Lily S. May–Life with Art
With the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, I've been thinking often about the dreadfulness of war. Here's two linocuts on war and peace I made years ago and first posted in 2014 and 2016. In 2003, when the US-led invasion of Iraq began, I made the War linocut. I printed one of the images on… Continue reading War & Peace (Not the Book)
I’ve been contemplating what to post for weeks. The artwork I’m doing now is not finished and I’m not ready to show it in its unfinished state. So I’ve decided to post a linocut from 1989 that I printed on some T-shirts. I had scribbled an image on a lino block and carved it following… Continue reading Face
As we move into winter in the north, I'll be counting the seconds as longer days return.
I've been working on the block print, Wake Up, that I mentioned in my last post. I wanted to add colour to the image using 2 separate blocks. I decided where I wanted red to appear, but first I needed to make a registration board to align the colours. I've been doing many small prints--4"… Continue reading Wake Up Print
Global warming is on my mind every day. It is with me in the art work I do. I tend to do most of my work without a lot of detailed planning because that keeps the process more alive for me. So it's not that I decide: ok, today I'll make an image related to… Continue reading The Global Climate Strike
I've spent a few weeks seeing if I could come up with a plan to turn two paragraphs of my writing into a linocut--the actual words, that is. At first the plans had little grace, then the reality of carving so many letters felt stifling. A few words here and there is something I enjoy,… Continue reading Box Mask Print
I began carving this print last month on gomuban, a Japanese carving material that's like a synthetic rubber, similar to linoleum but smoother and a little easier to carve. It began as lines and shapes of movement and developed into an expression of love of plants and flowers. I had recently been to Le Jardin… Continue reading Botanical Garden
I've been working and not working on this linocut since March or April. I put it aside after seeing the first proof. In it, the creature's body was not working right for me--it was not defined enough. The rough print has been hanging folded on my bulletin board since then. I had intended to print… Continue reading Mercy for the Children Linocut
I carved this linocut in March or April, took a rough proof, made the adjustments I thought it needed and finally printed the image last week.
Yesterday I printed the "Portrait of a Wary Bird" in black oil based ink. It's on a lovely Japanese paper whose name I have unfortunately misplaced. Here she or he is:
Arts of May 