painting' for a Mentally Retarded Day Care Center" in Allentown, Pa..So I created a painting right there as the patients were watching me paint with plaster."The interaction I deeply enjoyed". After a short time the male patients were getting angry because of all the attention the female patients were giving me and I was asked to leave as soon as I was done. And that I did.

I left seeing I had an art form that people could get emotional about. "California Dreaming". I hitchhiked across the U.S.A.. Stopping over in Lordsburg, New Mexico and showing a minister photographs of my art. He asked me if I would create my art on the walls of their new room for mothers breast feeding their children and could watch and listen to the sermon, at the same time, So I created ; Cartoon animal caricatures running up the Mountain to see the Lamb of God. It too was well received by the Church Members.

Moving on to California. Living in a friends Art Studio over looking the Pacific Ocean , along 'The Ocean Front Walk' in Venice,

Ca. I first Created a 'Sculpturesque Painting' for my Mentors family. He died in a plane crash , returning to Doylestown. Pa. from Columbus, Ohio where his racing team was about to race, to watch his son play in a High School foot-ball game on September 30,1988. I created a 'Sculpturesque Painting' of a hand coming out of a cloud holding a Porsche, with the inscription; Al Holbert 'The Boss' September 30,1988

Than I created a 'Sculpturesque Painting' of my wife at that time. , sitting naked in a lotus position breast feeding our daughter "CHERISH". I showed it to a blind person in Venice and he could even feel 'Cherishes' face. I felt so honored! And so it was presented to the "President of Sara Lanka"! for his work with their poor. His father was a farmer, so he understood their needs. And I was told he was assassinated a year later.

Than I created a 'Sculpturesque Painting' of the Statue of Santa Monica and that was given to the 'City Attorney' , Bob Meyers for his work with Santa Monica's homeless. Bob Myers was fired for the same reason I presented him with the Sculpturesque Painting of Santa Monica. I also created a painting for St. Joseph's Homeless Diner called ' The Bread and Roses Cafe ; in Venice were professional people of all walks of life; Actors, actresses, Doctors, Nurses, and many of other professions . Who served homeless people a great home cooked meal every morning !

One named Cannabis Crucifixion , presented to Jack Herer for his writing the book called "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" The Authoritative Historical Record of the Cannabis Plant, Marijuana Prohibition, How Hemp Can Still Save the World' ! Author 'Udo Erasmus' writes in his book;FATS that HEAL on page 287, 'Hemp: Nature's Most Perfectly Balance Oil'!

Hawaii is the first state to legalize Hemp for medicine without going through the voters !

Just made it law Exterior walls include 'Seven Presidents Heads on a wall at 19, 19th Avenue, Muscle Beach, Venice, Ca. ! Who the neighbors named; "Mount TokeMore" A couple of walls at 15 Rose Ave. Venice Ca.!The Three Trees" on The Finland Lodge! My love for running brought me to Honolulu, Hawaii in June, 1994. & here I created a painting named ;" Runner's World&" and when my sister and

brother in-law came to visit, they took it and presented it to the Rodales of Emmaus, Penna. for their health and fitness magazines 'Prevention and Runner's World' .

I created four paintings to show people who are blind to the "Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped" located in Waikiki, Hawaii. If anyone reading this wants to know 'how the blind like my painting' . You can call the Library at 808-733-6444

Madeline Park; (blind from birth) commissioned me to create a painting for her. So I created a painting of a 'seagull flying pass the sun over the mountains and ocean, And I named it; "Madelin's May Seagull"!

Madeline had the secretary at the 'Blind Library' write me a note that reads and I quote:

"I can see with my fingers and I can use my imagination to bring sea, bird, sun and mountains into focus in my own version of color.T actual objects can help the blind see things some of them have never seen before" .