About the Artist
Leone Tonkinson’s artistic journey has always followed the path of light. Born under the open skies of South Africa and now painting in the heart of the Netherlands, her work captures the quiet dialogue between illumination and form — what she calls Solar Realism.
“Light was never something I painted — it was something I listened to.”
Trained first as an architect, Leone learned to see space as rhythm and structure, where every shadow defines proportion and balance. Yet even then, her fascination with the way sunlight entered a room, shifting tone and emotion throughout the day, revealed something deeper. The discipline of architecture became the foundation of her art — order and precision in service of wonder.
“Order taught me discipline; light taught me freedom.”
After more than a decade in architecture, she turned fully toward painting — studying classical oil technique and art history to understand the lineage of realism. But it was through experience, not theory, that her own language emerged: the moment she realized that light could be both subject and messenger. From that understanding, Solar Realism was born — a practice where technical mastery meets quiet devotion.
“There comes a moment when light begins to paint you.”
At her studio and teaching atelier, TonkinsonARTmasters, Leone mentors artists in the craft of classical oil painting and the development of their personal signature. Her students learn to paint not only what they see, but what they feel — to trust the stillness, to listen to the light. Each lesson is both technical and meditative, bridging centuries of tradition with a living sense of presence.
“Teaching light is teaching trust.”
Collectors describe her work as calm yet radiant — paintings that hold silence the way sunlight holds warmth. Her giclées and originals are crafted with archival care, ensuring that their quiet luminosity endures. Each piece, whether small study or large canvas, carries a sense of belonging — a reminder that beauty is not separate from life, but the light within it.
“Every painting is a meeting point — between the seen and the felt.”
