Leticia Demeuse Fine Art

Bringing a touch of Brazil

to the local art scene

By Marti Gacioch

Leticia Demeuse learned to love art while watching her mother Maria Ilha paint.

“I thought that what she was doing looked like a lot of fun,” Demeuse said. “She took me to an art class when I was about 21, and I’ve been studying and painting ever since.”

Demeuse works out of her Solana Beach home, painting large acrylic abstracts and florals in a contemporary style. But early on, painting was just a lighthearted pastime for her because she was intently focused on a job in the field of communications.

Born in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, Demeuse earned a degree in publicity and advertising before completing an MBA in marketing. She worked for a large TV company for several years and then began handling publicity for a shopping center. It wasn’t until eight years ago that she began studying with her Brazilian mentor, Dorinha Flohlich, and started painting in a more serious way.

“I was drawn to publicity and advertising because I was always fascinated with the idea of communicating through an image, and now I can relay that with my art,” she said. “Flohlich taught me all kinds of techniques, but I still had to find myself and see which ones worked for my art.”

While Demeuse still visits Brazil every year to study with Flohlich, she now considers Solana Beach her home. She first visited this area in 1994 while she was still a college student and continued to spend her vacations here. Four years ago, she finally decided to settle here.

“I love the beach and sunsets; they’re the reason I moved here,” she said. “We don’t have beaches where I live in southern Brazil — it isn’t tropical; it has four seasons.”

Three years ago, Demeuse began selling her work professionally. She is now showing her work at the Nativa furniture store in the Cedros Design Center and at the Home Loft in Solana Beach.

She gains inspiration from the beauty of nature, including trees and sunsets, as well as the work of Brazilian artist Romero Brito. Her many travels also inspire her art. She counts Buzios beach in Rio de Janeiro and Punta del Leste in Uruguay as two of her most inspirational destinations.

Demeuse rarely works on one painting at a time and is now busy with four pieces, including a 30–by-40 inch triptych. While she paints an average of six days a week, it never seems like work to her because painting is her passion. On a good day she’ll work for hours at a time, but on a bad day she paints sporadically and then stops for the day. Some of her abstract paintings feature multiple layers, and that often necessitates that the various layers dry before she can paint another layer.

“I have to actually be inspired because every painting is a different process for me; some can be done in a few days and others take up to two months,” she said.

According to Demeuse, her paintings depend largely on her mood. She tends to use darker colors on a rainy day and brighter colors on a sunny day

“Being from Brazil, it probably doesn’t get any more festive and colorful than that,” she said. “I think I have a lot of that is in my paintings.”

Demeuse loves to see people experience the joy she feels in her paintings.

“When I visit a customer’s house and they’re happy and tell me that my painting looks amazing, it’s great to have feedback like that because a piece of art is something that a person has to really love,” she said. “If they’re not 100 percent sure, I won’t let anyone buy my paintings because they’re going to be looking at them everyday.”

She also appreciates the diverse impressions that people have of her work.

“Everyone sees something different because an abstract painting is going to look different for each person.” she said.

Demeuse is currently studying with Kate Ashton at the San Diego Art Department in North Park where she participates in the monthly “Ray at Night” event that is held on the second Saturday each month.

Her artistic goal is to open her own gallery where she can show not only her work, but also that of other artists. To schedule an appointment for a private showing of her work, contact Demeuse through her web site at www.leticiademeuse.com.