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<\/a>\nFinding Leslie Thomas in her studio is akin to looking for Waldo in a rabbit warren. She and her artist husband, Mark Knudsen, are nestled in a back corner of the maze of studios, galleries, classrooms and frame shops cobbled together from three old buildings that comprise King\u2019s Cottage in Sugar House. The couple has been there about a year now, and they both paint full time in the homey space they\u2019ve created.<\/p>\n
When Thomas and Knudsen first moved in, the studio had a dark, dirty subfloor left after the previous tenant removed some not-so-clean carpet, and one small window. Today it has three north facing windows, a couple of couches, lamps, plants, a small refrigerator and lots of books and personal memorabilia, including a big ceramic pig made by a friend. The floor has also been cheerfully revived \u00e0 la Jackson Pollock. \u201cWe put four coats of Varathane on the floor,\u201d Thomas says, \u201cand then started throwing paint around, one color each day. When we were finished, we had to paint the walls, too, because they were pretty messy.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time she was 35, Thomas found herself back in Salt Lake as a single mother with no degree. \u201cAnd that\u2019s when I finally listened to my father\u2019s advice,\u201d she says ruefully. \u201cHe said there were only two areas that would allow me to make money immediately after graduation: accounting and computer engineering. I chose engineering so I would have a career that could pay for my children\u2019s braces.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBefore I die I would like to have a painting turn out like I see it in my mind\u2019s eye. That would be nice . . .\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thomas secured a job in the development department at the University of Utah and immediately began using her reduced tuition benefits to shore up her math skills. She was later accepted into the computer engineering program, one of 60 students chosen from a pool of 1,400. \u201cEngineering is about as far from the art world as you can get,\u201d she laughs, \u201cbut the great benefit of the American school system is that you get second chances.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduation Thomas worked in robotics across three states. She smiles as she remembers her first job designing brains for little robots that scooted around the factory floor, \u201ctaking things out and putting them away, taking things out and putting them away. It was like having little dwarves running around,\u201d she chuckles. \u201cThe job was hard, but it was glamorous. They called it AI (artificial intelligence) back then, and that was the hippest place to be in engineering.\u201d In 1997, Thomas moved back to Salt Lake and worked in the telecommunications industry. She met her future husband the next year. \u201cAn old friend of Mark\u2019s saw me at a gallery stroll,\u201d she recalls, \u201cand set us up. On our first date we saw the worst movie ever made, but we had a really good dinner.\u201d\u00a0They continued to date over the next several years and finally tied the knot in 2004, after a literal sign from above.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Knudsen chimes in to say, \u201cYou should have seen Leslie driving through Southern Idaho. She was so intense because she didn\u2019t know when the courthouse was going to close and she wanted to get to Winnemucca in time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYep,\u201d agrees Thomas. \u201cWe got married in this courthouse with pencil drawings of Elvis on the walls. They were having a high school art show of some kind.\u201d<\/p>\n And then shortly after they were married, Thomas was laid off and Knudsen took early retirement after 35 years at the Tribune. \u201cMark wanted to make a run at fine art painting full time,\u201d Thomas says, \u201cand I decided I wanted to paint a lot more, too. We had gone out on weekends to do some plein air painting, but this was a chance for us to get a real studio and paint full-time, and Mark has always been one of my best teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas and Knudsen subsequently developed their current painting technique, which is to take road trips through Utah, Arizona and Nevada shooting hundreds of digital photos of the arid landscape. \u201cWe don\u2019t compose our photos,\u201d says Thomas. \u201cWe just take tons of them and turn them into panoramic shots on the computer. Then we take those pictures back to the studio and paint from them.\u201d Asked why she focuses on this particular geography, Thomas replies, \u201cI was born here and took this landscape as a given, but then I came to treasure it after I moved away and came back.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though the two artists sometimes paint from the same photo, there are marked differences in their styles. Knudsen is known for his stretched horizontal views of the landscape and Thomas paints in a more traditional size. Knudsen also tends to include more man-made items in his paintings \u2013 fences, vehicles, etc. \u2014 while Thomas usually sticks to pure landscape. \u201cThat way I don\u2019t have to do such straight lines,\u201d she laughs.\u00a0<\/strong>They also use different materials; Knudsen uses acrylic and Thomas paints with oil.<\/p>\n<\/a>Thomas\u2019 journey to full time painter is every bit as convoluted as the twists and turns of King\u2019s Cottage, though art has been a life long passion. \u201cI always could and did draw,\u201d Thomas says, \u201cand I was fortunate to study under some wonderful teachers like Don Doxey, James McBeth and Tony Smith, but as I got older I made several missteps in life.\u201d She started college in California as an art history major, but ended up acquiring a husband and two kids along the way, which derailed her education plans.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cGet the picture, Mark!\u201d Thomas exclaims suddenly, and then continues the story. \u201cWe were driving to Bellevue and I looked up to see these contrails in the sky. I asked Mark what they looked like, and he agreed with me that they formed the Roman numeral XII. So I took that as a sign that we should get married on the 12th of the month and we did!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n