I was raised in Oakland, went to university in Arkansas, got married and lived half of my adult life in southern Africa.
My 3 children were raised in Zimbabwe, where I taught elementary school, and was able to share my enthusiasm for the creative process with children aged from 8–14.
Since returning to California in 2003, I started a personal, in depth exploration into art with a variety of media. I started with oils, then pen and ink, water-soluable colored pencils, graphite, oil pastels and Batik. My subjects are about as varied: animals, vegetation, motorbike engines, doors and steps. One quality that links my artwork together is the detail. Sometimes I find myself with my nose only 2 inches away from the image I’m creating.
Whenever a friend comes over for a visit, I love to share what’s going on in my studio–the best, most creative room in the house. Since I have family and friends scattered all around the globe from Zimbabwe to Lithuania to Australia, the next best place to share my art is through this website.
I plan to share my space, methods, works in progress and final achievements through photos, videos and blogs. Please feel free to browse around my gallery of completed works!
Leslie Swartz 