Biography
James W. Leslie began his artistic journey growing up along the Connecticut River Valley outside the city of Hartford. Exploring the fertile farmlands of livestock, tobacco, and corn in the lower valleys to the fruit orchards of the higher hills inspired him to create.
His desire to capture and express how nature made him feel would become a life-long passion. Fueled by early exposure to French Impressionism and early American Landscape Painting, he began to express the rural images of his hometown through painting. Intrigued by light and color, he set out to create two-dimensional works that reflected the natural phenomenon discovered, not only in Connecticut and Northeast Ohio, but traveling the country, and the world.
A 25-year career in the art of stone masonry allowed him to understand the concepts of design, construction, and accomplishment. In 1992 he moved to Colorado and fell in love with the light, color, and atmosphere of the Rocky Mountains. He pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and ceramics at Colorado State University and The Ohio State University. Upon graduation, he began his career on the gallery and art show circuit. He furthered his studies at Kent State University, earning a Master of Fine Art. He continues to travel for inspiration and creates daily on location and from his studio in Northeast Ohio.