AMBASSADOR
DAME LEITH EATON
Fine Artist and Designer
 

ABOUT

 

Ambassador Dame Leith Scott Thomas Eaton was given the position and title by the Knights of Malta for her many accomplishments within The Arts and her Philanthropic endeavors. A direct descendant of King Edward III of England, and blood relative of American pioneer Daniel Boone and the Founder of Wells Fargo, began her career in the art world through the medium of three-dimensional design. Her early collectors include the Royal Families of Italy and Yugoslavia, Prince Pierre d’Arenburg, Frank Sinatra, Joan Baruch Bove, Lilly Pulitzer and others. She gained fast recognition as one of America’s leading designers. After experimenting with a variety of media, she decided to devote most of her time to the world of painting. Leith found she could best express herself through means of a heavy impasto technique using an alla prima application. Leith has made a dramatic impact in contemporary art circles with her evolutionary form of painting called "Scintillism".
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Leith first introduced her work in 1991 in a solo exhibition held in Wilmington, Delaware, hosted by Alvenia Bridges, best known for the press and public relations services she has provided for clients such as Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones. In 1992, the second of her exhibitions in Manhattan, was given by Elizabeth Ives Bartholet, who brought Cubism to America and discovered Modigliani.

In October 1992, Dr. Jasna Pervan Huertley, critic and art historian at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the United Nations, brought the Artist’s style into focus. “There are many exciting features in Leith’s work. The first impression is one of vivid and exciting colors that represent an enhanced reality. Then there is an almost sculptured effect, which is obtained through a layer of colors. Each piece is painted, and then paint is laid over, again and again. It is only after these steps have been completed that the work is produced in its final form known as Scintillism... It gives the impression of a sculptured impressionism. Her masterful technique complements and enhances her exciting subject matter. It is an innovation in the technique of painting. Leith is a dedicated artist who balances talent, skill, technique and creativity with exceptional dedication and ease. She is an innovative artist who has created a new trend.”

David Bomford, former Director of The Getty Museum said, ""Leith Eaton's paintings are extraordinary!" Maurice Tuchman, Senior Curator Emeritus of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art made a studio for Leith in his home on the top of Nichols Canyon, where Leith painted prior to her moving to Los Angeles.

“My painting is used as a tool of expression”, says this artist, who has a studio in Malibu, California. Leith has had exposure to many cultures and abundant inspiration. In her paining she wishes to promote a vibrant feeling of energy, movement and pleasure. "It is an expression of love and happiness for me.” Leith brings to the world of painting amazing texture, brilliant light reflection, vivid colors and abounding energy. Through Scintillism, atmosphere and light, so revered by the French impressionists, are accentuated by movement and color (not quite Fauvist), and above all, a youthful eye for sizing up a subject.

Leith presently has her studio in southern California. Leith has been listed in the 1994 and 1995 editions of Art in America. She was commissioned to do a portrait of President Bush and Congressman Wayne T. Gilchrest of Maryland, of which is on display in the Halls of Congress in Washington DC. Leith was commissioned by CBS Sports and was televised live on the 17th tee during the AT&T Pro-Am Tournament at Pebble Beach, 1995, painting Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

In January 1996, Leith was in Washington, D.C. to enjoy her solo exhibition “America The Beautiful”, held in the Cannon House Rotunda of Congress and hosted by the late Congressman Sonny Bono. Coinciding with the exhibition, she painted a commissioned portrait of Senator Bob Dole, which was unveiled in January of 1996 in Congress. Additional events are Charity Fundraisers for "Kids in Solitude", April 20th, 2002 at the California Club and "The World Federation of Nations Foundation in May and June of 2002 in California Federal Bank in Beverly Hills. An exhibition was also scheduled originally through Senator John Warner and later through Senator Dianne Feinstein and was held in the Russell Senate Office Building Rotunda in 2004 called “America the Beautiful Series II”. The Mayor of Washington DC Proclaimed March 11, 2004, Leith Eaton Day. The exhibition then traveled to the Ronald Reagan Center also in 2004.

Leith is registered in the Smithsonian Institute after being chosen as the Official Artist for the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego. In addition, she did a painting for the 1997 Palm Springs Nortel Film Festival, The Palm Springs Film and Entertainment Museum and the Desert Sunshine Express. Leith was asked to be the Official Artist for the 50th Anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, and in addition she has been asked to have a traveling tour to the Kremlin and Hermitage Museum in Russia, and to do a joint venture with the Annenberg Center that has developed into an ongoing work of art to be implemented in schools, universities and public facilities all over the United States. Leith was interviewed on Larry King Live on March 19, 2005 and also in 2005 Leith was commissioned to paint 20 paintings through the Fine Arts Council for the City of Los Angeles, California and she has completed the commission and paintings are displayed at The Midnight Mission building.

Leith is known to a coterie of important collectors that include Prime Minister Netanyahu, Chozu Yoshii, Robert Gore Rifkind, Congressman Gilchrest and Congresswoman Mary Bono. She is noted for her landscapes, fields of flowers, still life, marine life and portraits. Leith is broadening her scope of creativity to include a series of Mandala Paintings for the New Millennium and Transceiver Sculpture as a form of energy enhancing art, to be used in public and corporate buildings such as Eisenhower Medical Center, where one was recently installed. New subjects present themselves as a challenge so long as they contain or have the potential of energy and movement. When not painting in her studio, Leith spends time with her family and travels extensively, while gaining new inspirations along the way. An active sportswoman, she excels at tennis, riding, skiing and swimming. Leith has experienced the thrill of skydiving, has taken flying lessons, and survived some whitewater rafting and scuba diving, the latter in the beautiful coral reefs off Papua New Guinea, just one of many lush natural scenes which has come to inform and inspire her work.