Lily S. May–Life with Art
When I began looking into self publishing a retrospective book of my prints, I saw that it might not be simple to do. Indeed, that's the case. After stalling because of extremely high prices for scanning the works, I've adjusted my plans and will do something more modest--like creating a section of my site devoted… Continue reading Paintings I’d Forgotten About
Here's a poem I began a few years ago that I made some small changes to today. The inked linoleum block that follows the poem was not done in response to it but seemed to fit. Map of the Body The body is a map in relief carved by the nail of time. The body… Continue reading Map of the Body
Last week we rented a cottage in Meaford, a small town to the northwest of Toronto. It was a peaceful break from the noise and busyness of the city. We took two beautiful hikes on Trout Hollow Trail which felt wonderful since we haven't been on wooded trails since the beginning of the pandemic. Here's… Continue reading Vacation
Among the prints I've been sorting through these past weeks was this acrylic painting I made in 1991. As I look at it, I see several images coming together--something like a skull, the moon and even a toreador. I didn't plan the image ahead of time. This was one of many images I painted as… Continue reading Moon Skull Portrait
As I've been organizing my prints, I came upon several small linocuts (2 1/4" x 3") that I made sometime before 1993. I know they're from before that year because I changed my name in 1993 (see About) and the initials would have changed from "SB" to "LSM". These are lighthearted images. All are of… Continue reading Girls in Hats. . .
I'll be showing four prints that I haven't exhibited before at The Printmaking Show at Gerrard Art Space, 1475 Gerrard St. E. (just west of Coxwell) in Toronto. The prints are two linocuts and two block prints made on rubbery-like blocks in 2018 and 2019. The show is from June 29 to July 17. The… Continue reading Printmaking Show
Since returning to Toronto from our week in the countryside, I've begun seriously organizing years of prints. Most recently, I've stored them in large boxes though in the past I had the larger ones rolled in tubes. I began printmaking in 1971 and have moved five or six times since then. So, as I was… Continue reading Gathering
In 2020 I posted some of my mother's enamel works. This time I'll show you a few of the many paintings she made in her life. Her name was Bernice Barsel and she lived from 1922 to 2014. Her styles varied from fanciful to realistic and the paintings here are done in both watercolour and… Continue reading My Mother’s Artwork, II
I was out of town recently, on vacation east of Toronto. While I am accustomed to urban settings, having nearly always lived in a city, I was happy to go to quieter places away from the roar of traffic and closer to nature. My husband and I stayed in a small town and made day… Continue reading Black, White and Grey
Arts of May 