Mona LeBlond was born in Timmins, Ontario, into a French Canadian family, and grew up as the eldest of six children, including a twin. Educated in the French language school system, she later studied nursing in Toronto and Ottawa and continued her education through the primary healthcare nurse practitioner program at McMaster University in Hamilton. She devoted 37 years to nursing, hospital care, and public health, a career that strengthened her compassion, resilience, and a deep understanding of the human experience.
Mona was born legally blind, although the extent of visual impairment was not discovered until she was a young child at approximately seven years old. Some of her earliest visual memories are not clearly defined objects, but of light and colour-especially the glow of church candles, and luminous colours surrounding them. Those early impressions remained with her throughout her life and became an unexpected foundation for her art. She is also a breast cancer survivor and lives with the sequelae of Lyme disease.
After retiring, Mona discovered painting at the age of 69 when a neighbour invited her to paint along with online tutorials. What began casually soon became a profound new direction in her life. With no formal art training, she developed an intuitive way of working allowing colour, shape, texture, light and emotion to guide each painting.
Her visual history has had a powerful influence on her artistic language. Because light and colour were among the strongest elements she perceived from childhood, colour became instinctive rather than learned. She does not begin with strict plans or sketches. Instead, she follows colour, relationships, and the movement of light until the painting reveals itself.
Mona works primarily in acrylic on professional gallery, wrapped canvas. Her paintings often feature northern Ontario, landscapes, birch trees, water skies reflections, and hidden faces. Her work is known for luminous colour, atmospheric light, and a sense of serenity, hope and resilience.
For Mona painting is more than image making. It is a form of meditation and discovery, as she often says “When I paint I hear silence.” Her experience of legal blindness has not limited her relationship with art. It has shaped the way she understands it. Light allows her to see, colour allows her to feel and painting has given those experiences a language of their own.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Art for me is a daily act of discovery and honesty. I began painting at 69 and each canvas is a conversation with colour, memory and the natural world that always inspires me. My work moves from impressionism, to expressionism, abstraction and representation, but always seems to capture the emotional undertones whether it is the hush of the northern forest, the riot of spring, or the quiet wisdom of a familiar face. My process is intuitive and physical, layering acrylics to build texture in depth, allowing each painting to evolve in its own time. I believe art should felt as much as seen. I hope my works will invite viewers to pause,reflect and find their own stories within the brushstrokes.