Lesley Birch was born in 1958 and grew up in Glasgow in a creative environment with her architect father and artistic mother. David Donaldson, who painted the Queen, lived across the road, as did Sir Alexander Gibson, Conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra.
Lesley studied art at school and went on to Glasgow University gaining an MA in English Literature and Music, moving constantly in creative circles, leading her to pursue a successful career in the pop music business in the 1980s.
But her painting career began seriously whilst teaching English Literature in Cambridge. She says her passion for art had always been �in her blood� and it was only a matter of time before she would take it up again. She took to acrylic paints almost immediately, enjoying the spontaneity and looseness of this medium �because it dries so quickly�.
In 2000, she was accepted as a member of Cambridge Open Studios and the Cambridge Drawing and Painting Society and has enjoyed exhibiting since that time.
Lesley�s inspirations come from the landscape around her - Yorkshire, Northumberland, The Lakes and particularly her native Scotland, which she revisits regularly. She says pictures are embedded �in memory� from childhood holidays on the West Coast and these keep appearing in her work. She takes a sketchbook and camera wherever she goes. She will work on several pieces at a time and says the paintings go through �many lives� in the studio before she is satisfied with the final image.
Lesley is married with one son and lives in York.

Galleries
Pyramid Gallery, York; Scotland Art, Edinburgh & Glasgow; Project Art, London; Art Parade, Saltaire

Awards
Highly Commended, Harrogate Open 2008, The Mercer Gallery; Derwent Award, The Artist Magazine, 2008; Satellite Award, Leeds Open 2009; semi-finalist National Art Competition 2009

Mixed Exhibitions
Great North Show, 2009, 2010
The Sea, The Sea � two-woman show, Gallery Forty-Nine, Bridlington
RHS Harlow Carr Summer Exhibition 2007, 2008, 2010
South Yorkshire Open 2010, Cooper Gallery, Barnsley
Food Florious Food, The Station Gallery, Richmond
Haworth Open, 2009, Accrington
Leeds Open 2007, 2009
Doncaster Open, 2006, 2008

Solo Exhibitions
2009 - A Sense of Place, South Square Gallery, Bradford
2008 - Land & Sky, Yorkshire Dales Headquarters