Pursuit

She glances out the back window at a waiting yellow taxi. Who is it that pursues her and why?

©lesliepetersonsapp Pursuit 24x48

Scenes of women in trouble is very touchy. I do not want to perpetuate stereotypes of helplessness. I always want to make it seem like she has agency. Though there may be danger, you get the feeling she has a good chance of pulling through and landing on her feet!

This is a piece that went through many changes. Originally I had multiple people in the street scene as if there where a bunch of people milling around. But as things developed I could see the figures were just a distraction from the real drama. I even considered taking out the figure near the door and just leaving the car- I still don’t know if I made the right choice. Don’t be surprised if you see another version of this one. (I often feel compelled to do certain images again and again.) 

This one was just really fun. I loved working with the street light creating a cone of a lighter color. The back window of her vehicle creates a frame within a frame, and the dark color flows into her silhouetted profile and the buildings on the street. I tried to make a contrast with the bright yellow, the cool watercolor blues, and the flat dark brown/black.

Keep your eye open for a woodcut version of this piece!

Love Stinks

 

2016 Leslie Peterson Sapp Fatale 30x36

Okay, I don’t really mean that.

During this time of celebrating love and romance, I remember that quote a friend of mine said many years ago: “Romance is about NOT being fulfilled, it’s about longing.”

So let us distinguish between the two: Love. Romance.

Love is wholesome and sees its object as a full person, whether that person is your date, your spouse, your child, friend, parent.

Romance is about the tension that is held between you and an object of your desire. That can include love- or not.

2021 Leslie Peterson Sapp Glass Houses

We all hope that our romantic relationships will be loving ones. We all hope that we will be held in an embrace of mutual respect, understanding and compassion. Nevertheless, it is so very much fun to witness the destructive, obsessive, doomed romances flickering on the silver screen in a good film noir.

So this Valentines Day, let us raise a glass to the darker sides of our nature.

Salud!

Search

The spy is being spied upon.

2019 Leslie Peterson Sapp Search 48x40

A young woman is being witnessed as she has snuck into an office at night, perusing documents on a desk. The green glow of the desk lamp illuminates her black jacket. Her profile and veil are silhouetted by the hall light shining through the office door window. Windows within windows, spies spying spies, rectangles framing one another, frames within frames. 

What she is reading, what information she is hoping to find, who is she spying on, and who is spying on her? What will her fate be?

Glass Houses

Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

A supposed celebratory moment- a toast- seem to have a tragic under current. The title refers to the large window behind them, and the glasses they are holding, but also refers to vulnerability and potential exposure. What is being communicated? Her expression is enigmatic. 

In this video I talk about the atypical development of this piece, the limited color scheme, and how the graphic novel artist Darwyn Cooke (of the "Parker" series fame) inspires me.