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
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
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
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
The first sizable snow came to Southern Ontario and Quebec yesterday. At the end of a grey and white day, the sky cleared and a dramatic sunset appeared. Today brought blue skies and sun on snow. I took a morning walk that greatly helped my spirits. Evening, January 17, 2022, looking southwest, Toronto These conifer… Continue reading Sunset & Snow Caps
The weeks before and after Christmas were hard ones, what with much cloudy wet weather in Toronto and the fear inducing news about Omicron. I found that walking in the neighbourhood helped. The appearance of a flock of birds was a welcome surprise and rescue. The occasional hawk or two gliding above the ravines was… Continue reading Birds, The Sun and a Collage
Here is a poem I wrote in 2013 after a massive ice storm in Toronto. And a photo from the winter of 2017 at the Brickworks. Storm of ice A storm of icehas descended on uslasting over partsof three dayscoating branches and wiresbringing down the electricityacross the city.While the soft grey light remainsI sit writingthinking… Continue reading Storm of Ice
Here's a poem I wrote in 2013 and 14 that I've been thinking of. The word skinny doesn't refer to bodily thinness. Instead, I used it as a metaphor to express feelings and memories. Grasslands, Saskatchewan, 2009 Skinny Skinnygliding in the antelope's shadowstarved for lovefor the blossoms beside the lichen patterned stone. As skinny as… Continue reading Skinny
November 2021, Brickworks, Toronto Though the work I'll show today is black and white, outdoors the colours were magnificent this past week. We came out of much rain and clouds to days of sunshine on the turning leaves. Photos don't do the leaves justice, but invoke memories. I felt that that's as it should be,… Continue reading This Autumn
Near the end of September, we were able to spend nearly a week out of the city. We travelled to Haliburton county, northeast of Toronto. There, on the eve of days of rain that we joked was positvely Biblical in intensity, we visited Abbey Gardens. It's a place we had been to before for great… Continue reading At Abbey Gardens
Arts of May 