Leslie Sandbulte Interview

Leslie Sandbulte paints lush figurative work that depicts scenes from the lives of women. Here she discusses her art and her life as an artist.

LM: When were you first aware that you had artistic talent and that you wanted to create art?

LS:  As a 4 year old, I stood up in my bed with a purple crayon, I remember the color, and scribbled on the wall.  I got a spanking for it!

LM: Did that discourage you?

LS:  Not in the slightest. In kindergarten I lived for the moment it was my turn to stand at the easel. So it’s been a passion my whole life.

LM: Who were some of the artists you admired?

LS: A diverse group. I lived near the Huntington Library when I was young so I would go see the Gainsborough paintings over and over as a junior and high school student. When I went into USC’s art program Richard Diebenkorn was a presence and Wayne Thiebaud was taking off. I was very influenced by those artists – the intense colors and the freedom of the work.

LM: You majored in art at USC, what was that experience like?

LS:  I loved it when I was there but there was a time when I would start something and there was no resolve. I started printmaking, but no resolve. Unfortunately, we were influenced to do extremely contemporary art before we had the covered the basics. In other words “to fly before we could walk”.  So I never really got to learn my three loves, drawing, painting, and printmaking. I never focused on one thing because we had to take this whole smattering.

There’s a problem of being forced to be an adult before you go through adolescence.  I think people that are not allowed to go through adolescence are adolescents the rest of their lives. And that’s the danger of a “general” education. I can tell when an artist has had a complete arts education.  You see art history references in their work. I am very grateful for the USC experience. I am not critical of that period, but it was not enough.

LM: Did you always do figurative work?

LS: Yes, as a child I would take the Butterfield sewing pattern books and draw the women.  Sometimes I drew horses but mostly the human figure.

LM: You feel that each figure in your work is distinct? Do you feel that you are painting a specific person?

LS:  What I am not doing is portrait work.  I am not interested in differentiating ages, ethnicities, any of those things. My emphasis is on forms – are they angular, curvilinear, soft etc. . With the paintbrush I can feel what the essence of the form is. And that is much more of what I am interested in.

LM: So its it fair to say that your interested in form, almost as an abstract painter would be?

LS: Yes, that is accurate.

LM: Many people comment on how wonderful it is to see your brushwork. It’s apparent that you really love that aspect of creating the work.

LS: Yes, it lifts my spirits to see buttery brushstrokes . And the pleasure a painter gets out of it is …
Next year I might explore the stages of a working drawing and how it evolves into a painting.  For example, I start with pencil, a loose pencil.  I am interested in letting that show somewhat.  Some of the art work that I buy comes from the artists studios and they are done quickly and that allows you to see the process.  When I look at a painting I get right up to it to see the brushwork and the ground is underneath and then all of the other layers.

LM: Your work gives viewers a sense of  movement, even if the figures are in repose.

LS:  That is an interesting comment because my paintings start from two polarities.  The design of the work is based on Japanese woodcuts, which depict warriors, women dressing, the floating worlds, and these works have a lot of action and movement in them.  I also pay a lot of attention to the negative space as well as positive space. The forms create the action.

LM: Many artists have an affinity for Japanese art. Why do you think Japanese art has had such an influence on European and American artists?

LS:  The Japanese are known for design. They are geniuses of design.  The Japanese also brought in genre scenes, not always depicting aristocracy or royalty but scenes of everyday life.  Figures were painted very intimately, close up. And sometimes, the figures just go off the canvas – forms are moving before you but going off the page.  That was entirely different from the traditional European approach to figurative painting.

LM: You are a successful artist. What is your advice for other artists?

LS: At one point, I stopped doing art to raise my children and I was teaching art but I was not creating it myself.  So my advice is if you have the passion, no matter how busy your life is, dedicate one night a week to taking a course or a workshop.  You have to keep the juices going or you will evolve at a slower pace.

I rediscovered by passion for art when I walked into an art class by the impressionist Ron Lucas. I pivoted my whole life towards painting again.  I completed the dream that started early in my life.

I told my husband I was going to start painting and that I would be buying paints and he asked how I was going to pay for that and I replied “Ask me in 10 years!”.  In the 10th year I was, by the grace of God, discovered in an art show.

So back to the advice – separate yourself from money, acclaim from others, and don’t  look beyond the next painting.  Stay disciplined, go to your studio at the same time everyday, cut other things out of your life.  Do the work. Just keep painting and growing in those areas that you didn’t fulfill earlier, or the areas you want to fulfill.

To see Leslie’s work click here.