Lily S. May–Life with Art
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
I came late to chimney swiftsbut now that I take note of them, living close to the sky in a high building, my life has expanded.I await their return in springand am saddened when they depart in fall. There's much false talk of freedom these days but watching the flight of the swifts above the… Continue reading Other Lives
This week the juried drawing show at the Aird Gallery is up online. A scratchboard drawing of mine is part of it. You can view the exhibit as a slideshow with playlist or download it as a pdf to scroll through it. I'm very happy to have one of my pieces included among the works… Continue reading Drawing 2022 is Up Online
While I was out walking yesterday among old houses and gardens returning to life, I saw that I was being observed. A cat in a window and I watched each other for a while and then I took out my phone and photographed the scene. Later I changed the image into a black and white… Continue reading Cat in the Window
This is the group of comic faces that I made following an exercise by Lynda Barry in her book Making Comics. The faces were all made very quickly with each element drawn separately. So, first all nine head shapes, then all nine eyes or ears or hair--I forget the exact order. And each element was… Continue reading Comic Faces
The war in Ukraine has got me thinking about my maternal grandparents. I know my grandmother's story more than my grandfather's, perhaps because he died when I was very young. She, Esther, was born in Odessa in the late 1800s when it was part of Russia. She and her family fled their home because as… Continue reading My Grandmother
A few weeks ago I read an article on rabble.ca that certainly had my hair standing on end. The article focused on the opinions of a Canadian named Michael Ignatieff who believes that nuclear weapons should be used against Putin if he crosses into NATO countries. I checked Michael Ignatieff’s site where he describes himself… Continue reading I don’t know about you, but…
Recently I've become interested in the possibility of making comics. When I had the idea, I looked online for a book that might help me learn some of the basics. Right away, I saw a great book called Making Comics by Lynda Barry, whose comics I have always loved. I was able to get a… Continue reading Flying Cats
Arts of May 