Leslie D’Allesandro Hawes is an artist, illustrator known for highly detailed colored pencil drawings.
She studied at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and began creating artwork professionally in 1976. Her colored pencil method is self-taught, and has been her medium of choice for more than 30 years. Leslie’s subject matter for her drawings may vary, but the drawing medium is invariably colored pencil.
“I have been making art for as long as I can remember. My first artistic attempts began at around four years of age. I spent lots of time with my coloring books, and always had all the pencils and paper I could want.”
“I had wonderfully illustrated books given to me as a child, and I was encouraged to read and draw.”
Influences at this early age were “Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame, “The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies” with illustrations by Garth Williams, “Dog Stories” by Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky, and Leslie’s favorite, “Stories from Mary Poppins” by P. L. Travers, illustrated by Gertrude Elliott.
Arthur Rackham, Maxfield Parrish, John Singer Sargent, Gustav Klimpt, Norman Rockwell, Walt Disney, and N. C. Wyeth were later added to her list of artistic influences.
“My imagination and intense love of animals and all things natural are sources of my subject matter. I grew up in a rural area of New Jersey, and spent much time playing ‘pretend’, outdoors, in the woods by our home. What an extreme luxury to have had that.”
Leslie has concentrated her artistic efforts on Fantasy art and Illustration for the past 15 years. Fairies, dragons and all things imaginative and humorous are her subject matter.
Leslie authored and illustrated her own book, under the name Leslie D’Allesandro Hill, titled “Fairies Have Wings, But They’re Not Angels!”. Leslie also illustrated the books, “Two Glass Buttons: A Story of the Texas Runaway Scrape”, by Marguerite Crain, published by the Haley Library, Midland, Texas, and “Granger Pinkbelly, The Puppy From Hell”, by author Carolyn Banks.
Leslie displays her Fantasy artwork nationally at Science Fiction/Fantasy literature and art conventions. She had been chosen to be Artist Guest of Honor at InCon, Spokane, Washington, and at TusCon, Tucson, AZ.
Her work is licensed for publication as Fantasy Art greeting cards, corporate Christmas cards, and CD and album covers.
Leslie specialized for many years in fine art pet portraits, and still maintains a loyal clientele for these special art pieces.
She continues to welcome commission requests.
Originally from Rahway, New Jersey, Leslie has lived most of her adult life in Midland, Texas, and in Tucson, Arizona, where she now lives with her husband and her famous dog, Deuce, of Black Dog Diaries fame.
“I am interested in gardening, because it gives me a good reason to be outside, and reading, because it gives me a good reason to be inside. I love listening to blues music, because it keeps me from having to hum to myself. I have recently discovered digital photography.”
Leslie