Lesley Anne Spowart "Energetic" Acrylic on Vellum, Framed Abstract Painting in Ivory and Orange, Carmel California Art, Original 23 X 28 Inches, 2023

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Four forms float across a soft, mottled ground of ivory and pale gray in this framed abstract painting in acrylic … Read more Four forms float across a soft, mottled ground of ivory and pale gray in this framed abstract painting in acrylic on vellum by Lesley Anne Spowart: a yellow shape with a single red dot, an open white loop trailing a ribbon of coral red, and two orange-red rounds, one ringed in smudged black. The black line is heavy and drawn, almost charcoal, and fine scratched marks show through the orange. Spowart prefers paper for the resistance it gives back, and on vellum the paint sits in translucent veils while the surface keeps every scrape and rub. The spacing is generous, so each shape has room to hold its own.

Open and airy, with plenty of quiet ivory around its forms, it suits a bedroom, a study or a reading nook. The light wood frame sits well with oak, linen and plaster, and the orange and yellow pick up warm accents such as terracotta, brass and mustard pillows. The pale field also glows against deep green or charcoal walls, so it works in a moody room as well as a bright one.

Acrylic on vellum, 23 x 28 x 1.5 in (58.4 x 71.1 x 3.8 cm). Framed in light wood.

Lesley Anne Spowart paints in acrylic on vellum, a translucent surface that keeps every scrape, rub and scratched line. She prefers paper-based supports for the resistance they give back, and she sands, scrapes and draws into the paint with dark, charcoal-like marks. Her wider practice includes printmaking, photographic xerography, beeswax and tar, and she works in a Monterey studio in a retired wine cellar.

Lesley Anne Spowart grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and earned a B.A. in Art History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, before graduate study at UC Davis, UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton, where she studied museum practice and exhibition design. As a student she helped install works by artists including Sol LeWitt, Beatrice Wood and Viola Frey. She lives in Monterey, California, where she and her husband raised three children.

A self-described colorist, she works in beeswax, tar, photographic xerography, acrylic and collage, painting abstractions, landscapes and animals in a studio set in a retired wine cellar. She has exhibited widely on the Monterey Peninsula and nationally, including at the Monterey Museum of Art, and her work is held in collections including Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. She was voted Best Local Artist by the Monterey County Weekly in 2010. See less