Lily S. May–Life with Art
During the pandemic, I've been out walking on streets of houses surrounding the neighbourhood that I live in. I always take solace from the trees and gardens I see. But I've been surprised at how the look of some of the houses improves my sense of well-being. In particular, I often love looking at the… Continue reading Scratchboard Houses
In the fall or early winter, I was happily surprised to receive a cheque for one of my entries into the Ottawa School of Art Miniature Print Biennale Exhibition. The print called The Conductor had sold. Then a week or two ago--I lose sight of time during the pandemic--I received a copy of the exhibition's… Continue reading Exhibition News
I hope you are well as we move into spring. I've seen crocuses and snowdrops blooming in Toronto this week and birds and their songs are returning. The scratchboard drawing reproductions (see Unearthed) have also returned, though these are from the printer and not from their wintering homes. The drawings came out well with much… Continue reading Unearthed 2
I've edited and ordered more printed copies of the drawings I showed in my last post. Meanwhile, I've returned to something I haven't done for several years. That is, I've been folding old prints into small booklets which are sometimes called origami booklets. Here's a link to one of those first pieces. And here's some… Continue reading Altered Prints
In order to preserve some scratchboard drawings I made in 2015 and 2016, this week I sent files of them off to be printed in a small experimental batch. I decided to print them as a set of postcards or small deck that I've named Unearthed. Here's the process that got me to this stage.… Continue reading Unearthed
A few weeks ago, while absent mindedly looking at a piece of artwork I'd done in 2018, I suddenly saw that it had a strong resemblance to the covid-19 molecule, spike protein and all. What surprised me the most was that I hadn't noticed this sooner. Here's the painted repurposed print that I made in… Continue reading What?!
It's the Winter Solstice with the longest night of the year and, after that, the gradual return of light. In celebration, here's 2 linocuts I made as part of the Mirrors of the Heart card deck. Good health, peaceful nights and returning daylight to you.
Here is a poem and drawing about surgery I had as a child. It was in December when I was 15 that I had the unexpected, very serious surgery. Now each December I relive that trauma more forcefully than at other times during the year. Several years ago I wrote a poem about the experience.… Continue reading December
This is the most recent wallhanging I've made. After all the deliberating that went into making the Autumn appliqué, I designed this one quickly. I still had periods of unsewing and resewing, but not as many as with the previous appliqué. I enjoyed working with the bright colours as the nights lengthened. The bird shape… Continue reading Doorway
On November 20, I went to the Brickworks, a park in Toronto, for a walk in the afternoon. It had been a cloudy week but that Friday the sun was shining and the temperature was abnormally warm—18 degrees Celsius. At the Brickworks, I took out my phone to photograph a scene that I found beautiful.… Continue reading On a Walk in November
Arts of May 