Leslie (Lel) Newman was born in Berkeley, California and now lives and works in Indianola, Washington, a ferry ride away from Seattle. She brings a fresh approach to her expressive, abstract iPad paintings and modernist shape prints. Her experience as a designer and illustrator and many years of art study with expressive painter Barbara Fugate inform her work. Recently she completed an Instagram 100 day art challenge, creating and posting an original abstract daily. This experience was energizing and pushed her to reach new creative heights.
Artist Statement
Abstraction is my passion. I work intuitively, reacting to the shapes, colors, and marks to create modernist artwork that is fresh and evocative. I leave it to the viewer to dive in and discover their own mood and meaning.
I use and am inspired by, new media digital tools, platforms for global online sharing such as Instagram, and fine art digital printing. Some of my influences include Matisse’s cut-outs, mid-century art and design, and the paintings of Richard Diebenkorn, Stuart Davis, and Willem de Kooning.
I look to Art to inspire, surprise, and bring forth a wave of feeling that reminds us of our wondrous existence. I feel it in my process of creating these works. I hope the viewers of my work share in this sense of wonder.