Today we’d like to introduce you to Lee Ghilain.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m a contemporary abstract artist whose work is rooted in movement, memory, faith, and the search for belonging. Influenced by my Cherokee heritage, I grew up on the Texas coast, spent years sailing from Texas to the East Coast and the Bahamas with my husband and daughters, lived nearly two decades in Mexico, and now travel the country creating art from our RV studio on wheels.
After developing vision loss from macular degeneration, my work became more intuitive and emotionally driven. I paint less from detail and more from feeling — trusting color, movement, texture, and instinct. My paintings often explore the idea of home, shelter, and quiet spiritual connection through layered abstract forms and recurring deer imagery.
Art has become both my anchor and my way of remembering how to see.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey definitely hasn’t followed a straight line. I’ve experienced a lot of change throughout my life — from raising a family, to years spent sailing and living abroad, to creating art while traveling the country in an RV. Learning how to keep reinventing myself through each season has been both the challenge and the gift.
The biggest obstacle came when I began losing vision from macular degeneration. As a visual artist, that forced me to confront fear, frustration, and uncertainty in a very real way. But over time, it also transformed my work. I began painting more intuitively, relying less on perfect detail and more on emotion, movement, and trust.
I think that experience taught me that creativity isn’t about seeing perfectly — it’s about feeling deeply. In many ways, the challenges gave my work its voice.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a contemporary abstract artist working primarily in acrylic and mixed media. My paintings are intuitive and emotionally driven, inspired by movement, memory, nature, and the idea of home. My work is deeply influenced by my Cherokee heritage, years spent living in Mexico, life on the Texas coast, and decades of travel by sailboat and RV.
I’m known for layered color, expressive mark-making, and recurring symbols of shelter and small deer that represent belonging, gentleness, and spiritual connection. After developing vision loss from macular degeneration, my process became freer and more instinctive. I paint through feeling rather than precision, which completely changed the way I create.
What I’m most proud of is continuing to grow creatively through every season of life and creating work that feels honest, soulful, and full of emotion — a reflection of what I call Wild Beauty, Soulful Color.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success a little differently these days. Of course I’m grateful when my artwork connects with people, but real success to me is creating a life filled with meaning, adventure, faith, family, friendship, and creativity.
Some of my most meaningful moments haven’t happened in galleries — they’ve happened sailing with my family, traveling the country with my husband, meeting incredible people along the way, and continuing to create art through every season of life.
Success is having the freedom to keep growing, keep creating, and still find wonder and gratitude in the journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leeghilain.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lee_ghilain
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@wildbeautysoulfulcolor
