The Artist
Born and bred
in Gee Cross, Hyde, Lesley has worked as a graphic designer and
commercial artist for over 30 years.
Most of Lesley's
work is done with a mixture of oil pastel and gouache. She admits
to never having been very keen on oil pastels until fairly recently
... perhaps it is something to do with recapturing one's youth
... they are, after all, as she puts it, "just crayons for
grown ups!"
Her pictures
capture aspects of her local landscape and how she feels about
it. She says:
"The
view from the Cenotaph on Werneth Low has changed dramatically
over the past 40 years, but standing there with the wind in
your face ... that feeling of being 'on top of the world' is
always the same. The woodlands along the river in Haughton Dale
can change their mood as quickly as a temperamental teenager.
I never intend to merely capture the view … I leave that
to people with more patience - or a camera! What I try to do
is paint what I feel".
She confesses
that capturing the 'sense of place' is always exciting to her,
something like needing to tell someone important news - you just
want to blurt it out! She goes on to say that it's great if her
audience can see a bit of what she felt in her paintings …
but if not, then at least she hopes that they will be encouraged
to go out and enjoy everything the countryside has to offer.
"The
voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes ... but
in having new eyes."
Marcel
Proust
Lesley
has worked on commissions for hospitals,
Local Authorities and on corporate projects, mostly with an environmental
theme. Her love of the natural environment influences all her
work, which has been exhibited at the Central Gallery Tameside,
Stockport Gallery and other independent galleries.
Lesley can
be contacted by email at:
L.A.Bardsley@btopenworld.com
