Tulsa Artist Paints The City From The Street

Several days each week since October Jill Leslye has set up her easel and her paints, continuing work on a street scene she is painting. She is there on the coldest days of winter and summer's hottest days, creating something she says will live on forever.

"This is Cherry Street here and Quaker in 2009," said artist Jill Leslye.

Leslye sets up camp on this corner several days every week, capturing a piece of Tulsa's landscape.

Her current subject is a row of shops along Cherry Street.

"I'm not done with it yet; it's gonna take me another three months to finish it all," she said.

That means she'll have been at this one painting for almost a year. Her style and process is something she developed herself, and requires patience and time.

"No computers involved - this is my from the noodle," the artist said.

It is a three-dimensional style created by layers upon layers of paint. Several of Lesley's paintings can be found down the street in Linda Pierson's gallery

"This doesn't have a form under it; it's just all paint," said Linda Pierson of a painting called Daffodils.

Another painting is of a part of the trail at LaFortune Park.

"Leaves and the wind is blowing; you can just feel the leaves," Pierson said. "It's just very interesting."

In some cases she applies the fine details with a needle and then pulls the paint up and out to give it depth.

"These people are going over to the white Owl and meeting friends," artist Jill Leslye said of another painting.

She spends so much time at each site painting she almost becomes part of the neighborhood.

For years she taught school, and says through her paintings she still is. - teaching us a little about ourselves and our neighborhoods.

"A painting should live on forever," Leslye said.

Jill Leslye is there on Cherry street several days each week, and she enjoys sharing her work with folks who stop by.