Pastel Society of New Mexico

"I paint with pastels to create landscapes people feel they can walk right into."

Artist's Biography

Using pastels, Lee McVey creates landscapes people feel they can walk right into.

Her love of nature began when she was a young girl while walking in the woods with her grandparents. That experience has inspired Lee to focus on studio and plein air landscape painting.

She is a signature member of Pastel Society of America, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico and Pastel Painter’s Society of Cape Cod, and Sierra Pastel Society. Lee is also a member of American Academy of Women Artists, National Association of Women Artists and Pastel Society of New Mexico. Her pastels have been featured in full-length articles in the magazines American Artist and International Artist. Lee’s work is featured in the books How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint the Landscape and The Jack Richeson Annual: The Plein Air New Mexico Year. For the past few years, Lee has co-organized and co-curated the annual invitational landscape painting exhibit, Open Space: a View with Room, for Albuquerque’s Open Space Visitor Center.

In 2003, Lee retired from teaching elementary art to devote more time to her art career. Along with school teaching and painting, she taught pastel classes at Kirkland Art Center in Clinton, NY and Cooperstown Art Association in Cooperstown, NY. Lee is now a resident of Albuquerque, NM, where she paints “en plein air” and teaches pastel classes.