Lily S. May–Life with Art
Near the end of September, we were able to spend nearly a week out of the city. We travelled to Haliburton county, northeast of Toronto. There, on the eve of days of rain that we joked was positvely Biblical in intensity, we visited Abbey Gardens. It's a place we had been to before for great… Continue reading At Abbey Gardens
I know it's just turned summer. But here's the scratchboard drawing, Springtime, I've been working on. I've continued to work on the areas of light and dark and have experimented with colour. I used pigment felt pens in this first trial. I'm going to see if acryl gouache works well on scratchboard on a new… Continue reading Springtime 2
This is the most recent scratchboard drawing I've been working on. It may be finished. I'll have to be with it for a while more until I decide if it needs more adjustments. I'm happy with how it's going. Originally the image was quite different--done with fine lines and different design elements that I eliminated.… Continue reading Springtime
It's the time of lilacs and lilies of the valley, their perfume arriving on the breeze before I reach the flowers themselves in the gardens of houses that enchant me this spring. Mid summer heat has arrived early and the gardens are showing off: forget me nots, bleeding hearts, wisteria, irises, red bud trees and… Continue reading The Time of Lilacs and Lilies of the Valley
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
Spring is here and flowers are coming into bud wildly. The scillas have gone, but redbuds are just appearing and yesterday I saw cherry blossoms and their devotees in Trinity Bellwoods Park--a downtown west end park. Spring also means the return of birds and their songs. I hear cardinals, robins and sparrows daily. Last week… Continue reading The Birds of 1988
As you may have heard, it's been a hard week in Toronto what with a man driving a van onto a busy sidewalk and killing and injuring many people. I don't live in the neighbourhood this happened in, but this horrendous crime has affected people around the city. I've been looking for solace and have… Continue reading Flowers and Frames
This week, while out walking under trees in my neighbourhood and admiring other people's gardens, I came upon some tremendously beautiful clematis. This spring I've been restraining myself from photographing every flower I see, particularly those that I have many photos of. I've been doing better this year at stopping to admire scilla, crabapples, lilacs,… Continue reading Abundant Clematis
Last week, I printed the Sisters of Mercy linocut with the violet ink tinted with white. It's on a pale blue Japanese paper with long fibres that I like. Then, on the weekend, I was out of town in Prince Edward County in Ontario. The countryside was filled with lilacs--lining the roads and lanes and… Continue reading Violet and Lilac
The growth and colours of Spring got me thinking about this oil painting I made a few years before 2010 (I neglected to put the date on it). It's a fantasy of abundant life that I recently brought out of hiding and onto a living room wall. I hadn't thought of making strings of flowers before looking at… Continue reading Abundance
Arts of May 