Born in Bristol, UK, and raised in London, Lesley developed her artistic identity during her teenage years, inspired by psychedelic music, French existentialist writers, and London’s avant-garde art scene. At sixteen, she joined a life-drawing class and soon began dedicating herself fully to art.

She studied at Goldsmiths’ College of Art in London before receiving a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, where she was mentored by renowned British artist Ken Kiff and encountered influential international artists such as Robert Motherwell and Matta. After completing her MFA in Painting, she lived and worked in London, exhibiting extensively and represented by the Enid Lawson Gallery.

In 1996, Lesley was selected for a rare residency in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China, where she taught watercolor painting and traveled through the Altai Mountains with her students. Since then, her journey has taken her from London to Florida and later to Maryland, where she now works from her studio near the Choptank River.