He studied with the late Impressionist master Henry Hensche at the Cape School of Art in Provincetown, MA early in his artistic career. Hensche taught Lee to see and paint the light, profoundly impacting the direction of his work. Lee found further inspiration in the work of master Impressionists John Singer Sargent and Joquin Sorolla. Like these two painters, Lee paints in both the oil and watercolor mediums. Intrigued with how the Impressionist theories of color and light would translate to watercolor, a medium with a more translucent, etherial quality, Lee pioneered effective techniques for capturing the subtle effects of light with watercolor. He co-authored Painting the Impressionist Watercolor with Linda Gottlieb, one of his longtime watercolor students. It was published by Watson Guptill in 2004. The American Artist Magazine has featured Lee and his work in articles on technique and the painting of light.