Leslie Stratford is a Canadian artist living in south-west France. She was born in Saskatoon, grew up in Montréal, practised law in Toronto and worked in financial services regulation and a London investment bank before taking up painting full-time. Leslie and her husband, Jan Laury, enjoy the tranquility of their rural home, which they share with their young mischievous dog. When not painting, she is cycling or working in the garden.
Leslie’s work may be found in private collections in North America, the UK, Europe and India. Her work is also on permanent display at University College London (large portrait of Sartre (2004) in the French Department).
After a very long and unbidden pause (2016-2019), Leslie resumed painting full-time. She hung an exhibition (the Merci, Monsieur Manet series) in Mirepoix in 2020 but it was closed due to the covid restrictions. The series was exhibited again elsewhere in December 2021.
Within certain constraints, Leslie has been undertaking research and experimenting with various media. In December 2022 and January 2023 she participated in two group exhibitions. For these two shows, Leslie exhibited small scale collages. In February 2023 she started to work in collaboration with an experienced lithographer in France. the results will be on exhibit at an extended jazz festival in a local town in the summer of 2023 where she will have a stand (for the first time!).
All images © Leslie Stratford 2023
Art Training:
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- Ecole des beaux-arts, Toulouse
- Wimbledon School of Art, London (B.A. Hons., (Fine Art/Painting))
- The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London (Summer Schools)
- Heatherley’s, London (Diploma in Portraiture)
- McGill University, Montreal (B.A. Hons., University Scholar (History of Art))
