About the Artist

      Graphite, charcoal, watercolor, printmaking, pastels, monoprinting, acrylic and oil painting have all been familiar to Leslie for the greater part of her life.  Her twenty years of teaching high school art honed her skills in explaining concepts and techniques as well as crystallized personal perceptions and working methods.

       She enjoys still lifes because of the ease with which they are set up and preserved for as much time as needed. Currently plein air painting intrigues her because being surrounded by nature challenges her to capture the changing light and moods of the countryside.  For her, this is a sharp contrast to work done in the studio.  An outdoor presence offers an immediacy in experiencing differing textures, shapes, colors, and values and stretches her out of her methodical comfort zone.

        Currently her work includes both studio and plein air oil painting.  Each complements the other.  The spontaneity of plein air combined with the orderly development in the studio subdues the impatient energy in the field.  These two approaches merge and increase the vitality of her work.

Landscape painting, especially plein air, is simultaneously exhilarating, peaceful, and demanding. When standing outside and considering a potential scene, there is such an incredible variety of light effects, land formations, shadows, smells, sounds, trees, seasons, and textures - and I am overwhelmed.  I have heard it said that creation is God’s first missionary.  Communicating something deep within about experiencing God’s fingerprint in creation has become my goal. And I recognize that the desire to create is God’s fingerprint in me. 

Awards

• February, 2021, Mooresville Art Guild Winter Juried Exhibition, Juror’s Choice
• February, 2020, Mooresville Art Guild Winter Juried Exhibition, First Place
• January, 2018, Mooresville Art Guild Winter Juried Art Exhibition, Juror’s Choice
• October, 2017 Mooresville Art Guild, Honorable Mention, Artoberfest
• August, 2016, Abingdon Arts Depot, “The Four Seasons” collaborative show
• July, 2016, Virginia Highlands Festival, three paintings juried in, one Honorable Mention
• March, 2016., Appalachian Art Show, two paintings juried in
• April, 2016, Women Painters of the South East, “The Sheep are in the Meadow” juried in
• July, 2015, Virginia Highlands Festival, juried show, Honorable Mention, “The Sheep are in the Meadow . . .”, two additional pieces accepted
• March, 2015. Signature status awarded into Women Painters of the South East
• March, 2015, Women Painters of the South East juried show, “Sophie” accepted
• March, 2015, Appalachian Art Show, Award of Merit, “Big Reds”
• October, 2014, Best in Show and People’s Choice, “Fall Break”, Kingsport Art Guild Members’ Show
• August, 2014, VA Highlands Festival, juried show, three pieces accepted, “Noontime” received an Award of Merit
• March, 2014, Women Painters of the Southeast, juried show, two pieces accepted, “Nice Threads” awarded Outstanding Still Life

Galleries:

Cindy Saadeh Fine Art, Kingsport, TN

Affiliations: 

Mooresville Art Guild

Wayside Painters of North Carolina, founder (Charlotte, Statesville, Hickory, Concord)

North East Tennessee Plein Air Painters (Just Plein Nuts) - founder (Tri-Cities, Tennessee)

Abingdon Arts Depot, Abingdon, VA

Education:

BS in art education - Mississippi State University for Women and East Tennessee State University

Master of Arts in painting - East Tennessee State University

Workshops: Jacobus Baas, Debra Huse, Ken Auster, Kim English, Lisa Boardwine,  Kathie Odom, Monique Carr, Dawn Whitelaw, Ray Hassard, Georgie Bemis