Artist, Painter | Medium: Watercolor | Read Artist Bio
Artist Bio:
Leslie Lambert, also known as Leslie Redhead, is an artist, teacher, illustrator, and author known for her dramatic watercolors. Her art focuses on the combination of spontaneity and detail that watercolor has to offer. Leslie enjoys exploring the possibilities of the medium beyond its limitations by spraying and pouring the paint which captures the essence of light, atmosphere, and motion in an unique way.
The artist was born in Sandy, Utah within views of the Wasatch Mountain range and the Great Salt Lake. When she was 9 years old, her family moved to Ashton, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C. Leslie’s mother, also an artist, began taking her on excursions to the National Gallery of Art and other museums to experience the many possibilities of how to create and portray the world around her. As a teenager, Leslie first discovered what it felt like to paint. Leslie describes the moment when she put a brush to paper as magical. “It was incredible to watch as the colors moved and mixed across a surface. I was finally able to communicate what I felt. I madly and furiously painted several paintings within days. I had found my passion.”
Leslie eventually moved to the Boston area and then to Canada where she became a popular instructor of art. Leslie was led to pursue a Master’s in art education at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC. This program was studio based, granting her the time and space to investigate her work in depth. This is where Leslie refined her method of pouring paint, among other techniques.
As Leslie explains, “I love the movement of paint and water. Pouring liquid watercolor is about control and letting that control go. There is freedom and spontaneity that occurs within a structure. I carefully plan, arrange, and design a work of art, then I let the paint go. It glides and flows, mixing luminous colors across the paper. Pigment and water interact and play as they push and pull each other. There is an element of surprise that comes from the freedom of pouring paint. “
Leslie’s paintings are in private and corporate collections worldwide. In addition to the signature status with the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, she is a signature member of the Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS). Leslie is the author of Watercolor 365 and the illustrator of Island in the Salish Sea, by Sheryl McFarlane. She continues to teach with the University of Victoria, as well as online, throughout Canada, the U.S., Spain, and Morocco. The artist currently resides in Colville, Washington where she creates works of art portraying vast expanses of earth, water, sky, and studio.