Having had a lifelong interest in art, I found at age forty that it might be fun to try watercolor painting. My grandfather and my mother were artists and I have always circulated around the periphery of making art. In college I studied art and took a degree in art history with some course work in drawing, painting techniques and photography.

My career and volunteer work has led me to be involved with galleries. At the age of thirty I opened an art gallery and custom picture framing shop where I was the gallery director and established wonderful relationships with artists in their studios. We exhibited the work of local landscape artists, and it was then that I met my friend Nancy Howell who took me on a trip to Italy where I began to paint. It was an exciting experience where I began to learn about how to use color, form, and the creative soul in me to express the beauty I see in the world around me.

I also served on the Board of Directors of the Arlington Center for the Arts for eight years and was responsible for the founding of the Gibbs Gallery bringing the work of local artists to the center.

I continued studying with Nancy locally and on painting trips to Italy. I have also taken workshops with Jeanne Dobie in Florida, Frank Costantino in Block Island and Christopher Grubbs on a trip to New Zealand and Australia, as well as Emily Passman in Greece. Much of my plein air painting has been done while traveling with artists to Brittany, Provence, Italy, and Greece

Painting delights me and I find that I lose myself in it. When I immerse myself in the landscape and in the painting, I respond to a part of me that is often not apparent on the surface. I hope these paintings reflect my connection with the natural landscape and my love of the medium of watercolor.
Alexandra Lee