Becky Lee's Art Blog

    The young man who had found me on the internet was also in the crab business.  He asked me to paint a picture of his boat at his dock on Toogoodoo Creek. I especially enjoyed this painting since I had lived on the Toogoodoo many years earlier when I had done the painting he inherited from his grandmother.        Over the years boats have become an important part of my work.  I've often painted the simple little boats used by local crabbers and fishermen, but then, I've had request for other boat paintings over the years.          My husband, Hugh, asked me to paint his boat fishing in the ocean.  We had a 55 foot Thompson Trawler designed for long line fishing on the ocean.  We had purchased the boat named "The Fiddler's Green" and renamed the boat "Melissa Lee" after our daughter.  We simply ignored the old sailors superstition that it was bad luck to change the name of a...

        I began to think of myself as a successful artist when my work started showing up in estate sales and antique shops.  I've also had a couple of pieces that ended up in divorce settlements.  Then one day,  technology brought me another link to "success".  My son did a website for me, www.Beckysart.com.   I received a call from a young man who had inherited a piece of my work from his grandmother.          I remembered his grandmother, but I didn't remember the painting.  He sent me a photo.  It was a simple composition;  three bateau style boats in the edge of the marsh, the kind of boats local crabbers used along our Carolina coast.           I had also depicted this style boat in a more detailed painting called "The Crab Reels." This was a work done from memory.   The reels had been used to wind up long lines crabbers used before they be...

I think artistic abilities are traits we have when we are born. Those abilities become different things to individuals who find different ways to use their inherent talents. Some of us are multi-talented, perhaps in music, writing, visual arts, graphic designs, architecture, etc.  The base is in-born. Most of us know it early on and begin to practice our crafts as children. It is a compelling drive inside of us that seeks external expression. I was an artist and a writer from the time I could hold a pencil. The discipline of our lives directs where we go with these inherent skills.                   I became  professional as both artist and writer.  These skills and abilities are also deeply satisfying aspects of our personal lives.  I paint first because it brings me great personal satisfaction.  Then it is a bonus when others love my work and relate to it.  Now, I'm taking the time to wri...

I married Hugh Lee in 1961.  We didn't have reality TV in those days.  But I didn't need TV!  The reality was, I had married a rough, tough woodsman who had grown up hunting and fishing.  His first gun was a double barrel four/ten shotgun he received on his 7th birthday.  Hugh grew up in the marshes and ricefields of our coastal South Carolina.  His first spending money was from selling animal hides.  That included mink, racoon, and alligators. The first week or two after we were married, Hugh suddenly stopped the car, snatched his thirty-thirty rifle out from under the seat, ran to the edge of the marsh which came right up to the edge of the road. He fired one shot; then stepped out of his shoes, stripped to the waist, and went overboard. He vanished under water.  When he came to the top again, he was holding an alligator about five feet long by the snout!  He pulled it out of the water and threw it in the trunk of the car.  H...

Many years ago, my husband came home with an interesting piece of wood he had found in the river. I "saw" a picture and painted on the piece.  Since that day, I have probably painted an eighteen wheeler full of driftwood boards.  I no longer live close to the marshes where I used to collect the driftwood, but one day I found an antique ironing board at Habitat for Humanity.  It became my first ironing board painting.  I sold it immediately; didn't even make a picture. Then I began to look for the old wooden ironing boards.  My favorites are one board wide, usually 12 inches.  I also like wooden legs.  Usually I paint a wash day scene on the ironing boards. As a child, Monday was "wash day."  This meant water was heated in a big black pot over an open fire outside. Two big washtubs were filled with water drawn from a hand pump or a well in the yard.  One tub was used for washing equipped with a washboard, a hunk of ...

I guess it's about time!  So many people have seen my art work, admired, and purchased it! (www.Beckysart.com) I suppose I can call myself an accomplished and experienced artist since my work is showing up in antique stores and estate sales. In fact, I've already written instructions for my children when it's all in an estate---MY OWN! The kinds of things people say to me is, "Your work tells a story. Have you also written it down?" Well, no I haven't; not until now. Thus begins, Becky Lee's Art Blog. So, where do I begin?  I'll start with my most recent painting.  I have just completed a painting of mallard ducks, a drake and a hen. My inspiration is the number of ducks I have picked and "pillowed" in my life! In 1961, I married my first husband, Hugh Lee.  Hugh lived and worked all year long in anticipation of duck season.  His work was in drainage construction, primarily maintaining dikes in the rice fields of the South Carolina low...