Bob LeFevre, a resident of Cincinnati Ohio, Seabrook Island and Salem, South Carolina, retired from a successful career in business at the age of 55 to pursue his passion…oil painting. Since he was a child, he loved the water and everything related to it. It was natural that his paintings from the beginning would depict scenes of life on and near the oceans and lakes he would visit throughout his life.
Bob’s painting career began when, at the urging of his 4th grade teachers, he was enrolled in private art classes. Here, at this early age, he began to develop his perceptual skills as an artist learning the fundamentals of rendering and depiction of values in a representational way.
Throughout his elementary and high school days, Bob continued his private lessons. He joined every art club and organization he could and began winning awards for his talents. One of these was a sculpture scholarship at a local 
academy. He enjoys sculpting and carving to this day. At the age of eighteen, Bob took private lessons from a retired sea captain in Cape Cod, Mass. where he painted his first clipper ship. It was at this moment in his life that his passion for painting scenes of the sea was born.
Bob attended Colgate University where majored in business taking art as a second major. He earned extra money drawing caricatures of his classmates and selling paintings to teachers and the local town’s people.
Following graduation, Bob elected to pursue a business career knowing that he would eventually return to art on a full time basis. After 33 years as an executive with Procter and Gamble, PepsiCo and as an owner of The United States Playing Card Co., he retired to pursue his dream. He paints almost every day and continues to develop his skills at The Art Academy of Cincinnati. He maintains studios at his homes in Cincinnati, Ohio and Salem and Seabrook Island, South Carolina.
“SEASIDE JOURNEYS”
“Seaside Journeys” is a collection of paintings that depict the beautiful scenery of the many places Bob has traveled and lived, including Charleston, S.C., Cape Cod, Mass., Lake Keowee in Salem, S.C. and ports throughout Europe where he loves to cruise. Many of his paintings depict the colorful shrimp and lobster boats that are common to these areas along with the various species of waterfowl seen on the beaches and marshlands.
Although all of Bob’s work is very representational, in each piece he strives to capture the true beauty and feeling of the scene as seen and felt through his eyes. Because of his passion for the sea and having lived around water most of his life, the depiction of this “feeling” comes naturally from within him. Many of his paintings feature late evening light with all its warmth, glowing reflections and beautiful, defining shadows. “I constantly explore various lighting techniques, especially how they affect water reflections and skies, to capture a viewer’s attention and bring him or her into the scene. My hope is that they will feel as if they were in the scene themselves experiencing all its beauty. I guess in some respects I’m a colorist since I tend to infuse my paintings with vivid colors and strong contrasts to more dramatically depict the feeling of a scene and engage the viewer.”
