D. Lee grew up in southeast Idaho on the back of a horse.

Although she had drawn extensively as a young person, horses were her life, and she became a professional trainer, competitor and riding instructor. Only upon  taking a workshop from a local artist in her late twenties did she fall in love with painting. 

“The smell, the texture, the magic of oil paints ignited something new for me. It was as powerful as the draw of horses had been all these years.“ 

Suddenly she was dividing her time between training horses and learning to paint.

”I am passionate about both of these disciplines. I want to be the best I can be and am continually learning from the artists and horsemen I admire.”

She has studied with some of the best artists including Morgan Weistling, Greg Beecham, Quang Ho and the inimitable sporting artist, Andre Pater, who has  become a mentor and friend.

Now living in the middle of the bluegrass, in the “Horse Capital of the World”, Lexington, Kentucky, she gets back to the mountains and the west multiple times  every year to be surrounded by the wildlife she loves to paint.

“In my work I am drawn to light and expression. I love to paint eyes, to watch a piece come alive and start looking back at me that way is a bit of a rush. That is why I almost always paint closeups of animals, I want to look into their face and soul as if they were right in front of me.”