Lily S. May–Life with Art
I am working on another felt appliqué. In the meantime, here’s two photos I took in May at Evergreen Brickworks. I loved that the clouds and blossoms mirrored each other that day and that the red-winged blackbird stopped long enough to be in the first photo. The Brickworks is a reclaimed brick factory and quarry… Continue reading One Day in May
My mother's name was Bernice Barsel. She lived from 1922 - 2014. She was a prolific artist and it is through her that I took up creative work. I surprised myself earlier this week by thinking it would be a shame if her work went unknown and invisible beyond the circle of people who already… Continue reading My Mother’s Artwork
I made this felt appliqué over the past few weeks. I had started work on a linocut but developed a great deal of pain from the repetitive strain of carving the block. I then decided to put the linoleum aside, but wanted to continue doing some creative work. So I started designing an image for… Continue reading Speaking of Birds
I often cry while listening to the news during the pandemic. The news, not new, of horrible murder and racism in the United States, not unique to that place, of old people dying in squalid long-term non-care homes in my province, of the poor, the discarded dying more often than the comfortable. So far, I… Continue reading For the Nighthawks
As I’ve been reading over my writing, I’ve decided to put more of it on the blog. Here’s a poem I wrote in 2011/2012 along with an appliqué from 2005. Confetti The fortune reads: Because of your melodic nature the moonlight never misses an appointment. *** For years I liked to believe that I alone… Continue reading Confetti
One day last month, after making a few drawings, I scribbled a wavy line across a page in my sketchbook. I turned the page this way and that and the line became a face of sorts. I named it covid-19.
During the pandemic, my husband and I have taken to listening to audiobooks at night. So far, we’ve been listening to unabridged readings of Agatha Christie’s books—mostly to the Hercule Poirot mysteries. I find that during the hour or hour and a half we listen, I think only of the puzzle of who the murderer… Continue reading Sewing with Poirot
I felt great sadness when I heard that the songwriter and singer John Prine died earlier this week from Covid-19. Hearing one of his songs on the radio took me back to the 1970s when I was young and first heard his music. One of the songs, an unhappy and powerful one, that I loved… Continue reading Angel from Montgomery
I've been rereading my writing from the past few years during this time of Covid-19. I'm throwing out what I don't like and whittling down my notebooks. This week I came upon a poem I'd written in 2015 that I had forgotten since it was lost amidst a mountain of writing. It resonated for me… Continue reading In a Garden
I wish you good health as COVID-19 travels around the world. I and my husband are well at the time I'm writing here in Toronto, Canada. My walks in my neighbourhood help my spirit as I look for signs of spring in the gardens and on the trees. And I do a little drawing many… Continue reading Good Health
Arts of May 