I loved meeting up with you. I would never have done it without your motivation!
June 9, 2026
Promontory Point
Starting early on a Sunday morning in the park while listening to the birds and watching waterfowl navigate the wetland, jump started our conversation about living in this complicated world as artists. We talked about art making in this moment – how ego, life experiences, meditating, and economics all drive our art and pragmatism. Our attempts to put words together while trying to navigate watercolors, we discovered early on, was somewhat futile. I do think Leslie managed this far better than I, who was quite taken by a duck.
May 31, 2026
Humboldt Park
Taking time and sitting in patience are the roots of magic, friendship, and art. As a glorious moments of the poppies fades, so beautiful still in it’s decay those memories captured by the joy of painting, or not, part of our poppies lifecycle. It is wonderful to recall the power of making art with out expectation.
May 31, 2026
Dute's garden
Such a generous gift of time and space and air and marks! Our painting date was encouraging and fresh. Thanks for the reminder to slow down and look, Leslie. I will be keeping this experience in my back pocket for a while.
May 21, 2026
Humboldt Park
Loss. Time. Transformation. Beauty. Reflection. Revelation. Chance. Memory.
April 24, 2026
Lincoln Park
My statement
It feels more important than ever to me to break my habitual routines & to enjoy being creative w/out any regard for the outcome or any pressure to professionalize it. & I know I’d come up against some psychic barrier if I ever attempted to go to the conservatory alone to paint, so in this way Leslie’s ongoing plein-air project is a great act of generosity. 10/10 would recommend!
February 6, 2026
Garfield Park Conservatory
What a lovely treat (sugar free, no less! 😉 to get to paint outside with you on this crisp fall day. One of those days that makes Chicago feel like the best place to call home. It felt like a homecoming in so many ways, from traveling, but also coming home to a material and a practice I used to be so at home in. I recognize so much of myself in this picture, like literally, like someone I knew so long ago came back to visit. And of course in the bigger picture of a place and a practice, where sometimes it feels like it’s hard to connect with the present moment and situation, and then, out of the blue, connection is very easy and human. It was a very welcome and welcoming feeling to be brought into your practice and project like that. Thank you for that and for the great and meandering conversation we had, about places, spaces, our bodies and our trying to feel at home and at ease in it all as we age and progress, regress and digress.
November 5, 2025
Garfield Park Conservatory
I was equally nervous and excited. Excited to spend the morning painting in good company over apple slices and cheese curds and nervous about knowing what to say. It was lovely getting lost in both conversing and creating while allowing myself to go with the watercolor flow.
October 5, 2025
Humboldt Park
It was wonderful to paint with Leslie on the rocky Lake Superior shore on an unusually warm fall day. We watched the glittery light shimmer and shift on the water during our first session and had a surprise visit from the local news while we painted between the pine trees during our second session. While I have a plein air practice, I don’t usually talk until after the painting is done. It was lovely to spend a day steeped in conversational painting!
September 25, 2025
Marquette Michigan
Warm afternoon light turning to chill fall twilight with tea. Joy in sharing colors, materials and flowers. Most of all so wonderful to share conversation while making.
September 5, 2025
Mara's garden
