To many of us, Eel Pie Island is an enigma. You may have heard about the fire, or the incredible bands that first played at the Island's hotel. To some, it is home. For artists like Lee Campbell, it is a tranquil space for creativity.

Lee has worked on the island for many years. Her studio is tucked away past Twickenham Rowing Club and through the boatyard, in a room full of colour and canvasses, with light pouring in from windows at all angles.

Lee lives on Queen's Road in Twickenham but hails from a small town called Ashburton in New Zealand, not far from Christchurch.

She grew up on a sheep farm and began her career as a nurse in Australia, before coming to the UK and transferring from medicine to art. "I'd decided I'd had enough of death and dying," she said. "When you're in a place that doesn't feel good it's important to be honest. I came to the UK and didn't want to go back!"

She moved to the UK in 1983 and went to art college in Canterbury, before completing her art foundation at The Heatherley School of Fine Art. She went on to do her degree in Canterbury and a Masters in portraiture.

Her first studio was in an old dock yard in Pimlico, where she set up in a tiny space in an old canal house. She expanded into an empty shop space, but when the dock was redeveloped the shops were let and she had to move on.

That was when someone recommended Eel Pie Island.

She put herself on the waiting list and then moved from London to be closer to the studio, where she has been ever since. "The studios here were affordable but there is such a long waiting list," she said.

Through lockdown Lee continued working over on the Island, and says although she was alone much of the time she saw lots happening around her studio. "It has all changed since the pandemic, there have been lots of comings and goings, it's been fascinating."

She said she has received constant commissions for artwork since lockdown. People will often send in their favourite photos and ask her to paint them, and she does a lot of local landscapes. Over lockdown she painted a map of Vietnam! But her most requested image is the view from Richmond Hill.

She does a lot of mystical paintings, too. She finds inspiration from photographs and combines aspects of them into something magical. "I don't work directly with one photograph", she says, "It's all a little bit of one and a bit of another. Like all art, it's about light and dark."

She describes her work as: "Using a fusion of mysticism and colour to generate different moods and to suggest hidden dimensions within the familiar."

She also receives a lot of commissions from abroad, recently shipping to places like America and France. "I sell an enourmous amount online," she says. "It's much better than selling in galleries, carting bundles of paintings around London!"

Despite continuing to work during lockdown Lee is glad restrictions are lifting.

"It's so much nicer now," she says. "People can come here and visit. I am here most days although I can't have big crowds in the studio."

If you would like to visit Lee in her gallery to view and buy any pieces of her art, she recommends calling ahead on 07900242997.

Learn to draw with Lee

Lee also has a Masters degree in Further Education and teaches adult art classes. In Twickenham she has taught over at the ETNA centre as well as in her studio, and before the pandemic hit she taught an evening class and summer school at Kingston University, both for students and the public.

Thankfully she says her teaching work is starting to "trickle back" now that lockdown restrictions are easing. She caters for all abilities with water colour, oil painting, and drawing classes.

"You always start with drawing," she says. "I put a lot of emphasis on composition and basic drawing techniques. People usually want to be able to draw accurately."

She feels the experience at her studio is different to other classes, and prefers teaching one-to-one.

"Teaching one-to-one is best as if you have two people they compete. People talk about things they wouldn't do if someone else was there.

"It's really nice for people who don't want to go to a class to come and have a few hours here with me," she says.

"I'm kind! I did a life coaching course and I incorporate that into my work. I know how to make people feel at ease."

She also runs corporate workshops and has been hired for team building exercises. "Drawing is a great leveller," she says. "It allows the quiet people to shine.

"You'll see the quietest of people suddenly doing the most extraordinary things – and their colleagues see the inner life of people that they have not previously seen."

She also has a lot of retirees and the recently bereaved coming to her for classes, and adds: "Doctors are now recommending gardening and art for depression."

From pianos to the Shard: Residencies across the capital

Over the years Lee has done many residencies, including the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington. "There was so much there that was fascinating," she said. "There was a bubble scientist."

She spent four months at the laboratory and held an exhibition at the end to sell her work.

Her residencies usually last between three and six months, during which time Lee slots herself into the location to observe the goings on and become a part of it.

At the National Physical Laboratory she was given one of the meeting rooms to work in, which she turned into a studio.

She has also done residencies at the Royal Ballet School, Port of Southampton and King's School in Cantebury.

"I'm always looking for new places to work – new subject matter," she says. "It gets me off the Island."

When the Shard was being built Lee was commissioned to make oil studies of the process as the building developed. She has also worked at the Tate Gallery, running talks about riverside artists including Whistler and Turner.

Perhaps her favourite residency was a project she managed at The Piano Gallery in 2010, commissioned by Westminster council.

The artists all painted pianos – Lee painted a baby grand piano with a giant Union Jack to represent London. The pianos were then dotted around the streets nearby and musicians came to play them – including a lookalike Elton!

You can read more about Lee and her work, how to book a class with her and how to request a commission, on her website.