Artist
Leslie Ossentjuk is a representational artist based in Ventura County, California. Recent years have been spent part time in Santa Fe, New Mexico where she and her husband keep a second home.
As the daughter of an architect and an art professor, Leslie was fostered in an environment rich in culture and creativity. She was educated in Claremont, California, which was an important post-war art community in the years before and during her childhood. Ms. Ossentjuk earned her B.A. in Studio Art from Scripps College in 1985. Although her background includes various three-dimensional disciplines, such as jewelry design and sculpture, much of her concentration lies in portraiture and still life utilizing colored pencil, oil paint, and pastel. Leslie’s micro crochet projects make up her Ropes of Glass collection of beadwork, and take her skills beyond the easel.
Artist’s Account
For many years my medium of choice was a graphite pencil with a good eraser. Black and white imagery was my strength. I was firm in the belief that I did not get along with color. Fine for other artists, but not for me. Once in a while I would apply my monochrome approach to say, a blue and white image, or some other limiting hue. Prodded by my daughter, who has her own artistic talent, and from whom I have learned a thing or two, my work began to include the occasional colored pencil drawing. Kids are good for pushing you out of your comfort zone once in a while. She’s also the reason I tried oil painting, which, not surprisingly, began for me with black and white as well. Working in color ultimately became a gratifying endeavor, complimenting my fascination with attaining likeness in portraiture. Still life endeavors came later, rounding out my personal disciplines.
Navigating Naturalism
I’m not much of a free spirit. I am somewhat chained to accuracy. For me, a naturalistic approach in art provides a measure of familiarity, along with a respectable degree of challenge. I feel anchored and secure with a natural subject, and enjoy working to achieve a heightened interpretation of what I see. In the world of reality, I can observe and recreate light, color, and shadow, and if I am successful, the observer can get an accurate sense of the heft, texture, and volume of what I have translated to my work surface.
Rhythm and Flow
Sometimes, the constraints of the canvas or paper must give way. My artistry has always been a waxing and waning of multi media, going back to days of sculpting, and silversmithing. Though there is always a new craft to lure me, I have landed with satisfying commitment to the tactile and rhythmic work of micro beading as I continue my pursuit of portraiture and illustration. Quite unrelated to natural rendering from life subjects, creating bead patterns, like other subjective design, comes from a different creative vein. Possibilities continue to bloom, while the meditative aspect of the “stitching” process sparks a different set of synapses.
Ropes of Glass