Lee Mothes studied art at California State University at Long Beach, at California College of the Arts in Oakland, and then architecture for a while at California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo. He received a BA in Art at Western Oregon University in 1980. In 1987, Mothes and his wife Vicki moved to the Midwest to raise their three daughters. Finding himelf suddenly away from the ocean compelled Mothes to spend a lot more time painting it, creating imagined beaches inspired by those in California, Oregon, and other, further-away places. Mothes works in watercolor, acrylic and graphite pencil, and has been creating and exhibiting his work full-time since 1990. In recent years, Mothes has been writing books about his artwork. His current effort, a combination of writing and artwork, is a story about a man assigned to create pictures of New Island, an imaginary island-nation in the Indian Ocean. He lives in Kaukauna.
