Welcome to Lee Studio,
Inside you will find Leslie's Travel Companion books & artwork.
Leslie's
Armchair Travel
Lee Studio
View post on Facebook >Friday 31 March 2023 The Flax Cottage, Castlewellan To Belfast “George, Viv, and I drove to Belfast to tour the Titanic Exhibit. The extraordinary building that houses the museum sits on the site where the great ship was built next to its sister ship, Olympia. The shipbuilders, Harland and Wolff, built two slips side by side the length of four city blocks to house the construction. The company had six other ships in process in Belfast as well. It’s hard to imagine the impact of designing and building these two colossal ships had on the city. The 884 feet long gantries for Olympia and Titanic loomed over the skyline at a whopping 228 feet tall, the height of a twenty-two-story building. To put the length in perspective, imagine the length of two and a half football fields end to end.” —Excerpt and images from Leslie’s Travel Companion Journal: 2023 Ireland and Scotland, (IMG - 4979) https://www.leestudiotc.com/ #Ireland #Northern Ireland #DiscoverIreland #celtic #Belfast #Titanic #traveljournal #artwork #LeeStudio
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View post on Facebook >Thursday 30 March 2023, continued The Flax Cottage, Ballywillwill Northern Ireland “We walked up the old lane rutted by centuries of Nixon wagon wheels. Tall hedgerows of gorse, wild flowers, and native trees walled the path. Then we meandered through the ash tree plantation studded with native trees and three chestnuts in memory of neighbors who died tragically. We followed the little brook back to the retting ponds, big barns, and house. After our welcome tour, we settled right in to deep conversation at the table in the heart of the kitchen in front of the ever-warming Aga range where patio doors open to the side yard that flanks the original small barn. I am so grateful and fortunate to have found these delightful distant cousins who feel so much like close family now. Viv made stew and riced potatoes. Well-fed, we sat talking until late.” —Excerpt and images from Leslie’s Travel Companion Journal: 2023 Ireland and Scotland, (The Flax Cottage original barn -IMG_5079) https://www.leestudiotc.com/ #Ireland #Northern Ireland #DiscoverIreland #celtic #Ballywillwill #traveljournal #artwork #LeeStudio
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View post on Facebook >Thursday 30 March 2023 From Kinsale, Ireland to Ballywillwill, Castlewellan, Northern Ireland “It was a relief to not drive five and a half hours by myself to Northern Ireland; instead, I hired a car and driver. We talked the whole way there—dogs, my work, interspecies communication. At last, we arrived to the thirty-five acres of the old family farm where they grew flax and retted it for lacemaking for hundreds of years. My direct relative, George Nixon from Ballywillwill, married the girl next door, Mary Radcliffe, and emigrated to the US in 1810. My book, "We Are the Land, Ireland," recounts the tale of my sisters and me searching for our Irish roots and finding our Scotch-Irish (Ulster-Irish) relatives, George and Vivienne Nixon. They’ve totally refreshed and rebuilt the Flax Cottage and property during their “retirement”. I’m excited to see all they have accomplished in the last three years, and to sit in their kitchen, share our news and bask in the flow of kinship.” —Excerpt from Leslie’s Travel Companion Journal: 2023 Ireland and Scotland, (2019 05 17 Northern Ireland, County Down, near Castlewellan, Ballywillwill Map) https://www.leestudiotc.com/ #Ireland #CountyCork #Kinsale #Ballywillwill #DiscoverIreland #celtic #traveljournal #artwork #LeeStudio
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“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
- At L'Amandier for Lunch2002 11 27 Anguilla, St. Martin, at L’Amandier for Lunch
- The Doolin Round Tower2010 10 04 Ireland, Co. Clare, Doolin, Round Tower
- Old Mission from Home2011 10 11 Michigan, Elk Rapids, Peninsula and Piling
- Altar Dolmen, Looking to the Bay2019 04 16 Ireland, Mizen Head, Altar Dolmen, back
- Pine on an Island2000 07 04 Alaska, Thomas Bay, Cascade Falls, Pine on an Island
- Grey Mountains Cruising Off the Isle of Skye2014 09 19 Scotland, Isle of Skye, Grey Mountains