Meet the Artist
Leslie Perrin
Drawing/Painting
Leslie’s lifelong love of gardens and wild beauty led her to over two decades of 3D plant-wrangling...nursery work, private floristry, growing for farmer’s markets, teaching botanical classes, garden consultation, and container design.
In 2019 she felt drawn to engage a 2D relationship with plants and watercolor and years later, the Leafy Lexicon is the result—her focus, The Ecology of Heart & Place; a collection of botanical beauty. Rooted in the countryside of the Willamette Valley, she and her husband tend to an expansive naturalized garden, a clowder of Bengal cats, a few heritage sheep, and a farmhouse Airbnb. In between tending to the latter, she can be found painting watercolor portraits from her garden, improvising on her cello and tenor guitar, and exploring the intersections of spirituality and community-building with friends and neighbors.
Her botanical illustration begins with a gestural sketch with an archival micro pen on 140# cold-press paper and is followed up by watercolor washes to create the finished imagery. She uses live plant material for the illustrations as it offers me a more accurate sense of the plant and its unique features. Illustrations are offered as limited edition giclée prints and art books in addition to an extensive line of high-end greeting cards for everyday occasions.