Leonardo da Vinci was a Renaissance painter and sculptor . He is most renown for his paintings, "Mona Lisa" and "Last Supper". "Donatello" ad "Gattanmelata" are his most famous statues. While many marvel at his talent as an artist, there is other skills that are often overlooked. He was also a writer and designer. His sketchbooks are full of drawings and notes from his ideas and observations. He wrote about life as he knew it or imagined it could be. Many artists can boast of work they have accomplished but their patrons are not able to follow the artist's journey because they failed to record it. Another exceptional characteristic of this artist is that he did not limit his interest and documentationsolely to the visual arts. He realized that art is connected to the whole universe and so expanded his quests into the realm of science and architecture. It appears he wanted to taste, touch and explore everything in the Renaissance world. He was even curious about the human body. He asked a physician friend to let him observe the unclaimed corpses before burial. Then he made detailed sketches of organs and muscles that would be worthy of any medical journal. However, he did not stop there. His sketchbook contains drawings of machines that were futuristic. While laying in the field as a young boy he watched the birds fly. The thought of flight obsessed him and he spent years trying to devise a flying machine. His sketches have early designs for a helicopter and hang glider. One gets the impression that nothing escaped Leonardo's attention. He used his design and art skills to ask questions. "How does this work?" "Is there a better design?" "What does this mean?" "How can I express this?" Questioning of life and sketching ideas are valid practices for every artist. An artist's journey is not only valuable to them but to the future.
