“Discover the extraordinary luxury of exquisite fine art.
The ultimate magic of life invested with a brilliance of color and soul.
Created exclusively for you.”
"My passion is painting pets, people and personalities."
Above: The artist and her Airedale, CH Top Step Flash Act - a.k.a. Mako.
Leslie Apple: Artist’s Statement
Leslie Apple is a portrait painter who has developed an individual style that focuses on her use of color and texture. Her work has evolved over many years into a style that incorporates a painterly technique that often employs a Post-Impressionistic sense of color as it flirts with Realism. Her art has been greatly influenced by the paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec and Cézanne. The artist's background as a professional graphic designer makes the work of Toulouse-Lautrec practically appealing and empowers her paintings with the a strong sense of imagery and design.
Apple works in acrylics and her primary subjects are animals, dogs in particular, personally due to her love of dogs. Her choice of subject matter has led her on a journey of self-discovery that explores that mystical, intense bond between pets and their people. Her own has spanned the pinnacle of the show world to the intimacy of everyday life with dogs. Working from photographs, she surrounds herself with images of the subject to gain a sense of the animal’s personality and its individual self. Her portraits convey these characteristics by the enhanced use of color and texture.
Paint is applied by brush and then frequently manipulated by hand. It can be used in a very thick manner to simulate the lush texture of a spaniel’s ear’s or gently swept across the sensitive planes of the same dog’s face. Brushes are chosen accordingly, too. Hard, course bristled brushes are used to produce the look and feel of a properly harsh, wire-like terrier coat along with the wool-like furnishing. Sable brushes can be used to swiftly reveal the powdery soft texture and satin-like sheen of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel’s lengthy, cascading coat. The artist’s solid knowledge of dog grooming helps inform her decisions.
Layers of pigment are alternated with layers of gloss medium to gradually develop a sense of dimension and substance. The artist incorporates the use of interference colors and iridescent pigments to convey the vibrant sense of life and energy that radiates from her work.
The process is accentuated by Apple’s use of music as she paints, particularly jazz and classical, as a driving energy behind her paintings. The selection of mood music is done to suit the individual personality of each subject. The choice of music is a vital decision to her. It is as important to the artist as is the selection of her vibrant palette of colors and textural possibilities that advance the range of her work.
Above: Us - Acrylic on Canvas • 30" x 40" • 2008 • Private Collection • A larger version of the image can be seen on the artist's blog - Art & Airedales and all that jazz...
The Artist Speaks...
"Jazz has been a life-long passion. I heard Louis
Armstrong and Benny Goodman while in the womb. I took it from there.
Jazz pianist and Classical composer, Mel Powell, is a favorite of mine
and has been a strong influence on the concept behind my work. I love his work and I often
paint in accompaniment to his music.
I am a graduate of the University of Delaware with a
B. S. in Graphic and Advertising Design and a minor in Art History. For
fourteen years, I worked for a major chemical corporation as an
in-house Graphic Designer. That is where the entrepreneurial spirit
grew! Blue Zephyr Studios, LLC was founded in 2001. Bluezstudios
specializes in Fine Art and Design along with Custom Pet Portraits.
It originally started as a web design business. While I still do web design, painting is my passion. Yet, my graphic design background is always there. It still informs everything I do."
Above: Mako's Rite of Spring - Acrylic on Canvas • 30" x 40" • 2008 • Private Collection
The Airedale Influence...
"Mako - CH Top Step Flash Act - the Airedale is my first show dog.
Margery Good - of Charmin the Sealyham fame - is his handler. He
finished his championship in two weekends and competed at the
Westminster Kennel Club show in 2006 & 2007. Mako and I were
featured in a nice article (with great pictures) in the Wilmington News
Journal on the first day of the show. It's a blast to see your dog in
the ring at Madison Square Gardens! I started handling Mako in the show ring in 2008.
That has been a real experience! And then there's that whole grooming issue with showing terriers...
I am a member of the Airedale Terrier
Club of America, The Airedale Terrier Club of Greater Philadelphia, the
New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, the e-Women's Network plus I'm a
Lifetime member of the Newark Arts Alliance. I am the Advertising Manager for the ATCA's publication, The American Airedale. I am also on the ATCA's Yearbook staff and I am currently designing the cover art for the 2010 Yearbook. Mock-ups for the cover can be seen on the Blue Zephyr Studios, LLC Facebook page. I have have exhibited my work extensively in Delaware and Pennsylvania and my paintings are in private collections across the U.S. and Canada. My art is listed in the Delaware State Arts
Counsel's on-line Artists' Directory and I have a portfolio included in the
AKC Museum of the Dog."
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