Welcome to Lee Studio,

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

Leslie's
Armchair Travel

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Tuesday, 16 April 2019 Mizen Head Peninsula County Cork, Ireland “We drove out to Mizen Head on the peninsula through exquisite villages and lanes of cascading flowers and shrubbery bursting with brilliant spring growth. We stopped at the marvelous Altar Dolmen, a megalithic tomb near Goleen. As always, for me, it was hair-raising and heartbreaking. I think of dolmens, portals to the Earth, as female and try to imagine the women honored by them. Standing stones in the landscape, I think of as male territorial markers. Standing at the Altar Dolmen facing west on a rise only fifty feet from the waves, the opening looked out over the ocean to the mountains beyond. Turned around, I looked up humpy hills that faded into the distance to the east. A small, detached chunk of shale snugged into the ground at the back of the dolmen—not touching or supporting anything. A close look at the natural breaks in the face of it revealed a pattern to me that mirrored the distant mountains across the water.” https://www.leestudiotc.com/ — Excerpt and image from The Hole Made by a Waterfall: (2019 04 16 Ireland, Mizen Head, Altar Dolman, back) #LeeStudio #traveljournal #travelbooks #artwork #Ireland #IrelandTravel #MizenHead #CountyCork
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Thursday, 30 September 2010 Achill Island, County Mayo Ireland “This cloudy morning the sound of the individual wave can’t be distinguished from the general roar of the surf. This is a place for people who have a deep affinity for nature. At Bervie, we could not be closer to the sea and the sound of the surf. The cliffs rise across the bay in ever-changing light. I intend to savor every moment of the day. Thank you, and I’ll be back. We visited Keem Beach today.” https://www.leestudiotc.com/ — Excerpt and image from The Hole Made by a Waterfall: (2010 9 30 Ireland, Co. Mayo, Achill Island, Keem Beach) #LeeStudio #traveljournal #travelbooks #artwork #Ireland #IrelandTravel #AchillIsland #CountyMayo
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Tuesday, 21 September 2010 Rossnaree, County Meath Ireland “Here, fine china is mixed with plain. Same for the silver that is polished but not so much as to have lost that beautiful grey tone patina. Fruits and vegetables gathered from their garden—unseen—fill various bowls, a huge hall centerpiece, long past fresh, stalwartly graces the entry cabinet.” https://www.leestudiotc.com/ — Excerpt and image from The Hole Made by a Waterfall: (2010 9 21 Ireland, Co. Meath, Bru Na Bóinne, Rossnaree House, Dish of Pears) #LeeStudio #traveljournal #travelbooks #artwork #Ireland #IrelandTravel #Rossnaree #CountyMeath
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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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