Leslie Parker

Leslie learned oil painting in her youth through years of one on one lessons with a professional artist. She lives in Toronto and is a practicing architect and artist. Over the last few years she has exhibited in numerous group shows with the Leslie Grove Gallery in Toronto, at the McMichael Autumn Artisanal Market, at the Riverdale Artwalk and Artwalk on the Square.

I work In oil paints on stretched canvas and use solvent free mediums. I like to keep a sense of spontaneity and freshness in my paintings and I do that by working without undersketches and using brushwork, palette knifes and thicker applications of paint to create texture. I try to finish most of the painting while the oil paint is still wet so I can work all the colours together, and then I will go back for touch ups after the initial drying period. There is a personal connection to each subject that I paint whether it be a still life I have set up, a bouquet of flowers that I have enjoyed, or photos that I have taken when travelling or walking around Toronto, and each painting shares a unified style that simplifies line and colour but is also bursting with detail.