Leslie Pucay paints the rhythm of a life she never planned

Leslie Ignacio Pucay never set out to become an artist. Painting was not part of a carefully mapped-out career, nor was it a childhood dream of exhibiting in galleries. Yet, somewhere along the way, the simple act of picking up a brush opened a path that would eventually lead her into the professional art world.

Her journey began in 2015, during a difficult period in her life, when her late psychiatrist encouraged her to try painting as a way to cope with Anxiety Disorder with Panic Attacks. She started with watercolor, not with the intention of becoming an artist but simply to have something creative to focus on and a way to express herself.

At the time, she could not have known that the suggestion would eventually change the direction of her life. What began as a personal activity gradually became a language through which she could explore emotion, movement, rhythm and freedom.

Before painting became an important part of her life, Leslie was a professional photographer. Photography had already trained her to notice composition, color, light, details and fleeting moments, giving her an understanding of the visual world that would later influence the way she approached a canvas.

But painting offered her something different. Behind a camera, the frame determines what belongs inside the image and what remains outside it, while a blank canvas allowed her to make a line and simply follow where it wanted to go.

That sense of freedom became increasingly important in 2023, when she began working with acrylics. As she explored the medium, she became fascinated by lines, shapes, movement and color, and began allowing herself to paint more intuitively and spontaneously.

She describes herself as an intuitive and spontaneous abstract artist whose work does not usually begin with a specific image that she wants to reproduce. Instead, she allows each painting to develop naturally, responding to what happens on the canvas and trusting the process to reveal what comes next.

Music has become an important part of that process. Leslie loves to sing and enjoys dancing, particularly ballroom and Argentine tango, and the rhythm, balance and movement she experiences through music and dance have naturally found their way into her paintings.

When she paints, a particular song can influence the movement of her lines and the emotional energy of a work. In her practice, sound becomes visual, with the rhythm of music translated into gestures, colors and movement across the canvas.

Her lines are therefore much more than decorative elements. They carry rhythm, movement and energy, moving freely across the surface and creating a visual experience that can evoke the gestures of a dancer or the changing tempo of a musical composition.

Her background in photography also remains part of that visual language. The discipline of observing composition, light, color and detail works alongside her connection to music and dance, bringing together different parts of her life in a style that has gradually become distinctly her own.

Yet despite the personal nature of her work, Leslie does not want to tell viewers exactly what they should see. She believes abstract art becomes more meaningful when people are free to bring their own experiences, memories and emotions into the work.

One person may see movement while another may see a memory, a feeling or a moment from their own life. Someone else may simply experience happiness, energy, peace or nostalgia, and for her, all of those responses are valid because the painting has created a personal connection.

More than anything, she hopes people feel something when they encounter her work. If a painting makes someone stop for a moment, remember something, reflect on their own life or simply experience an emotion, she considers that meaningful.

There is a personal truth behind that philosophy. Painting entered her life when she needed something to help her cope, but over the years it became much more than a creative outlet, eventually giving her a means to express herself, discover her voice and connect with other people.

The professional chapter of her artistic journey began much later than that first encounter with watercolor. By February 2025, she began putting her artworks into the market professionally and taking her career as a visual artist more seriously, opening the door to exhibitions, collectors and opportunities that came faster than she had expected.

Her debut as a featured artist at the ManilART 2025 National Art Fair became a significant milestone. The works she exhibited completely sold out, giving her an important affirmation as she began establishing herself more firmly within the contemporary Philippine art scene.

The momentum continued into 2026. In March, she held her first solo exhibition at Life ’n Art in Nuvali, followed by a second solo exhibition at the Art Center in SM Megamall in collaboration with Historia Art, while her participation in BILOG further expanded her exhibition experience.

Her paintings have also attracted support from collectors in the Philippines and abroad, including private commissions in the United States. For an artist who never initially intended to pursue painting professionally, the progression represents a remarkable transformation from personal creative expression to a growing artistic career.

Still, Leslie remains conscious of where it all began. She remembers the psychiatrist who encouraged her to pick up a brush during a difficult period, advice that seemed simple at the time but ultimately became one of the turning points in her life.

That experience has shaped the advice she gives to young and aspiring artists. Her message is straightforward, keep creating, because an artist’s voice develops through experimentation, mistakes, learning and the willingness to begin again.

She also believes artists should resist the pressure to discover their style immediately. Every artist has a different starting point and timeline, and comparing one person’s journey with another’s can make the creative process unnecessarily difficult.

Her own story is proof that there is no fixed timetable for becoming an artist. She began seriously pursuing painting later in life, after years as a professional photographer and full-time homemaker, and discovered that creativity can open a new chapter even when a person believes that chapter has already been written.

She knows as well that putting one’s work into the world requires courage. Rejection, criticism and self-doubt are part of an artist’s journey, but she encourages artists to listen to constructive criticism, continue learning and work hard without allowing other people’s opinions to completely define them.

Most importantly, she tells aspiring artists not to spend their lives trying to become another artist. Their own voice is already there, she believes, and the challenge is to keep creating long enough to discover it.

That philosophy mirrors the way she works. She does not want to be confined by a particular formula or imitate someone else’s approach, choosing instead to follow the movement of the painting and allow the work to evolve organically.

Her future goals are similarly focused on growth without losing that sense of freedom. She wants to continue exploring lines, movement, rhythm and color, create new bodies of work, participate in meaningful exhibitions, reach more collectors and build a sustainable career through her art.

But her ambitions extend beyond exhibitions and sales. She also wants to contribute to the Filipino art community and encourage people to create, particularly those who believe they are too old to begin or that an opportunity has already passed them by.

Her own experience has taught her otherwise. Sometimes, the most unexpected chapter of a person’s life can become one of the most meaningful, especially when there is enough courage to follow it without knowing exactly where it will lead.

She has also used her platform to advocate for artists with disabilities, mental health awareness and greater institutional support for the arts. These advocacies add another dimension to a career that began with painting as a personal means of coping and gradually grew into a platform for expression and connection.

For Leslie, art is not simply about what appears on the canvas. It is about movement, emotion, rhythm and freedom, and about allowing a line to travel without knowing exactly where it will end.

That openness is also reflected in the way she wants people to experience her paintings. She does not want to provide all the answers, but rather create enough space for viewers to find something of themselves within the colors, shapes and movements before them.

Her story makes that idea particularly powerful because her own life has followed an unexpected path. A brush picked up during a difficult period led first to watercolor, then to acrylics, exhibitions, collectors and a professional identity that she had never originally imagined for herself.

Today, she continues to explore what her lines can do and where they can take her. There are still new rhythms to translate, new movements to discover and new possibilities waiting on the canvas.

She hopes that when people look back at her work, they will remember more than the colors and lines. She wants them to remember the feeling and freedom behind them, and perhaps to be reminded that it is never too late to discover another side of yourself.

For Leslie, the most important thing is not to become someone else through art, but to discover who you are through the process of creating. Her message to those who are still searching for their own artistic voice is simple: “Keep creating. Your voice is already there. You just have to give yourself enough freedom to discover it.”

Leslie started painting because someone once encouraged her to pick up a brush. She became an artist by continuing to create, and she remains willing to follow the lines wherever they lead.