Lily S. May–Life with Art
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
I have finally finished the appliqué I've been working on that I struggled with. I made it with merino wool felt, cotton fabric and cotton threads. After sewing, unsewing and resewing the work, here it is. I'm happy to have seen it through to completion. I was inspired to sew the appliqué by the very… Continue reading Finally!
I've been working on an appliqué that has had twists and turns I could have avoided--sewing, unsewing, repairing it finally. Had I followed what I knew I should do to correct technical problems, I would have arrived at the place I am now much faster. The work I didn't want to face has not been… Continue reading Getting Through the Night
I'm in the midst of designing another appliqué, but I wanted to tell you about a recent outing I took. On September 20th, my husband and I drove east out of Toronto to Presqu'ile Provincial Park. Because of the pandemic we have not been able to get out of the city to be in more… Continue reading Presqu’ile Provincial Park
I finished this wool felt wall hanging this week. I worked on it slowly over a month and a half or two months and it was a struggle at times. I sewed and resewed after ripping out stitches that I felt could be improved. I went through many emotions while working that are sometimes part… Continue reading The Meeting
I’ve taken many photographs with my phone over the years. Mostly I think they are remembrances and a sort of digital collection. I’ve turned even more than usual to photographing the sky over the past few months. Here’s several more sky and cloud photos over Toronto that I’ve taken, including one from a winter past.… Continue reading The Sky, 2
Here is another wool felt appliqué I made several years ago. 'Now we are in need of stories" is from a poem I had written that's in an earlier post. I added the words to this piece even though the image is not apparently connected to that poem. Creative licence and the unconscious!
Arts of May 