We recently connected with Leira Cruz Cáliz and have shared our conversation below.

Leira, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I am self-taught. I do not have any formal training or education in art, so almost all I know is what I have learned from playing with art supplies through my years of making art for myself.

I am an artist only part-time, I do have a 9-5 job, and a daughter I adore, so time has always been the resource I lack the most.

So when the Pandemic hit in 2020, all of the sudden I had a bunch of time in my hands, I started to sit down, watch videos and read books about how to do things, and learn the science of art.

Needless to say that I almost learned nothing, because I kept going back to doing things my way, and not the “correct” way. Not to say that I didn’t pick up a thing or two.

Little by little I have found that the only “correct” way to do things, is how it makes you happy. And even though the science of doing art is amazing and interesting, it doesn’t really fill me with joy.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am from Puerto Rico. Like many artists, I was drawn to art at a very young age. And like many artists, I was discouraged of pursuing an art career. So I didn’t. I pursued a career in computer sciences, and that didn’t end up really well, because I work on a completely different field.

Now, you may give up on Art, but Art will never give up on you. Thanks to my husband, I started painting again, for myself. And thanks to him (and the Pandemic) I started selling my art at the end of 2021. At the beginning I was not very confident about my art, because you just never know who will like it and who won’t. But that’s just the thing isn’t? You don’t know.

I decided to clean up my Instagram, create a web page and go with it. Today, in artbyleira.com you can find totebags, backpacks and notebooks with my art on them.

My art is very varied, however it mostly features female faces with markings and quotes all around them. I started drawing anime style, and then expanded into the style of Michael Turner and Stan Lee. Now, I am inspired by the work of Jane Davenport and Frida Kahlo.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

When a non-creative gets it.

They see your work and they identify with it, and it’s like a wall comes down and they open themselves up to you in a way that you never expected. You can see their faces relax, and their shoulders drop and then… they pour their heart out to you.

It is just a human thing, and it happens to everyone, however, for some reason, it hits different from a person who doesn’t do art.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I had gotten the hang of social media earlier. Now, at 34, and a mom, and a professional, some times I feel like I’m too old for it! Lol!

Contact Info:

• Website: artbyleira.com
• Instagram: artby_leira