It wasn’t until college that Leach started to hone in on art as a profession. He studied art in Hawaii at Brigham Young University Hawaii. Before then he had never used oil paints and had only once or twice painted a picture. He did, however, always have a sketchbook and doodle often.

 For seven years after graduating his art production was limited as he had a nine-to-five desk job. After being laid off with nearly 700 other employees He had an option: continue working at a desk or dedicate his life to creating artwork for a living. It was, in large part, due to the encouragement of his wife Sarah, to choose the latter.

In April of 2017 Trijsten started to paint full time and began to build where he had left off in college. Plein air painting has been a crucial part to his growth and learning as he seeks to learn and improve his artistic skills and storytelling abilities. Through a series of fortunate events he was able to study under the renowned California Landscape Artist John Burton. In his own words, “That experience did more for my art education than any other instruction and learning I had done previously. It was a huge blessing and really pointed me in the right direction as an artist.”

Since then Trijsten has participated in many shows and competitions, as well as winning awards, including 1st place at the Driggs Idaho Plein air Competition. Leach sells his work in a number of Utah galleries.

Travel has also played an important part in Trijsten’s work, and he and his family have spent a lot of time traveling in the US and Europe, gathering reference and inspiration from the unique landscapes and cultures abroad. Trijsten currently lives in central Utah along the Wasatch mountain range with his wife and two children. Trijsten's Website