Léa Selley’s Biography
“Every Child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
- Pablo Picasso
I grew up in Richmond BC and knew from a very young age that I wanted to be an artist. My favourite thing to do was pluck the stamens off lilies in my grandmother’s garden and use the pollen coated tips as ‘makeup’ on my cousins. I loved how the oil from the skin would set the stain and we could make the most stylish designs that would last for days… the adults didn’t like it so much! Since my homemade escapades in ‘art’ didn’t always go over so well with the parents, I pursued a mainstream education and graduated with a degree in Geography. I spent 3 years creating demographic maps for both government and private agencies.
After working for awhile at a large telecommunications firm, the ‘IT Guys’ in the office realized they needed a website, because they considered this too ‘artistic’ of a project for their programmer skills, they asked me to create one for them. Websites led into graphic design and proved to be a more dynamic media that kept me entertained in my employment. For the past 7 years I have been working as a sole proprietorship creating websites and doing other graphic design projects.
Feeling a need to do artwork in a more expressive medium, I began painting with watercolours and creating compositions through collage with my children. I have always had my hand in one type of craft or another, but a new set of face paints received two years ago as a gift, was the catalyst to start painting regularly. I love the spontaneity of the medium and its intimacy. Face painting marries the facets of my art by combining an approach consistent with design and a flowing painting technique.
Through my creations, I attempt to bring the person I’ve painted as well as viewers into a whimsical world that can easily be washed away at days end – unlike the more permanent style of body art that I’ve been collecting on myself, and which I’ve named my company after!
Since moving to Southern Alberta, I have been awed by its natural beauty and incredible weather. Living in such a beautiful area provides rich material to constantly inspire my imagination. I currently live in Calgary Alberta with my three daughters and always supportive husband, Allen. When I’m not painting faces or working on the computer, I’m likely getting someone to school on time, hitting the slopes, or planting a garden for the kids to play in!