Welcome to Lee Studio,

Inside you will find Leslie's Travel Companion books & artwork.

Leslie's
Armchair Travel

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Monday 03 October 2016 Ontario, Canada “This morning, just in the parking lot, had a great chat with Dave Scott of Owen Sound. He’s an arson investigator with family in the Shetlands and Scotland, of course. He smoked a cigarette. Reminded me of George Nixon—smile and voice. Lightning bolt on his hat.” https://www.leestudiotc.com/ —Excerpt and images from Leslie’s Travel Companion Journal: 2016 Ontario, Canada (2016 10 03 Ontario, Canada, Crossing Owen’s Sound with Judy Aboard the Chi Cheemaun) LeeStudio #traveljournal #travelbooks #travelart #artwork #customartwork #uniquegifts #Canada #Ontario #OwensSound #MSChiCheemaun
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Thursday 19 April 2007, cont. Mornington House Co. Meath, Newgrange Ireland “The guide continued, ‘…and you’ll notice the three small rooms, left, right and straight ahead with their stone basins. Human ashes and bone fragments have been found under and around these basins with these perfectly round, stone balls. With my flashlight, I will simulate the sunbeam coming through the upper window above the portal on the only day of the year that it reaches this chamber, on the winter solstice. The light travels down the tunnel to illuminate these back chambers. Starting over here on the left chamber, the beam of light sweeps across the floor, through the domed room across to the central chamber, then over to this chamber on the right. Within seventeen minutes the beam of sunlight will have entered, traveled across the rooms, and completed its journey out the tunnel only to return at the same time and day next year.’” https://www.leestudiotc.com/books/products/we-are-the-land-ireland.html —Excerpt and image from We Are the Land, Ireland 2nd Edition: (2007 04 19 Ireland, Co. Meath, Newgrange, 1. Right Basin 2. Central Basin) #LeeStudio #traveljournal #travelbooks #travelart #artwork #customartwork #uniquegifts #Ireland #CountyMeath #Newgrange #DiscoverIreland
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Thursday 19 April 2007, cont. Mornington House Co. Meath, Newgrange Ireland “Up the hill we labored until we stood at the white quartz entry. The tour guide explained what we were seeing as we followed along into the darkness. ‘This tunnel is twenty-four feet long, and here you have to bend down, now straighten up and turn sideways to pass through.’ We crept along single file ducking and bending in various contortions to fit under and between the huge stones lining the tunnel. Strange symbolic swirls, diamond shapes and lines were carved in various places on the way in. ‘Now we’re in the chamber with its corbelled ceiling.’ We each straightened up as we entered the round room. Everyone peered into the semi-darkness. Many symbols were carved into the stones in specific, but mysterious places. We stood packed elbow to elbow under the interior dome of interlaced rock.” https://www.leestudiotc.com/books/products/we-are-the-land-ireland.html —Excerpt and image from We Are the Land, Ireland 2nd Edition: (2007 04 19 Ireland, Co. Meath, Newgrange, Left Basin-cropped) #LeeStudio #traveljournal #travelbooks #travelart #artwork #customartwork #uniquegifts #Ireland #CountyMeath #Newgrange #DiscoverIreland
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About the Author

After a lifetime of writing, Leslie has decided that it’s time to share. She is now publishing her travel journals, non-fiction, poetry, and essays which will be available for purchase here on the Lee Studio website, at bookstores, and on the web. Her most recent project has been to edit thirty illustrated travel journals as a series called Leslie’s Travel Companions, referring to the little black book and tiny paint kit that she carried everywhere in her pocket.

In 2020, Lee completed Book Two of the Travel Companion series, Leslie’s Field Guide to Ireland, a pocket-sized reference to the history and culture of the land along with her favorite sites of interest in Ireland. It’s meant to be carried, referred to, and written in until it becomes a cherished memento of the trip itself. Book One, We Are the Land, Ireland, published in 2019, began with a search for understanding her Irish ancestry and ended on a romping road trip with her sisters across the Emerald Isle that brought them to a surprise conclusion.

Leslie wrote the poem, “Sacred Space” in 2014 to accompany the beautiful architectural photography of the iconic Michigan home, Pine Hollow, in her book Sacred Space, Pine Hollow. Reaching deep in the past to her first book, Lee edited and authored, Backcountry Ranger, the Diaries and Photographs of Norton Pearl in Glacier National Park 1910-1913 while cozied in her tiny home-built cabin on the edge of Torch Lake, Michigan beginning in 1976 and finally publishing in 1994.

Lee lives in northern Michigan where she raised her family. She’s a lover of nature, travel, history, genetic ancestry, linguistics, and her home on the Great Lakes. Always hoping for one last adventure, she’s holding off on completing her memoir.

“I was completely charmed by this insightful and heartfelt portrait of Ireland. Leslie Lee’s descriptions of the people she met and the places she visited are so well written, so immediate, that I felt like I was there.” Jerry Dennis, Michigan Author

About the Artist

Not formally trained in art, Leslie began to draw when she traveled as a way to see more clearly what was around her. She carried a notebook, pen and tiny paint kit instead of a camera, and when everyone else was clicking away, she whipped out her kit and painted—fast. The simplicity of her paint palette and the speed with which she painted has become her signature style.

Northwest Lower Michigan defines her. She considers herself part of the landscape among the bluestems and butterfly weed, beneath the cedars, willows, and maple trees. The wind of the woods and water speak her language and sing the songs of her childhood. How will a visitor know us if we don’t know who we are? How will we venture out in the world if we have nothing of ourselves to offer? If we treasure our origins, we take these gifts out to the world as we travel, and come home again, enriched twice over. Wherever we are, every day, we create the story and the adventure of our lives. Here are her favorite stories and drawings.

After a lifetime of writing and painting in the margins of work and family, now semi-retired, Leslie has made it a priority to share. Thirty years of travel journals and paintings have been dusted off, edited, and excerpted and will be appearing here on her website as books, fine art, folded note cards and postcards, and other gifts and products for sale.

Leslie's Note Cards

All of our fine art reproductions use archival inks and paper and are suitable for framing. Giclee is another term for this process. The color and quality of the reproductions are so impeccable, it’s difficult to tell they’re not the originals until you turn them over to read the printed details of the image. Framed, they look great on the wall and make wonderful gifts.

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Leslie's Artwork

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