Travel and art are linked in the life of Fredda Leiter, a Ventura artist whose watercolor paintings will be exhibited starting Dec. 19 at Harbor Village Gallery in a show titled “Outside Time When Circling the Globe.”

“Each moment is connected to all others, and also stands alone. A painting can capture a moment, engaging our eyes, emotions and physical sensations,” said Leiter, whose solo exhibition of small pieces (most 9 by 12 or 12 by 16 inches) will run through Jan. 14. An artist’s reception will be held 5-8 p.m. Dec. 21 in the gallery at Ventura Harbor.

Leiter has traveled widely around the world and a favorite destination is Italy, which she has visited four times, twice on watercolor class study tours. Italian landscapes are truly “outside time,” said Leiter, who once viewed a 200-year-old fresco in a church, then stepped outside to behold the same vista.

She photographed many scenes and subjects in her travels before she began painting and Leiter said some of those early slides and prints still provide inspiration for her art. “Some paintings live in my head for a long time, and a lot of work happens inside the brain. My goal is to think of the photograph as a starting point and then to decide what to throw away or move around.”

A favorite painting so far for this show, she said, is of a rhinoceros parent and child from one of her trips to Africa.

Leiter’s art studies and career began in 1999, first with classes in drawing, then in painting in oils. Her focus shifted to watercolors in 2006, when she enrolled in a watercolor class trip to Italy and took a class to prepare. Since then, she has continued to study locally and in workshops around the country with noted watercolorists.

She said, “Watercolor is a medium that challenges us. How much do we control? How much control do we relinquish? The unexpected effect can vitalize a painting.”

Most challenging, she said, is knowing when to stop, “when to take my hands off it.”

Watercolor is a difficult medium, said Leiter, but it’s “not in my nature to try something easy.” Learning to create art started with “a leap of faith,” she said, like many other accomplishments in her life, including entering medical school 10 years later than most of her classmates.

Now a practicing psychiatrist, Leiter said she devoted many more hours than usual to her artwork in preparation for this show but that the extra practice has increased her skill. “Having to carve out time to create paintings for the show has been very productive!”

Another benefit is that the act of painting and spending time with these scenes takes her back in time to the trips she has enjoyed. “It’s a delight to travel around the world and find universal moments that inspire,” Leiter said.

The gallery at 1591 Spinnaker Drive in Ventura Harbor Village is open noon-5 p.m. daily except Tuesdays. For more about the exhibit or the nonprofit Buenaventura Art Association, call 648-1235 or visit the website www.buenaventuragallery.org.