Marja-Leena Montonen was born in northern Scandinavia to Finnish parents, and grew up surrounded by forests and nature. In her childhood she was given the freedom and independence to play and create her own world. So she started to paint everything she saw and more importantly what she wanted to see, from her imagination. Since then she has always been living in two worlds, one real and one ideal. She loves colour and movement, she loves freedom and paints it constantly, she likes her characters to fly. They do what they want to do, she doesn't steer or put any boundaries on them. It's they who tell her what they want to show of themselves. Her pictures come from this place within her that she's never been to or has any control over, it's just her duty to put them down on canvas true to the form they are presented to her. And she paints because she loves it, and to her, that's the most important thing to do. Through her art she wants to express movement, feelings of playfulness, closeness and inspiration." Montonen has exhibited in Sweden, Denmark, Australia, London, Greece and New York. she painted greeting cards for Swedish charities who have sold 1.5 million of her cards. Her paintings hang in private and corporate collections around the world.