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
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
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
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 December I did a series of pencil drawings of objects around me that I like--many of them handmade and beautiful for their non-perfection. I haven't drawn with pencil recently and I did so while seeing if I could come up with ideas for a miniature print competition I'm thinking of entering. The ideas for… Continue reading Drawing and Printing
I've been carving another block print. And yesterday I thought it would be good to also get back into drawing again. I haven't done this in a while. It's a way for me to be connected to seeing and paying attention even when not involved in a larger project. So today after breakfast I drew… Continue reading Drawing Again
Around a month ago, I began thinking about some scratchboard drawings I made in 2016. ( see my post from Feb. 19/2016) I had set them aside because I didn't know the completed form I wanted them to take. I decided to return to them to see if I could get any further. I believe I… Continue reading Picking up the Threads
We recently had our place painted. It involved packing up all our stuff, giving some of it away and moving it and furniture to the centre of rooms so the painters could get to the walls. During that time I drew boxes and disorder. Now that that's over, it's enjoyable to sit down and draw… Continue reading Bowl
Here are 3 drawings I made earlier this month of an ornamental gourd I bought in the countryside. I love the wild shapes of the gourds of autumn. This one is yellow-orange and dark green, but I've focused on the shape and sketched it in black on white. I believe that when I was a… Continue reading Gourd
The heat wave has now broken, but we had hot and extremely hot weather in Toronto over the past while. During that time, I took to walking in the streets in the evening to listen to the cicadas and crickets. I discovered, to my surprise, that I was present to listening to the sounds of… Continue reading Threshold
Arts of May 