Chef Turns Passion for Food into Watercolor Creations

REDLANDS >> Cathedral City’s Leslee Adams’ passion for creating tasty pastries and other delicious delicacies can be seen distinctively in the amazing art she now creates, watercolors paintings that bring food to life. Adams will join four other artists who will be featured during the annual “Evening with the Artists” hosted by the Redlands Community Hospital Foundation on Friday, April 22 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Her paintings of pomegranates, artichokes and other foods can make your mouth water and your eyes transfixed on her attention to detail. “As a professional chef and established artist, I see food through an artist’s eye,” explains Adams. “Painting watercolors became my second passion.” Adams earned her pastry diploma at The Ritz Escoffier in Paris in 1990 and returned to California to work as a pastry chef at The Ritz Huntington Hotel. She moved back to Palm Springs in 1990 and opened her own catering/pastry business. “I am thrilled to be able to share my art with Redlands Community Hospital Foundation’s ‘Evening with the Artists’ event,” said Adams. “Art can be such a healing medium and I’m excited to share my passion with the Redlands community.” She will be exhibiting framed original watercolors at the Redland’s event. The artist began painting in watercolors in 2002 as a relaxing hobby that developed into a passion for art. She became known for her colorful, distinctive paintings of food and branched out to paint local deserts, still life art, and florals. Her paintings of landscapes, vineyards and Spanish missions are inspired from California, Italy and France. Adams has been a member of the Coachella Valley Watercolor Society (CVWS) since 2004 and Westlake Village Art Guild since 2010, where she received many awards. The artist has shown and sold her work at The La Quinta Arts Festival, Southwest Arts Festival, Redlands Arts Festival and many more. In addition, her clients commission her to do custom pieces to fit their walls. Adams joins local artists Karen Werner, Michael Bedoya, Jeff Skelly and Trudy Wood at the annual “Evening with the Artists” event. Werner’s artwork will be available for purchase at the Stan and Ellen Weisser Education Pavilion from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22. Proceeds will benefit the Redlands Community Hospital Foundation’s art fund. Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served during the evening’s elegant event. Tickets are $25. The Foundation’s art program began in 1978. Today, the hospital exhibits a collection of more than 800 works of original art and historic photographs in the Redlands Community Hospital Art collection.