Lesley Powell

Lesley Powell paints in oils with a classical approach to composition and color, but she has a point of view that is fresh and contemporary.  Her chosen approach is to paint directly from life.  She often paints on location, or composes still lifes in her studio.  Lesley says “Working from life allows me to translate my experience of the scene into a painting that calls forth the viewer’s own responses.”

Lesley’s plein air paintings are complete works in themselves, but they can also be springboards to larger works that are completed later in the studio.  The paintings, together with reference notes and sketches done on location, become tools for creating successful larger works.  This approach preserves the freshness and liveliness of Lesley’s field work, and brings a sense of immediacy to her paintings.