Lee Mothes

I love nature, especially the ocean, and have been fascinated by beaches, waves, and the ocean’s energy as far back as I can remember. I grew up on the California coast, spent most of my childhood on the beach, and began drawing beaches and waves (and imagined tsunamis and other disasters) while still in grade school. I studied art at Cal State University at Long Beach, California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and received my Bachelors Degree in Art at Western Oregon University in 1980. In 1987 my wife Vicki and I moved to Wisconsin from Oregon to raise our three daughters and be nea...

I love nature, especially the ocean, and have been fascinated by beaches, waves, and the ocean’s energy as far back as I can remember. I grew up on the California coast, spent most of my childhood on the beach, and began drawing beaches and waves (and imagined tsunamis and other disasters) while still in grade school. I studied art at Cal State University at Long Beach, California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and received my Bachelors Degree in Art at Western Oregon University in 1980. In 1987 my wife Vicki and I moved to Wisconsin from Oregon to raise our three daughters and be near family.
It was the irony (and pain) of being away from the ocean that compelled me to spend a lot more time painting it. I have found that I can “be there” by painting imagined beaches not so much from California but from imagined places I would like to be.
In 1990 I began creating and exhibiting my work full-time beginning with art festivals and expanding into gallery shows and commissioned work. I work with watercolor, acrylic and graphite on paper and with acrylic on canvas or panel. I usually work out the composition in a sketchbook first, then draw it out full-size on the sheet or canvas before painting. I enjoy working in various mediums and in sizes from intimate 8” by 10” pencil drawings to 8-foot-long acrylic paintings.
In 1997 I opened my studio website, www.oceansanddreams.com, followed by www.newisland.net in 2003. -- Lee Mothes