Leslie Ditto

I have always been drawn to self expression through visual arts. As a young girl, growing up in  Memphis, Tennessee, I was raised around an "old school" Harley Davidson shop that my father and his brother owned. I spent many summers helping my father there at the shop and watching him build Harley motorcycles from the ground up and then painted the gas tanks with fantasy images that were inspired by Franzetta and Boris Valleo. I became fascinated with the powerful and sexy women that these artist created.

After two months at Otis in L.A. my father became terminal and I was forced to return home.Over the years I researched techniques of the “Old Masters” and their use of glazes over gray under paintings.With strong influences from fantasy artist, surreal artist, and the "Old Masters", I create disturbingly beautiful oil paintings that interpret to the viewer my deep emotions, conceived from my views of current social, political, and religious dynamics. My ideas come to me in an organic fashion. Starting with a seed of a simple idea and growing into many complex symbols and images. My goal is to capture my audience and bring them to my emotional state in the hopes that my test for an echo will be a success.