This is me, Leanne and my cute puppy Birch, and as you can tell by his name; we are nature nerds!
Greetings!!
I have been a nature baby since I was little, growing up in a subdivision of houses set in the middle of the countryside and lots of kids to play with. I spent my days playing hide and seek in the corn fields, climbing trees and making forts in the forest, watching the tadpoles turn into frogs in the pond and playing slip n’ slide in the ditches when it rained really hard. It was a very Huck Finn childhood and I was a tomboy to say the least.
My observation of nature was always innocent until I went to University for Environmental studies and International Development when I realized that our livelihoods depend on the earth and its health. I became obsessed with the environment and doing the best I could to protect it from the evils of the world. It was a very exhausting task for one person, and so I turned to farming and developed my relationship to the land. During my days of farming, I also learned about wild edibles and how to forage them in the wilderness. I wrote a blog very appropriately named Chasing Nature, since my last name is Chase and nature was my focus. Being surrounded by plants all the time, I was observing their growing patterns, how precious they are and the beauty that they bring to our lives.
My obsession with plants has been increasing more every year as I experiment with different ways to use them in creative ways. I am always collecting nature; whether in photographs, petals and leaves, wild edibles or growing food to make a feast. Lionize Collective was born out of a need to collect, create and share. I am not an expert in one thing, but love to try new things and perfect it. I love to share my creations with others and get inspiration from new people. I truly believe that we are on this planet to appreciate nature and each other.
Without a purpose, I had been collecting flowers, leaves and petals and pressing them in books for years.
Recently, I opened some of those books and found inspiration! The beauty was completely intact and the colours were vibrant. The books were each from different places and times in my life; living in California, trips through British Columbia, farming in Ontario and now Calgary. With all the pressed plants in front of me I effortlessly started to arrange the petals in a geometric pattern from the middle and building outwards. I really love symmetry and creating this art gives me a lot of satisfaction. The piece behind me in this picture was the first one I ever made and ignited the addiction of arranging the plants in eye catching designs. I like to experiment with different styles and currently have ‘the kaleidoscope’, ‘the spiral’ and ‘the wallpaper’. I like to use fabric and wooden canvas and picture frames to design my art on and will hopefully be experimenting with other things in the future.
I am delighted to share my creations with you, and gladly welcome any commissions with a bouquet of flowers from your home, garden or special occasion.
Every design is unique, and an offering to you, created with intention to bring light, happiness, creativity, inspiration and magic to your life.
My dream in the future is to continue to feed peoples curiosity about nature, plants and the environment by sparking the passion of seeing the details that make our planet beautiful and to help them appreciate it by bringing it into their homes. I have been collecting stick and stones since I was a child, and I want to teach people to have that sense of excitement when they see something unique in their surroundings.
