Lesa Spurgeon

Graphite Pencil

Biography

I was born in Alaska and raised in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. Always and ever a perfectionist, as a child learning to write I strived to precisely match each letter of the model alphabet that hung on the wall of the classroom. Drawing and coloring were definitely my favorite activities. I graduated from Tualatin High School, then moved on to BYU and switched majors a number of times (illustration, microbiology, sociology), but somehow still managed to graduate within 4 years with a BA in Graphic Design. In 2002, I took a break from my career and went to Europe, where I met my future Aussie husband, who was also travelling at the time. I moved to Australia after marrying him in 2003 and have recently chosen to work as a fine artist from home in Perth.

To those who know me, it's clear I have a detail-oriented, perfectionist personality and this also shows in my work. I prefer fine, sharp, clean lines and choose pencil as my favorite medium because it's simpler and cleaner than painting. I also find it exciting and challenging to work in only black, white and grey - fewer colors means I have to create new ways to separate foreground from background in order to make the subject stand-out. (My husband especially likes the black fish.)

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what moves me into a creative mania - it could be anything from my life experiences to books I've read, music I've heard, places I've lived, nature, science, relationships, and even by what other artists have done before me. I was greatly inspired and very motivated
artistically after my first trip to Asia in 2005. This collection features several pieces influenced by the Asian artwork I saw in Thailand and at the temples of the Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Sometimes I can see a design in my head, whereas at other times I come up with a concept first, then I work out how to represent it visually on paper. This process is slower and has been known to take me several months or longer to complete a visual-concept design in my mind. My imagination's most productive time seems to be in the moments just before I fall asleep, so I make sure to have a pen and paper ready at my bedside for those sudden epiphanies. Abstract images, on the other hand, usually come to me by just simply doodling in my sketchbook.