Lesley Hanlin is a watercolor artist whose work explores the gentle tension between structure and spontaneity.

Drawing on her design training and formal education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA), she creates loose, biomorphic forms that echo the natural rhythms of Florida’s coastal landscape.

Her practice is rooted in the interplay of figure and ground—allowing negative edges, open space, and subtle shifts in value to shape the composition as much as the marks themselves. Lesley’s paintings lean into granulation, organic movement, and intuitive mark-making, inviting viewers to feel rather than analyze.

She shares her life in Northeast Florida with her husband and their high-energy yellow Labrador, Augusta, whose spirited companionship adds joy and motion to daily life. Rooted in a love of nature, seasonal rhythms, and the beauty of restraint, Lesley’s work celebrates the moments where control gives way to flow—where what’s left untouched becomes as meaningful as what is revealed.