About The Artist
I have no pretensions about creating something “new and different.” What inspires me is hiking and paddling through the true beauty of nature, and the experience of Being Out There. I like to learn the natural science about, and paint, the ecology and natural systems of a place. I work in multiple different fine art and craft media, but most typically use many, thin layers and glazes of oil paint, built up slowly, in my paintings.
I often like to work at a large scale, so that it seems like we are actually smelling the salt air, feeling the breeze, and the sand below our feet. On the other hand, small pieces that convey a real sense of space and place are equally delightful.
My career as a licensed architect set me up for painting later in life; I start my process with a complete design and then make a “blueprint.”
The DeYoung Museum selected one of my large Point Reyes National Seashore paintings for exhibition. My awards include many ribbons, including First Place, and I also teach art workshops and individuals. My oil paintings have been published in the West Marin Review.
Having grown up in rural north coastal San Diego County, I have always been drawn to the coast of California—more recently, all the way down to the tip of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, to Todos Santos.
Oil Paint, Acrylic Paint, Prints and Printmaking, Ceramics
Until May 31, 2026, I am a member of the San Anselmo Artist Studios (Number 8), in the Isabel Cook Community Center, just west of the Red Hill Shopping Center, at 1000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
Please park in the parking lot on the WEST (Fairfax) side of the complex, not in the private residential parking lot off Sunny Hills Rd on the east side. (Google Maps show the end of the route incorrectly.)
If you wish to reach me after May 31, 2026, please use leslie allen at sonic dot net
Studio Information
Isabela Cook Community Center, San Anselmo Artist Studios
Studio 8 (Only Until 5/30/26)
Google shows wrong pin location and incorrect driving directions to 1000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Please enter the building name in map programs instead: Isabela Cook Center, San Anselmo, CA, 94960. (Contact: leslieallen at sonic . net)
Contact Information
415.380.9999
Exhibitions & Press
SOLO show: Pt Reyes National Seashore, Red Barn, Limantour Estero
SOLO show: Marin County Landscapes, Mill Valley City Hall
SOLO show: Marin Paintings, Thompson & Dorfman, Mill Valley
SOLO show: Mostly Marin, Mill Valley Community Center
“MarinScapes,” annual fundraiser show for Buckelew Programs (mental health), multiple years.
“Ranches & Rolling Hills,” annual fundraiser show for Marin Agricultural Land Trust, multiple years.
Bolinas Museum, Annual Small Works show, multiple years
Studio Gallery, “tiny,” annual show (multiple years)
Falkirk Museum, San Rafael, multiple juried shows
“Surface Tension: H2O,” Army Corps of Engineers, Sausalito
“Wabi Sabi,” O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley
West Marin Wild Book Show, annual fundraiser, multiple years
Mendocino Plein Air Painting Festival
ICB Open Studios, Sausalito, multiple years
MOS Marin Open Studios, multiple years
San Anselmo Artist Studios, Toby’s Feedbarn, Pt Reyes Station
“Seasonal Landscapes,” Robert Allen Fine Art, Sausalito
Art on the Farm, multiple shows
Art Commissions: 2 sculptural tile murals, Carmel, Big Sur
Public Art Contributions: Millenium Park, San Anselmo and History Obelisk, San Anselmo (ceramics)
West Marin Review, an award-winning literary and art journal.
Point Reyes National Seashore website article about my solo show, Limantour Estero.
Cohousing Newsletter.
Selection for the DeYoung Open Museum exhibition, Limantour Estero, Pt Reyes, No. 1 (Sold)
Best in Show, Masks Category, Marin County Fair
First Place, Oil Painting, Fine Art Show, Marin County Fair
Marin Society of Artists, 2nd Place Ribbon, “On the Road” oil painting (Donna Seager, Juror)
Numerous additional ribbons, Special Award, and Honorable Mentions, Marin County Fair
Education
BA Social Ecology, emphasis: Environmental Psychology, UC Irvine
M.Arch (Master of Architecture), University of New Mexico (licensed in 1989)
College of Marin Art Department: mentorship by painter Chester Arnold, ceramic artist Bill Abright, and other wonderful instructors, in painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, and art history. Hundreds of hours, and pleasure.
Artist workshops in plein air painting with Tim Horn and Jeffrey Beauchamp, chalk pastel with Bill Cone, Cold Wax and Oil with Anne Hebebrand (in Todos Santos, Baja California, multiple years).
