Hi, my name is Joan.

(Does anyone care?)

Well, I listened to a podcast and the speaker said that people will be more inclined to buy your art if they know you (and I assume, if they like you) so here goes.

My greatest accomplishment in life is being a mom (2 boys, ages 9 and 11) and getting to be the wife to my husband who I have known for more than half of my 47 years of life. I’ve called Dallas my home for over 20 years but spent the other half of my life in Austin (and a small fraction of time in Arkansas).

I am a laid back, happy-go-lucky, faith filled kind of person. I am a thinker but sometimes my mind is just blank and I’m okay with that. I like chill music, black coffee, old (cotton) jeans, and scratch-made food. I love watching my boys in all their active pursuits but when it’s time to go on vacation, I like things familiar and serene. (Favorite vacation spot: Jackson Hole where the people and the vibe are awesome, there is beauty in nature at it’s finest, and it feels like a capsule in time.)

I have no undergraduate education or training in art. I am actually an attorney (which does not define me at all) but that kind of work stresses me out. So I’ll just say I’m taking a little breather. I love making all kinds of art and the creative process of thinking up a new idea or a new piece and bringing it to life. Depending on my mood, you never know what kind of art is in the works, pet portraits, traditional still life oil paintings, fun, unique mixed media large scale art, or something soft and pretty. I can’t believe I kept you reading this far and for that, I am so grateful. Thanks for stopping by.

Pet Paintings

Saint Bernard

Black Lab

Black Pom Huskie

Border Collie

—in the works—

Golden Retriever

Labradoodle

Golden Doodle

Terrier

a dog named “Toby”

Pet Portrait Commissions

Pricing noted below may vary depending on type and complexity of dog image and other various factors such as turn-around time, etc.

Acrylic and Oil

on Canvas

Please note: for legal purposes, This is a high resolution photograph in which I I have received exclusive permission from the photogrAPHER to sell a print of the photograph on canvas, as the completed piece will contain my artist alterations by way of painting on the Photograph.

Commission Ideas

As an idea of a possible commission I could create for you, each year my children’s school has an annual auction and each grade creates a piece of art under the direction of either a group of parent volunteers for that grade or perhaps by a single parent.

I don’t necessarily want to keep raising my hand for this volunteer position, knowing the amount of time and energy it takes out of my everyday life because I can’t just put in a half-A$%# effort but I have found I can’t help myself because I truly crave the task of creating something unique and tying in a meaningful story behind a fun and/ or beautiful completed piece of art.

If you have ever wanted to gift a piece of art to someone special or for yourself and really want to do so because you feel the art should not only hold beauty or interest but also tells a story or has personal meaning behind it, then You have come to the right place. And just because it is a commission does not mean that it has to cost more than already made original art, at least in my humble opinion. To me a commission means that your story or your passion is intertwined into the piece. I’m a thinker so when I say ‘we’ can brainstorm, I need some info but you can count on me to create a special and unique piece of art for you.

Pricing will vary depending on size, type, amount of work, and amount of time allowed to execute the completed project.

Please check back around mid April for more detailed info on general pricing info so you can get an idea of what you may want to inquire about.

2023 (5th grade piece)

“Blue Dog Comes to the Big D”

49" x 49"

Mixed Media on Canvas

Newspaper and photographic print collage

Hand Painted Acrylic Subject Matter

Please note: all time, toil and talent expended to create this piece was given in the spirit of philanthropy. No financial benefit was received for my efforts and all proceeds were received directly by a registered 501(c)(3) benefiting an educational institution.

More Detailed Images coming soon

“Blue Dog Comes to the Big D”

2023 School Auction Theme, “STA, On the the Bayou, a Louisiana Saturday Night”: The year this piece was created, Louisiana was the theme of the auction. As a nod to famous Louisiana artist, George Rodrique, I came up with this concept to take Rodrique’s iconic Blue Dog and have him come to Dallas.

Student Participation: Student participation is part of the draw but with one-hour to work hands on with the students, their participation came by way of them learning about a famous Louisiana artist, and merging the idea of this iconic symbol of Louisiana art with something they could collaborate their input into. “What do you think of as a symbol of Dallas?” That was what I posed for them to think about. As the students would raise their hand one-by-one sharing their contributions, I was able to hand out at that moment, over a hundred different images of Dallas buildings, symbols, and institutions, that I obtained and brought ahead of time so that the student’s participation also involved cutting out these iconic images of Dallas.

Artist Statement: As the goal of the auction is raising funds for our school, my thought was that one cohesive hand painted piece of art was much needed amongst the collection of the typical offerings. Hence, my vision to include the students in a meaningful way but in all honesty, control the end goal of the piece with an artist lead focale point for the art. Hence, the creation of “Blue Dog Comes to the Big D”. Additionally, for another layer of interest I scoured several months of newspapers for meaningful text and stories highlighting memorable or historic Dallas people, places and things. I later collaged it all together and hand-painted the infamous Blue Dog atop the stories and images that became the foundation for the symbolic art. To me, you can look at the piece time and again and still notice new stories, names, symbols, or fun facts about Dallas upon each glance that you may not have noticed previously.

At auction that year, the winning bid for this piece was the highest that any piece of art had sold for in the history of our school’s annual auction.

2024 (6th grade piece)

“Road Rules Texas”

5' x 3.5' Mixed Media on Canvas

Kids art digitized into black and white photography, printed on canvas with original painting atop the black and white photography.

Please note: all time, toil and talent expended to create this piece was given in the spirit of philanthropy. No financial benefit was received for my efforts and all proceeds were received directly by a registered 501(c)(3) benefiting an educational institution.

“Road Rules Texas”

2024 School Auction Theme: I want my STA (spoof off of, “I want my MTV”)

Lead Artist Statement:

MTV not only brought music videos to television but it also brought about the birth of pop culture, art, fashion, brands, and reality television shows. This year’s 6th grade class (Class of 2026), created their own unique shoes and bags, as a nod to pop culture and fashion. The famous “Prada, Marfa” art installation (although representing one of the largest names in fashion is ironically set on the side of the road in the middle of the Chihuahua dessert, 37 miles outside of Marfa, Texas) became the backbone of this piece of black and white photography on canvas turned into a unique piece of mixed media, hand painted art. I converted the students designs into jpeg files and layered them into a digital file of black and white photography, and then had it printed on large, oversized canvas. As the shoes and bags were the only elements of color on the photographic print on canvas, I then primed the canvas and hand painted iconic Texas symbols such as the state bird of Texas (Mockingbird), state flower (bluebonnet), state cactus (prickly pear) and the characteristic pink primrose. Additionally, I hand painted a subtle pink, purple, and blue sunset, dawning sun, and peeks and valleys in the hillside.

Student Participation: I provided black and white images on paper of famous, on trend sneakers (branding removed), along with iconic designer handbags (branding removed), and myself and two fellow art chairs supervised and instructed the 6th grade students in their designs and creations of their own for the one-of-a-kind sneakers and bags.

This piece, “Road Rules Texas” encompasses a nod to MTV’s birth of pop culture (the shoes designed by the students), art (this famous installation), fashion (Prada), and reality television shows (MTV Road Rules).

More info

Coming SoOn

Please check back around the middle of April 2024.

email: joanbui@hotmail.com

www.joanleslie.com

@joan-leslie-art