Leslie Broughton
Blue Mesa Gallery

"Hermit's Peak" 
       
                          Artist’s Bio     

The B.F.A. with a concentration in painting from the University of New Mexico solidified my early interest in making art.  My focus on landscapes began with plein-air watercolor painting in the mountains surrounding Albuquerque. The degree introduced me to printmaking as well. After an M.A. in Comparative Literature, I moved to Arizona, where I experienced the low desert—saguaro cactus, mesquite trees, and wild javelina, and I continued painting with watercolors in the hills and washes of the Tucson area.  Several years later, I returned to New Mexico to live and work in the small town of Las Vegas, located between Santa Fe and Taos.  Now living in the high desert, the source of my inspiration is the open sky, piñon and juniper pine,  and the occasional wolf or coyote.
 
I am the owner of Blue Mesa Gallery LLC;  artist member and volunteer with the New Mexico State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts; contributor to the Las Vegas Arts Council; and past member of the local artist cooperative gallery.  Since 2017 I've exhibited in the annual New Mexico Painters’ Exhibition invitational on the campus of New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU).  In 2019 I had a solo exhibit in the Ray Drew Gallery at NMHU.   I was an exhibitor in the Art Santa Fe 2025 show at the city's Convention Center, and in October of 2025 my watercolors were shown in the "Autumn Vibes" exhibit in Art Mosaik Gallery, Santa Fe.  I am currently an exhibitor in several juried digital exhibits, and my work is shown online in the New York Optimist Magazine.