When autumn begins to change my surrounding I start painting many different versions of trees. I use watercolor and ink to create the trees. I work from photographs I take to design each piece off art.
2021 my garden poppies
Paseo Gallery One Resident Artist
My artwork that is hanging for the month of June 2021
watercolor, mixed media and ink
The steps of my first forest.
This is the first forest I made a year ago. I am inspired to make forest because of the many years I have traveled to Colorado in a jeep. I have taken many photographs through out the years as my husband and I jeep up toward the tree line and sometimes across the passes weather allowing. The views are spectacular and and I am in awe every single year i go to the mountains.
Circlet
Circlet is a picture I made with recycled magazine photos from National Geographic. I used a flower image in the center that I added white ink designs and put a circle around. Inside of the circle I added light blue torn gum wrappers to make it stand out. At the bottom of the circle I cut pine trees out of blue magazine paper. To give it an organic feel I cut fish and small flowers out from Nat Geo and glued them in random spots. The background is layers and layers of watercolor in swirls. The swirls are then broken up with white ink and black ink. I also traced around bicycle gears to add a different design. There are quotes written into the designs in the background. The final step was to add many sizes of circles in white and black ink.
Sustainable [A Copper Forest] Mixed Media 30x22"
This was a commissioned piece made for Joan Raney. She chose one of my forest and my poppy pictures and ask me if I could make a combination of the two. I was excited to do this for her because these are my favorite subject matters. I used recycled National Geographic paper to cut the pine trees and poppies from. I glued them down on Archers 300 pound cold press after I used watercolor to paint the designs in the background. I used white ink to outline all of the objects. This was a fun art piece to make and I appreciated the opportunity to make it.
ReMerge
My Poppy Mamas will now be in a collection of featured female artist at Remerge at their new campus in Oklahoma City Oklahoma. This is an honor. Thank you Farooq Karim.
Oklahoma Visual Art Coalition
Visit my Ovac gallery to view my art and to see my newest watercolor series and some of my older pieces. I have been using watercolor as my primary medium. I enjoy the colors and movement I can create with watercolor. After I have the watercolor finished I come in with white ink to add the final touch to.
https://www.ovac-ok.org/art/Leslie-Waugh-Dallam
"The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go" John Muir
The Mountains are calling is a new series that I started during the covid 19 time period. I have been going to Colorado in the summer for vacation for thirty plus years. We travel in the family jeep. This gives us access to the trails up to the tree line of the mountains. The views as we travel up the trails are breath taking. If one feels close to a heavenly being this would be the place. The trails are outside of Buena Vista Colorado. I have seen many mountains and landscapes. The wildflowers are plentiful and absolutely beautiful. This series makes me happy and I’ve used bright watercolors and have included many wildflowers from photos and memory. I also am adding poppies from my photo’s or friends photo’s. Working on this series has taken my mind off of the terrible and sad situation that the world is going through with this virus.
Commissioned
I finished this new commissioned piece today. It’s a story that makes my heart happy. The lady that commissioned this artwork gave me some ideas. We decided on Ginkgo leaves. Ginkgo trees are one of my favorite trees and I love the Art Deco shape of the leaves. I enjoyed creating this mixed media art. I used watercolor, acrylic and ink. I send her the photo of the work and she told me she was glad that the Ginkgo leaves had been chosen. “My Ginkgo tree is very sacred to me, my husband was an architect and we brought home the little tree from Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio in Oak Park years ago. The Ginkgo tree reminds me of him and where I am in my life.” The Ginkgo tree means strength hope and peace. During the coronavirus and the social distancing I find that working with my Ginkgo leaf painting has been a peaceful journey.
Persistence 11 exhibition at d'Art Center Norfolk Virginia
I sent these prints to the Persistence 11 show today. I was invited to have my prints in this show.
My Favorite Flower
It is that time of the year when I have spread my poppy seeds on a very cold early morning this February. Can not wait to see what the poppies will look like in spring. I will use watercolor this summer and paint more poppies. Can’t wait to paint my favorite flowers.
My Red Oaks
My Red Oak Trees
As I look out my studio window this cool crisp winter day I see my Red Oak trees. The two trees and I are close to celebrating turning sixty-five. My Red Oak trees are always celebrating their life. They are about to drop their last few leaves for the year. This was the first year in the twelve years I have lived in my house that I saw the leaves turn a golden yellow. They don’t usually have much color so I was surprised as I celebrated with the trees. As I age with my trees I feel privileged that they are a part of my life. The trees share their tiny green leaves in the spring, their shade in the summer which is very necessary for my yard, birds and myself, their change of color for fall and their gigantic structure in the winter with a few leaves holding on. My trees breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. That’s a celebration for all of us. I will be the first one to admit that raking their many leaves isn’t always enjoyable but when I am out raking the smell of the leaves reminds me that I should be celebrating. As my trees continue their life span as I do my trees, birds, caterpillars, butterflies, insects and the many leaves will celebrate what nature has given us.
12 Red Cardinals Mixed Media 12x12"
I made 12 hand cut red cardinals and pine trees out of recycled magazine paper. The background was done with metallic watercolor with white ink outlining the cardinals, trees and the white snow. I used the Niggly Wiggly paper tail from hershey kisses. I wanted this piece to have a calm serene feeling when the viewer is looking at it.
Twin Lakes
Every summer for the past 30 plus years I have been going to Buena Vista Colorado. Twin Lakes is on our jeep route so its a lake I have gone by many times and have taken photographs. This summer was the first time that there was a lot of wind. The water was moving and the Hummingbirds were dashing in and out through the forest. Hummingbirds are very common in this area. I have taken many photographs of these beautiful birds. This picture is a memory of this past summer. It is always a beautiful trip and full of photographic memories.
Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition Professional Basics Grant award 28th of May 2018
OVAC + DRTC Telling the Oklahoma Story Through Art has been selected for inclusion in their catalog
The Vault Pauls Valley Oklahoma
I will be showing at the Vault in June. I will be showing 20 new pieces of my art. Each painting will have hand sewn parts where I have stitched using embroidery thread.
Slide 1 - On Vacation
This is the first image of a series I will be making from photos from previous vacations in Colorado. Having grown up as a child with slides that were taken during my childhood I’ve decided to incorporate a slide like image over the painting. I will be making several more for this series.
