Duane de Lessart

India ink, watercolor, colored pencil

I grew up in the wilderness of West Virginia, where my earliest canvases were brown paper bags and my studio was the forest floor. With my dog, Lady, as my constant guardian, I spent hours sketching the wildlife around me — learning to see movement, gesture, and personality long before I had the language to describe them. Those early drawings shaped the way I still approach art: attentive, curious, and grounded in the natural world.

In school, I was fortunate to study under an exceptional art teacher, Mr. T. Wiley, who recognized my passion and encouraged me to push further. Life took me down many creative paths — painting billboards, barns, and church baptistries — but financial realities eventually led me to seek a different direction. I joined the Navy and served twelve years in submarine service, carrying my creative instincts with me even when art wasn’t my primary work.

After completing an associate’s degree at the Art Institute of Seattle in Graphics/Web Design, my interests shifted toward the psychology of visuals in learning. That curiosity led me to earn a BA in Adult Learning and build a career as a curriculum developer, where I explored how imagery shapes understanding, memory, and meaning.

Now retired from government service and living in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve returned to fine art with renewed purpose. The landscapes, wildlife, and shifting moods of this region have reawakened the same sense of wonder I felt as a child in the woods. My work today is a blend of lived experience — the discipline of the Navy, the structure of design, the empathy of teaching, and the quiet observation of nature.

As I prepare to share my artwork along the Puget Sound and beyond, I see this chapter not as a return, but as a continuation. Art has always been the thread running through every part of my life. I’m grateful to follow it once again, and I invite you to join me as I explore where it leads next.