Amarissa

Follow

Leslye Cole is a visual artist based in the quiet country hamlet of Ogunbil in the NSW New England region. Her paintings are renowned for their luminous light and atmosphere, portraying images inspired by her rural surroundings. Majestic scenery, people who live and work on the land, farm animals and portraiture are all entwined in narratives set in the expansive Australian landscape.

Originally a successful designer, illustrator and art director in Sydney, aesthetic elements absorbed throughout her career now infiltrate her diverse body of work. Design, colour, and composition are central, but also an expertise in story telling, a skill honed while working on advertising storyboards. She has an interest in spatial harmony, energy flow, Feng Shui and colour psychology.

Leslye regards the art in our personal spaces as an antidote to the often troublesome aspects of life. Knowing how strongly people are influenced by their surroundings, she portrays beautiful scenes that uplift a space with a calming effect. She believes positive images of people interacting with animals somehow speak to the soul, while scenes of the stories she sees around her gives others an insight into country life.
Her work has won multiple awards in NSW and QLD. Highlights include being a finalist in the Sir John Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, and the Portia Geach Memorial Award for leading Australian female portrait artists, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney. She has exhibited in multiple group exhibitions and four solo shows.

Works are held in Australia, England, New Zealand, Canada, North America & Luxembourg.