Copyright 2025 ILIA aka Leigh Ann Edrich. All Rights Reserved.
“You really can’t stop an artist. That was true for me. Behind the scenes, locked away in a closet were my creations of poetry and art.”
Tracing the Lines of Imagination
Ilia’s creative journey began in the warm company of family and flora, nurtured by afternoons filled with crayons, paper mâché, and imaginative construction around the kitchen table. These early artistic explorations, led by her mother’s inventive spirit, laid the foundation for a lifelong relationship with visual and written art. A standout moment came during a science fair collaboration with her mother, where they built a functioning paper mâché volcano—a tangible example of Ilia’s childhood fascination with transforming ideas into form. Alongside art, Ilia also learned to care for plants without chemical aids, guided by the old-world wisdom of her grandfather. This intersection of natural care and creative energy still informs her work today, where nature often plays a quiet, yet vivid, role in her pieces.
Her artistic evolution was never bound by a single medium or moment. Though early on she found herself in the isolating grip of skepticism and ridicule, she took refuge in poetry and drawing, keeping her art hidden away while she worked in roofing—a profession that granted her freedom from judgment and the space to process. Yet, her creative instincts refused to stay dormant. The quiet persistence of her artistic soul finally found encouragement and validation through a poetic correspondence with Ralph E. Grimes, a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. When she sent him a drawing, he not only hung it up, but shared with her the impact it had on others. This pivotal moment reignited her confidence and cemented her path. Her first painting sale in 1987, titled Cosi Fan Tutti, marked the beginning of a professional trajectory that combined intuition, skill, and a keen ability to connect deeply with her audience.
Art for Ilia has always been about more than self-expression. It’s about helping others awaken their own creative voices. She believes firmly that inspiring someone else to create lifts everyone involved. This guiding philosophy has led her to mentor fellow artists, helping them carve out sustainable careers. Her purpose expands far beyond the canvas, moving into spaces of encouragement, empowerment, and artistic advocacy. Her personal mission is deeply intertwined with a desire to foster a broader creative community, one that elevates and sustains itself through shared vision and practical support.
ILIA: Building Dreams from Digital Light
The unique signature of Ilia’s artwork lies in what she calls Dreamscapes—a digital fine art technique born from the phrase, “What if…?” These vibrant, immersive works aren’t premeditated; rather, they emerge in layers, developed component by component and assembled like an intricate visual symphony. Each piece may take anywhere from fifty to one hundred hours to complete, undergoing careful refinement until the intended message resonates clearly. She surveys each finished Dreamscape, watching for how viewers respond—if the reaction is genuinely positive and emotionally stirred, then the piece earns its place in her core collection. Her art lives not just in pixels, but in connection, memory, and message.
Though Dreamscapes are the signature form that distinguishes her in the digital art world, Ilia’s exploration of materials is extensive. She has worked with pencils, charcoal, pastels, acrylics, oils, and her long-loved acrylic inks. Yet, it was during her work designing websites and graphics for other artists that she first experimented with digital tools in an unconventional way. That spark led her to invent her own technique—fine digital art with a look and feeling entirely distinct from anything else. This medium, combined with her musical and poetic influences, gives her art a unique texture—vivid and evocative, like a visual language composed of emotions, questions, and whispers from the subconscious.
Ilia doesn’t isolate her creative endeavors; her writing flows alongside her visual work, forming a complete dialogue. Her upcoming literary works include titles like The Art of Mentoring, The Elderly Artist and The Vampire, and I Became a Roofer. These writings serve dual purposes: they offer guidance and mentorship, and they chronicle her unorthodox journey through artistic self-discovery. Each title hints at rich inner landscapes and lived wisdom, further revealing how her voice as a writer strengthens her visual storytelling. Art and language are inseparable for Ilia—each line, whether drawn or written, aims to awaken a deeper recognition in those who encounter it.
Sound, Sanctuary, and the Spark of Space
Creating for Ilia is a multisensory experience. Music is more than background—it is a co-creator in her process. Whether she is painting or designing a Dreamscape, classical compositions and vintage jazz melodies shape the emotional atmosphere of her workspace. Composers like Mozart, Vivaldi, and Beethoven, along with the expressive flute of Jean-Pierre Rampal, infuse her studio with rhythm and introspection. These sonic currents influence her pacing, her brushstrokes, and the emotional undertones of her work. The harmony between sight and sound is a defining element in both her workflow and the aesthetic essence of her final pieces.
Her creative space is deliberately designed to foster inspiration and serenity. Art from past triumphs adorns the walls, reminding her of creative victories and sustaining her confidence. The environment is filled with character—small, cherished objects and natural life create a setting that feels like a sanctuary. Just outside, she shares her space with birds, squirrels, feral cats, and a newly arrived rabbit, each adding a layer of life and movement to her surroundings. This blend of cultivated ambiance and spontaneous nature supports her vision of a workspace as a living, breathing ecosystem—one that nurtures ongoing creation.
To protect her focus, Ilia adopts a disciplined approach to technology. Aware of the endless distractions posed by modern devices, she separates her tools by function: one computer is solely dedicated to art-making and stays offline; another is reserved for writing; a third handles marketing, emails, and social media. This compartmentalization not only boosts her productivity but also safeguards her from digital overwhelm. Such organization allows her to immerse deeply into her projects while keeping her artistic integrity intact. It is an intentional structure built to protect the fragile yet vital flow of inspiration.
ILIA: Where Imagination Becomes Environment
Influences on Ilia’s artistry stretch across disciplines and decades. L. Ron Hubbard’s rational philosophies left a significant imprint on her worldview, as did the immersive musicality of Chick Corea and the crowd-enchanting energy of David Pomerantz. Visual storytelling from artists like Jim Warren, a Grammy-winning painter and Disney collaborator, and the enduring intensity of Van Gogh’s brushwork, further shaped her aesthetic instincts. These figures did more than inspire—they helped her build an internal compass that directs her not just toward creating beauty, but toward generating awareness and elevating experience.
Ralph E. Grimes, both a mentor and a catalyst, played an instrumental role in legitimizing her early works and nurturing her belief in her own talent. His feedback was not only validating but transformative, helping her understand that her work was not merely skillful but carried new perceptions of reality. His guidance used the “Validate the Rightness” method, which aligned with her own approach to empowering others. Together with Hubbard’s multifaceted creative legacy, these influences positioned Ilia at a rare crossroads of artistic vision and humanistic philosophy—where each canvas or paragraph becomes a transmission of insight.
Looking ahead, Ilia dreams of a fully immersive experience—an interactive sanctuary where her Dreamscapes extend beyond the frame into physical reality. This envisioned project would combine plants, animals, atmospheric soundscapes, and her digital artworks into a cohesive environment, allowing people to step into the world she creates. It’s not just about art—it’s about creating a shared dream, a breathing installation of comfort and discovery. In this space, viewers wouldn’t just observe—they’d be enveloped, becoming a part of her ever-expanding, ever-inspiring vision.
