Commissions:
Works in process. Click here to review.
ART FAIR SCHEDULE
Winter: 2010
Estero, FL
Las Olas - Ft. Lauderdale
Bonita Springs, FL
Winter Park, FL
Naples, FL


February 27-28
March 6-7
March 13-14
March 19-21
March 27-28


Digital Paintings
John Leben . PO Box 8 . Saugatuck, MI 49453 . 269.857.4780 . jleben@lebenart.com


Harbor Island
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print


More Info


Beachfront Property
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print


More Info


Benjamin Islands
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Silent Passage
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


South Manitou
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Hitching Post
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print


More Info


Summer Stairs
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Lifeguard Hut
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Private Stairs
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Island Time
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Secret Stairs
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Mount Baldy
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Dead End
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print


More Info


Hidden Dinghy
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Broken Stairs
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Beach Ladder
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Dune Stairs
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Benches
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Downstairs Chairs
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Upstairs House
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Tree House
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Moon Stairs
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print


More Info


Dune House
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Mountain Stairs
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Blue Chairs
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Big Climb
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print


More Info


Summer Pier
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print


More Info


Tire Swing
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info


Boat House
Digital Painting

Available as a
limited edition print

More Info

Galleries
Bumbley.com
The most complete
selection is at
this online gallery.
1-800-353-2232
Click here to see a
variety of
John Leben's work.

Lake Effect
Gallery

54 West Eighth Street
Holland, Michigan 49423
616-395-3025
email
website

MaryAl Studio
3488 64th Street
Saugatuck, MI 49453
269-857-3220
email
website

Button/ Petter
Gallery

161 Blue Stary Hwy
Douglas, MI 49406
269-857-7861
email
website

Les Sirenes
Galerie D'Art

338 Main Street
Frankfort, MI 49635
231-352-7640
email
website

Art de Triumph
Gallery

2936 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60657
773-832-4038
email
website

Red Door Gallery
310 W. Ludington Ave.
Ludington, MI 49431
231-392-4709
email
website

The Peoria
Art Guild

203 Harrison Street.
Peoria, IL 61602
309-637-2787
email
website

Horizontal Landscapes

Sunrise at Blind River
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a limited edition print

More Info


River Landing
Digital Painting
NEW-2010
Available as a limited edition print

More Info


Night Swim
Digital Painting

Available as a limited edition print

More Info


Fishermen
Digital Painting

Available as a limited edition print

More Info


Pram Race
Digital Painting

Available as a limited edition print

More Info


Laser Race
Digital Painting

Available as a limited edition print

More Info


Beach Boys
Digital Painting

Available as a limited edition print

More Info

Artist's Statement
Silent Stairways
The landscapes on this website are paintings that I created in my Macintosh computer. So, I guess I'm a digital artist... a difficult designation to explain. Using the computer as an art medium is still pretty new in the fine art world. Misconceptions abound about "digital artists." It is true that a computer program is capable of turning a photograph into a what looks like an oil painting at the touch of a button. Indeed, I have a computer program called "Painter" that has a Van Gogh filter, and it actually gives photos the look of Van Gogh's wild brushwork. Its fun, but its not art.

My digital paintings are not created by the computer. They are created with the computer as a tool, by me. Each painting takes a month or more to create. For this series, the original images (the printing plates) are digital files residing in my Macintosh computer. Each line and each color are meticulously applied layer by layer with digital pen or mouse much like a traditional printmaker would scratch lines and textures with a stylus on copper for etching plates.

But the pictures, not the technique, are the stars of this show. I’ve been working digitally for many years in an effort to capture the unique qualities of both the Michigan ande Florida landscape. The stairs, I've learned, are one of Michigan's most unique features, so I paint stairs. But I also paint the sea, the boats, the harbors... and, for fun, a scene or two from my imagination. It is my hope that some of these pictures will evoke in the viewer the same feelings of nostalgia and mystery that they do in me.

John Leben

I've been walking the beaches of Western Michigan for over 20 years, admiring the dunes and the sea and sometimes contemplating the long, meandering stairways people build from their homes down to the beach. But its only recently that I've chosen to focus on these unique stairways as a subject for my work. I still don't know exactly what it is that grabs me about these stairways. They seem to hold a secret memory of anticipation, storing every footfall in their wooden steps from every family that ventures down for a day at the beach. It's the nostalgia of carefree summer fun, but also the mystery of strangers never met. And the houses... Who lives there? Where do they come from? Where are they now? Empty houses, most of them. Summer houses, vacant, waiting for the next family. The stairs, silent, brooding, except in summer months when footsteps, young and old echo up and down these old treads.

John Leben
John Leben . PO Box 8 . Saugatuck, MI 49453 . 269.857.4780 . jleben@lebenart.com