Leslee Barron is a Reading-based digital artist whose work has been inspired by the gas tower and the Reading landscape. Alina Saves The Moon is her first picture book.
View more of Leslee's work on her Facebook page or visit her Redbubble shop for cool artwork on awesome products!
Leslee is always happy to take on commission work. Please email her for more information.
During the summer (2020) Leslee was delighted to be invited by Reading Fringe Festival to show her gas tower photographs and digital paintings online. This, her first exhibition, has been saved to view forever on the Scenesaver website.
Pete Ruczynski, a local Reading electronic musician, has used one of Leslee's favourite photographs of the gas tower for the cover of his new album, “Of its time”.
Barney
Campfire music
Russell Tovey - Actor
Rainbow girls
Kim Bodnia - Actor
Fergal
My first sunset painting of the gas tower
In July 2019 returning home I witnessed the most amazing sunset, making the gas tower look black. A photo I had taken with my phone didn’t do it justice. That failed photo was the catalyst of my digital painting journey. I just had to recreate what I’d seen.
To be honest, at the time, my mental health wasn’t great. I was experiencing panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia and at times, agoraphobia. After some CBT I realised I needed a distraction. I hardly believed it myself but within a few hours of concentrating on my painting, my heart stopped pounding and my concentration became focused.
I am convinced that being creative and producing art has cured me. Art has been my therapist. My whole mental state has improved more than I could’ve ever imagined.
If you’re feeling anxious, try it, it works.
From The River Thames - black and white including some town centre detail.
Simon’s Sunset - This was a painting of a photograph by Simon Peter French that grabbed my attention. See the film of the making of this painting
Monochrome - After I realised how much I was enjoying creating digital paintings, I created a Facebook page called ‘Cumberland Rd Gas Tower’ where I asked people to upload their photos of the gas tower for me to paint. This stark black and white painting is one of the photos that attracted me.
