Lee Dewsnap

Painter

Creating stunning larger than life floral works is Lee’s passion & her much admired work has captured your attention since she began showing with us. Lee is a self-taught artist who is originally from the UK, but moved to NZ when she was six. Later in life Lee spent time as an expat in South East Asia & the Middle East. During her time abroad, she painted mainly in watercolours, but in 2008 turned to oils so that she could paint on a much larger scale. Returning to New Zealand in 2010 Lee now paints from her small Auckland studio in her back garden where she is immersed in her work.

Lee paints using traditional oils on stretched Berge linen. Using a technique similar to the Flemish masters, Lee uses layer upon layer of fine ‘transparent’ oil paint to build form, shadows & light to the many petals in her works. The gradual building up of these layers (up to 7 in areas) increases the luminosity & vibrancy of her flowers.  It is the richness of the colour & contrast of light & shadow that make them come to life & pull you in.

Lee begins by photographing her subjects at night using a spotlight to achieve the contrast of light & shadow on the petals. The flowers start with a very detailed drawing on her canvas before she begins painting.  Some of Lee’s larger works can take up to a month & a half to complete, therefore, Lee has recently started to produce some smaller works of which are shown here at Turua gallery. 

Lee’s paintings can be found in collections in Brunei, Canada, USA, Australia, Britain, Malaysia, UAE & New Zealand & she is available for commissions through the gallery.