Leesa & Grumpy4Legs

WalkThe_Talk

Nov 2

We follow a lot of talented artists and makers on Instagram - but Leesa Pertsinidis portraits always demand attention in our social feeds. Each demonstrates a masterful command of light, and a sensitivity to detail. Leesa does a wonderful job of capturing spirit of the people and pooches she draws. We caught up to learn more about her artistic practice and her love of wire haired fox terriers.

Hi Leesa, Can you tell us a little bit about your background – what path led you to becoming a artist and to doing what you’re doing today?

OK, so, according to my parents, I was drawing legible drawings from when I could hold a pencil properly so I think it’s safe to say I’ve been an artist in some form my whole life.

In year 11 I was given 4 choices of career path : full time artist (poor and starving), a graphic artist (boring and limited), an art teacher (as before…although ironically I now teach art and am a full time artist) and fashion designer…..this appealed to me because I love clothes and I thought it would be an easy job drawing pictures of pretty dresses all day! Buh Bong….that choice, apart from my 2 years of college, actually pretty much ended any true art pursuits, instead I discovered the actual designing was but a small part of the process, the rest of the time was spent in the garment production. For the next 28 years I worked as a couturier with my own atelier, designing and manufacturing bridal gowns, special occasion outfits and tailored suits for both private clientele and retail outlets. During that time, when I could, I would do some life drawing but otherwise there was no time to indulge my passion for art.

It wasn’t until 2004 when I met my dear friend Hui Xuan Zhao that I picked up a brush again. She. taught me GongBi painting, a 2,000 Chinese traditional painting, watercolour on silk and we went on to hold a joint exhibition of our work, Peony Moon.

It was a brief stint as she returned to China in 2007, I had my daughter in 2009, sold my business and followed my husband to Jakarta where I expected I could indulge myself by painting on silk all day, every day. Alas it wasn’t to be the case as humidity made it impossible to keep the silk stretched and the life there left little spare time. Fast forward to two years ago, we had moved on to Kuala Lumpur and I just decided now was the time for me to revisit art, I retrieved from storage the box full of all my old brushes and paint and the rest is, as they say, history. Funnily enough, this Covid has been the best thing for my drawing skills, lockdown is like an artists life any way so I have been drawing and painting pretty much every day with no interruptions.

Your insta profile says you are also a writer, how does your art fit around the other mix of work you do?

As an expat, one is always meeting an amazing array of people and getting involved in many different things. I am involved with the Malaysian, Australian, New Zealand Association and that is where I was able to experience the writing side of things, being an editor and a contributing writer to their magazine. I have always loved reading and love thinking of lyrical phrases and terms so for me it’s just another creative compartment in my brain. Although I must say all creative processes for me are quite stressful and quite hard work but like anything the more one does it, the easier it gets.

*Teddi is Leesa’s all-time favourite pet portrait*

What drawing tools do you use?

What I use depends on whether I am painting or drawing, but mostly, I am doing the portraits on brown paper and for that I use hard pastels (Conté a Paris) and Polychromo pencils. Acrylics and Oils I mostly use Daler and Rowney.

You said are self-taught what do you wish you had known about art or portraits before you learnt it the hard way?

That’s really hard to answer as I don’t know what I don’t know. I also feel that it’s important to develop your own style and that being a student of someone, you can be overwhelmed by their style and processes and lose your voice in the process…..I have seen this happen many times. I also feel the best lessons are making mistakes and discovering the resolution, or at least your resolution, and those self learnt processes are a much stronger foundation for your work. I’m sure people who have followed a traditional path would disagree with this, but I’m not out to be the next Da Vinci, I’m just working for my own growth. This process has also taught me that there is no right path in getting to the end result.

*One of Lessa’s Three sisters portraits*

How would you describe your illustration/artwork style?

I try for a realistic representation of my subjects, but not hyper-realism and I try to capture some essence of the personality of my subject be they four legged or two. I also do do illustration work for children’s books and my style for that is a sort of cartoon realism.

Unexpected routes lead to new territory! How do you mix things up and foster innovation in your work?

As this is all a relatively new experience for me, the portraits, not the art, I find clients bring many challenges and that is always interesting…..for example, a recent client asked me to draw her three daughters. She supplied me with many beautiful black and white photos of them in many different poses. Initially I chose the most beautiful pictures as I knew I would be able to do them well, but there were these kooky photos of them with pursed lips and sticking out tongues that just kept speaking to me even though I was really nervous at attempting them. I told my client that I would try to do these portraits and if they were a disaster, then I would go back to the pretty pictures…happily they worked out really well and I feel are some of my best work. Many of my pet portraits are also a challenge as many of the pets have crossed the rainbow bridge and quality reference photos are few and far between, in these instances I have to use a lot of artistic licence. I also challenge myself in my own work by trying awkward poses and unusual body arrangements. The illustration work was another surprise branch….a friend and his wife write children’s books and asked me to illustrate one. It was another aspect of art I had not worked on before, I am now working on another three books.

Team WalkThe_ loves your Portraits! What attracted you to portraiture over other creative mediums?

Funnily enough, up until two years ago, I had never really tried doing portrait work of either animals or people.

Painting my ageing dog was the start of the interest in pet portraits and going along to a portrait painting class run by one of the school mums sparked the human interest. Up until then I believed I wasn’t capable of painting a portrait, all efforts until that time being a complete failure. No one was more surprised than me when my first attempt actually looked like the subject.

Do you have a favourite portrait so far?

My current favourite human portraits are the aforementioned Three Sisters and my all time pet portrait painting is a Wire called Teddi and to be honest, I really enjoy drawing faces of both people and dogs so I love all the portraits I’ve done.

What is the most challenging thing about capturing a dogs likeness in their portrait?

Most definitely it’s the hair, I don’t wish to be photographically perfect but don’t want it to be representational either so it’s finding a happy medium.

How can people get intouch with you to commission a portrait?

People contact me via Direct Message on Facebook (Leesa Pertsinidis Fine Art), Instagram @leesa art @skipfrog @AisforDog and via email (leesakm101@hotmail.com)

*Leesa’s first painted pet portrait of Grumpy4Legs*

If it doesn't make you too sad tell us about the Grumpy4legs the wire fox terrier in your life…

G4L was our fourth Wire from our breeder in Australia, Yiriwyre kennels. I have always loved the breed since my early teens and at the first opportunity added them to my life. He was happiest with us, not too keen on other dogs. We were nervous when I had my daughter that he and his sister would attack this small squeaky thing but they were actually so gentle and so generous with her, they were her constant companions from the very first….I think the dual smell of food and poo made her a winner in their eyes. Our current situation prohibits adding another wire to our family but at the first opportunity there will be a couple of wire puppies terrier-ising our life.

*Grumpy4Legs was very independent unless in a storm*

What life lesson have you learnt from Grumpy4legs?

Probably the biggest lesson he, like all dogs, gave, was to live in the moment and embrace that which you love with unabashed joy.

What do you see as the biggest benefit to having canines in you life?

I am a dog lover through and through and all of my dogs have given vast emotional support, I’m not sure it’s intentional on their part, more involuntarily symbiosis but they are there for a cuddle when you need it, they can sense emotional highs and lows and act accordingly. They also are excellent for getting you off the sofa and for generating belly laughs at their crazy antics. They have a role in socialising as they are a people magnet, going out with my dogs always bought people to ask what the breed was or weeping with memories from having a wire as a child. Most of my whole life I have had an animal in it, from native Australian wildlife as a child, to Wires as an adult and now, as having a wire here in the tropics is not viable we have two hamsters…or house rats as my husband calls them! We do eagerly look forward to the day for when life permits us another wire or two although, if we stay here a lot longer we will likely rescue a kampung dog.

What do you enjoy most about Wire-coated foxies?

Wires for me are a total package, they are so cute, their faces so expressive, they are full of personality, they are very smart and independent if a little bit(ok, well, a lot) stubborn. They are not for everyone, they do come with challenges but for me, and every other wire lover, there is no other choice.