Leslie has been a close friend of mine since the late 1970’s when I lived in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. She has the most beautiful trained voice. When we hiked or river-tripped, I always begged her to sing, and her husband often accompanied her on guitar. They performed at my wedding to Rob Goldberg in 1988.
I’ve always wanted to paint Leslie singing, to see if somehow I could capture the beauty of her voice in colors alone. She posed for a photo shoot in 1981, singing opera in the forest near our homes. It has taken me many years to get to this painting, but some painting ideas never go away. Today, 32 years later, Leslie has hardly aged and sings just as beautifully as ever.