Painter and author Lee Mackenzie was born and raised on Vancouver Island and worked as a television and radio reporter across Canada and the United Kingdom. After leaving journalism, she and her husband moved to Powell River. Last year, Mackenzie wrote her first book, The Charming Predator, about her marriage to a con man.
How did you get into painting?
I spent 21 years as a broadcast journalist. Before I went into journalism, I was a legal secretary. I started painting on a whim. It was like a switch flipped inside me and there was this yearning to try to paint. But I said to myself, “You're not an artist, you don't know anything about painting.” Finally, I went to an art store. I bought the wrong paint, paper and brushes because I didn't know the tools of the craft. That first piece of paper I squeezed out some paint the colour of a yellow traffic light; a brilliant marigold yellow. I went swish in an arc with the brush and this beautiful colour smeared across the paper and I felt a thrill go right through me. I went and took very basic watercolour lessons. I didn't know what method I wanted to use.
What is your method now?
I will most assuredly put a clean canvas up and just see what happens. Sometimes I have a clear idea of what I would like to paint, but many times I let the painting tell me. I feel that whatever I'm feeling goes into that painting. And when it's in your home it better be radiating out something positive. That's my goal. Somewhere in the world it's adding a positive feeling or idea when you look at it.
You also write. What do you like best about it?
Of all the parts of journalism I loved the best, the writing was it, and I realize in many ways it's like painting because you're taking words and thoughts and making them part of the physical world so others can see it as well. Just last year I was published. I thought, “I don't know how to write a book.” It was released and in the first five weeks it was on the Canadian bestseller list of nonfiction.
How long of a process was writing the book?
I had no road map to go by. I didn't know people who had written books. So I thought, “I’ll give myself three months.”
Did you just sit down and write for a certain amount of time each day?
I wrote the whole thing watching sports. During every Canucks game I would sit in the living room with my laptop on my knee and write like crazy.
What's next for you?
I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve. I feel like there's going to be some kind of a blend with painting and writing.
For more information, go to monkeytreestudio.com.
