Welcome to Lee Studio,

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

Leslie's
Armchair Travel

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Tuesday 11 April 2023 continued Callanish Stones, Lewis, O.H. “In the images from last Monday’s post, compare the layout of the Callanish Stones to the layout of the stones forming the great cairn at Newgrange in Ireland. A couple of things—while it’s easy to understand why experts refer to the shape of the layouts as cruciform, I wish they would not. Cruciform refers to cross-shaped, and inevitably causes us to think of Christianity, which won’t exist until thousands of years after these constructions. Rather, think reproductive organs of women. At Newgrange, the passage is the vagina of Mother Earth. The side passages (cross) are the ovaries, and the uterus, where the magic takes place, is the cairn. The passage and cairn are fully underground, with a great dome of earth covering it. At the mid-winter sunrise, the sun shines down the passage to the uterus, passes over symbols of fertility and regeneration, and retreats for another year. The sun is the Father. I have no doubt that ceremonies were held to insure future regeneration.” —Excerpt and images from Leslie’s Travel Companion Journal: 2023 Ireland and Scotland, (Newgrange, Ireland. IMG_3933) https://www.leestudiotc.com/ #Ireland #DiscoverScotland #celtic #Scotland #IsleofLewis #OuterHebrides #CallanishStones #Newgrange #traveljournal #artwork #LeeStudio
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December 4, 2023 Tuesday 11 April 2023 continued Callanish Stones, Lewis, O.H. “Byrdie and I arrived among the standing stones of Callanish (Calanais) ignorant of their significance and eager to learn. What we were to find out that day challenged some of my deeply embedded biases. Perhaps it’s because we still live in a male-controlled culture and that the written history of our past was, and is, dominated by men. I simply assumed and imagined that the various standing stones of the world I’ve visited were designed and erected by men and that men presided over the ceremonies. Plus, I assumed the standing stones were phallic, a concrete sign of dominance and territory. But after my visit to the Callanish Stones, I see how wrong I was.” —Excerpt and images from Leslie’s Travel Companion Journal: 2023 Ireland and Scotland, (Callanish Stones Plan. IMG_8144. [From The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, Henshall] and Newgrange Plan, Ireland. IMG_8145) https://www.leestudiotc.com/ #Ireland #DiscoverScotland #celtic #Scotland #IsleofLewis #OuterHebrides #CallanishStones #traveljournal #artwork #LeeStudio
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Tuesday 11 April 2023 Broadbay House Bac, Isle of Lewis, O.H. Scotland “After signing in at the reception center, we donated, and paid to tour the display and movie. The information seemed accurate and in line with current archeology, data, and DNA. Good. With growing excitement, we climbed the gravelly path up the hill to the main collection of standing stones—so many! The tops of the stones emerged from the crest of the hill as we neared. They were huge and individualistic. Each stone seemed imbued with character of stance, natural cleft and minerals, and size. It was awesome to be among them, to touch them, lean against them, and to imagine who each stone represented. Few other people were there—it was if the site had been reserved just for us.” —Excerpt and images from Leslie’s Travel Companion Journal: 2023 Ireland and Scotland, (2023 04 11 -Callanish Standing Stones approach. IMG_5234) https://www.leestudiotc.com/ #Ireland #DiscoverScotland #celtic #Scotland #IsleofLewis #OuterHebrides #BroadBayHouse #traveljournal #artwork #LeeStudio
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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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