After graduating she travelled and painted throughout Europe funded by an Elizabeth Greenshields Scholarship.In 1988 she became a gallery assistant in the Compass Gallery, in Glasgow. Here, encouraged by Cyril and Jill Gerber, Lesley began to exhibit more of her artworks winning various prizes and awards, such as The 1991 Scottish Prize, Royal Overseas League London. This gave her the confidence to concentrate on painting full-time.