Lily S. May–Life with Art
The great great poet and song writer Leonard Cohen died yesterday. I was very fortunate to see and hear him perform a few years ago in Toronto when he filled a stadium with fans of all ages. He and the musicians with him gave the most generous long gracious show. This is in remembrance of… Continue reading Leonard Cohen
We watched the U.S. election closely from Canada. In the wake of the outcome, I have felt fear and sadness. Yesterday, I headed off to the Art Gallery of Ontario to be amongst art works that helped me feel calmer. Today I thought of posting two oil paintings I did in 2008. The first is… Continue reading Aftermath
Last night I attended one of my favourite events in Toronto, the yearly Night of Dread gathering and parade. Clay and Paper Theatre puts it on. They are the creators of enormous papier mache puppets and of theatre that aims to change the world. The theme is always a night of mocking fears to put… Continue reading Night of Dread
As I continue to reconsider some of the prints I made 20 to 40 years ago, I have realized that this work is part of a process of rescuing my younger self. As part of that, I have returned to a miniature card deck I made in 1995, a year after I made the larger… Continue reading 21 Heart Salute
I've done many works in black and white as a printmaker and love the contrast and the power of black and white images. I also love the colours of this time of year. Here are some photos I've taken over the past few weeks: the zinnias that I was given while travelling in the countryside, the… Continue reading Colour
I've completed an accordion booklet with my writing about Milne's Black Waterfall painting. You can see the initial idea in Poem for an Old Woodcut. There's other related posts following that one. I decided to print my writing on thin Japanese paper and adhere it to the booklet. Here's some photos of it from different angles. I like seeing different parts… Continue reading Black Waterfall Poem Booklet
Recently we were travelling in the countryside in Ontario where we spent some time on Lake Kashagawigamog. On the grounds of what was once a resort, I sat on the screened-in porch of the former lodge, turned community centre. There, I felt transported back to David Milne's time. He was fresh on my mind after my last… Continue reading Milne on my Travels
Here's 2 photos I took today at the Art Gallery of Ontario of David Milne's Black Waterfall. This is the painting I love that I wrote about in 2014 and included in my last post, A Poem for an Old Woodcut. David Milne lived from 1882 to 1953 and as far as I can tell it appears that 50 years… Continue reading Black Waterfall
As I continue turning some of my early prints into booklets, I'm playing around with words I might include with the prints. This last print I've been working with (the one that's also in my previous post) has a lot of black ink in it. And that got me thinking about some writing I did a… Continue reading A Poem for An Old Woodcut
The most recent origami booklet I've made is from a woodcut I carved and printed in 1973. It's called Forth Form Variation and is from a series I did playing around with several shapes. I used two pine boards that I lined up to make the whole image. I have loved trees since childhood and… Continue reading Reading Old Prints, 3
Arts of May 