Leila Kirkley

Cindercone Arts, Inc.

Gallery and Store

Leila Kirkley

Leila (pronounced Lee-EYE-lah) was born and raised in the Midwest. As a child, her favorite pastime was drawing and painting. Later on, however, she was attracted to the sciences. She began her career as a health professional in Los Angeles, and, after earning a doctorate in psychology, became a psychotherapist in private practice for 25 years.

In the mid l980’s she felt an intense need to fulfill herself creatively and became drawn to oil painting. It was a life altering decision. Longing to paint like the Old Masters, she discovered a small atelier called Mission Renaissance that taught fine art according to classical techniques – drawing and oil painting from life. It was a perfect fit. She studied with a number of Los Angeles artists including Larry Gluck of Mission Renaissance and Bill Martin and John Strong of Martin-Strong Fine Arts.

In l996 the growing conflict between the demands of her practice and the magnetic pull of painting led her to Sedona, Arizona, where powerful creative forces stimulate those who are open to them.

She now paints full time in a small studio on the edge of the Coconino Forest, her eyes fed by the beauty of the high desert of Northern Arizona.

Her medium is oil, her tool, the palette knife, which she utilizes to produce rich, textured surfaces.

Leila’s award-winning paintings have been chosen for exhibition in California by the Beverly Hills Art League and in Arizona at the Sedona Art Center. She is married to psychiatrist Richard Metzner, her collaborator on this web site. They have three sons.