Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.
— Leonardo da Vinci

After painting and drawing oysters for weeks I was able to let go and let spirit guide my hand here.

My creative practice embodies Leonardo’s Quote. I sometimes call Spirit My Inner Being, The Universe, or Love. I feel the connection through joy, a hunch, intuition, my senses, an emotional feeling, a knowing. I work at cultivating this connection and staying grounded and present.

Yes, I graduated from Parsons School of Design, but my connection to spirit started very early. I had an imaginative calling that made me different from my friends. Though I was awarded “Most Misunderstood” and “Class Rebel” in high school, I was just marching to the beat of my own punk rock, arty, fun Inner Being’s guidance.

This was me in high school. A life size self portrait. Do you see my spirit showing?

I disconnected from The Universe when My husband died suddenly. I lost my spark. My hopes and dreams felt obliterated. Then, by the grace of God, I had three separate people suggest that I reconnect with my spirituality. Three is the magic number, so I dove in hard. Reading book after book on spirituality and connecting with other spiritual seekers.

It took me a minute, but I’m back! Aligned with purpose and positivity and ready to rock! My life is filled with joy and meaning, and I want to share. My creative practice consists of loads of cool rituals that help me connect to the universe and co-create a life I love. Click HERE to learn about my rituals so you can connect, too.

I stir all that positive energy from the universe right into the paint and into the canvas. I paint with joy in my heart. I find the ritual is the gateway, and imagination is the transmission. I journal about what emotion I want to inspire, and often, the words go right on the canvas during the underpainting stage. This is a super exciting process when I’m working on a commission: helping clients find their images and words of joy creates ripples of uplifting energy that flow out into the world. It’s intoxicating! If you’d like to have a discovery call with me, click the button below to set up a free 20-minute chat about finding your images and words of joy for your commissioned work of art.

Schedule a discovery call

I’m forever grateful to my mother, who encouraged and supported my creative pursuits, enrolling me in oil painting classes and piano lessons at a young age, and whose connection to spirit has always been strong and loving.

The Universe loves you, and so do I,
Leslie
xo

PS. Please share with one or two friends who might find my blogs helpful or interesting. Thanks for reading!

“A good friend listens to your adventures. Your best friend makes them with you.”
—Unknown

I just flew in from Iceland, and boy, are my arms tired! I had a spectacular trip with my bestie, Leah. 💖 Earth Day was Saturday, April 22nd, and I’ reflected on how Iceland forever changed my relationship with Earth. The beauty, majesty, and the power of our planet was more palpable than anywhere I'd ever been before. There's a backdrop of panoramic snow-capped volcanoes, mountains, waterfalls, thermal pools, and glaciers in the distance, with otherworldly lava fields sprawling as far as the eye can see toward the fierce ocean. The energy and life force on the third rock from the sun was powerfully present. It was like being on Earth long before it evolved into this lush, dense planet we currently inhabit.

We had a Northern Lights Tour reservation with our Guide, Thor, on the night we arrived. Unfortunately, the forecast called for clouds. So we asked Thor if we could move our adventure to the following night. When we had clear skies and, according to Thor, perfect conditions for Aurora Borealis sightings! We were only about 40 minutes outside Reykjavik when Thor pulled over and announced, "There it is!" And I was like, "What, that cloud?" He insisted that this was it and if we were lucky, it would get bigger, brighter, and have movement and possibly colors. And if it really "blooms," it could ultimately converge across the entire sky in a swirling vortex above our heads. And guess what? That's precisely what happened.

The blurry pictures of the Northern Lights are from my Iphone. The beautiful clear images were taken by Thor.

The next day we got up and headed out before daybreak to catch a bus that would take us on an all-day adventure on the south coast. The farthest destination was Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach. A delightful Icelandic curmudgeon barista overheard us talking about our upcoming adventure and told us, "The real name of the lagoon is Jökulsárlón and the beach is Breiðamerkursandur, which no one can say. Then a travel agent marketed them as Diamond Beach and Glacier Lagoon, and now they take busloads of people out there every day." Well, it was fabulous! We got our diamonds, glaciers, lava fields, waterfalls, snow angels, icebergs, black beaches, yummy seafood soup, and a few tree jokes from our delightful guide Mia. I had some Brenevin-the Icelandic "health tonic." at our lunch stop in Vik. It was a magical day.

We spent our last few days in Iceland at Silica Hotel on The Blue Lagoon. It was worth every penny! The hotel pool was essentially the Blue Lagoon. We still went over to the proper lagoon and had in-water-floating massages. While basking in the heavenly milky geothermal bath, we enjoyed three facemasks—Exfoliating Lava, deep cleansing Silica, and nourishing Moss Algae. We had a glass or two of Cava while floating around, surrounded by steam, sky, lava formations, and mountains. We went to both restaurants, Michelin-starred Moss one night and Lava the next. Moss was excellent, but Lava gets our stars!

The marketing says The Blue Lagoon is one of the 25 wonders of the world. I'm still trying to find that list! But it's definitely on my Top Ten list. We loved it so much that we went back on our stop-over, flying home. We stayed at the Northern Lights Inn for one night, and, low and behold; we saw the Aurora Borealis again! The NLI offers a wake-up call if the Lights show up overnight, and of course, they did!

I'm excited to return to my art studio with fresh eyes, new experiences, and magnificent inspiration. I am grateful for my adventures and all the beautiful souls I connected with along the way. Life is so precious, and every moment is a gift. I'll be at my easel painting colorful, inspired acrylic paintings. If there is anything in particular, you'd like to see me paint, let me know! Come over, see the new work in the studio, and I'll tell you more about Iceland. I wanna go back in the summer!

Love,
Leslie

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE WARREN COURT ART WALK—JUNE 3RD & 4TH!