"Painting is what I do...a part of who I am. There is nothing else I do in which I feel so fully engaged." -- Leslie Pratt-Thomas. Leslie has been painting in oil since the mid 1990s and is driven to learn from the best. She has painted and studied in Canada, Europe, the Caribbean, and Mexico with a variety of noted mentors. Although preferring to paint from life, studio work is a large part of her practice. Leslie was born in Canada and has had a rich and varied life experience - from bartending and skiing in the Rockies to working as a paralegal in Charleston, SC, her chosen home. After her post-graduate work she was a practicing therapist working with troubled children and families. Since having children of her own she has devoted her life to artistic endeavors. She approaches life with passion and paints in the same manner. In addition to her numerous local and national awards her piece titled, I Can Fly, was chosen for the cover of the novel Swimming Lessons by New York Times best-selling author Mary Alice Monroe. In 2009 she was asked to illustrate Shackles - a children's book written by South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Heath Wentworth. Both were received with much admiration and Shackles won the Moonbeam award for multi-cultural children’s literature. Leslie was excited and challenged to illustrate these highly acclaimed creations. Leslie’s work has been included in both national and international venues. In 2011, three of her pieces were chosen in the Paint America Top 50 and Top 100 national competitions and were exhibited in a show at the Coutts Museum of Art in El Dorado, KS. Another piece reflecting the beauty of coastal shorebirds was chosen to exhibit through 2014 in the Art in Embassies program in Dakar, Senegal. In the last few years she has started teaching. According to Leslie teaching new painters is: "Pure pleasure. Seeing my new students’ perspectives and growth reminds me of when I first started painting and began viewing the world through an artistic lens - there is nothing like reliving that experience and sharing what I have learned with new painters.”
