Lily S. May–Life with Art
November 2021, Brickworks, Toronto Though the work I'll show today is black and white, outdoors the colours were magnificent this past week. We came out of much rain and clouds to days of sunshine on the turning leaves. Photos don't do the leaves justice, but invoke memories. I felt that that's as it should be,… Continue reading This Autumn
In the evenings, I often sketch imaginary images in a variety of sketchbooks. Some of these images influence other work I do, some feel like extended doodles with no need to be anything other than themselves. Here are several recent images that I've made with felt pens. The divided image below did influence the scratchboard,… Continue reading From My Sketchbook
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
There's a young oak tree on one of the streets in my neighbourhood. I've brought home 2 sprigs of leaves that I've found on the sidewalk on my walks. I love oak leaves! And I've done a few drawings of them. The first two are of a small bunch of leaves that I drew first… Continue reading Oak Leaves
I've been experimenting with drawing more cartoons. That process led me to a small drawing continuing with the theme of dreams that I began in my first cartoon. After having done a number of works that felt too controlled, I made a loose unplanned sketch that felt freer to me. Afterwards, I added colour to the line drawing with… Continue reading Dreams Drawing
Here's another, and quite different, ink drawing I found in a sketchbook last week as I was reviewing my art work. It's from 1988, signed under my birth name that I later changed. It looks to me like a science fiction image, with an emphasis on environmental degradation. Also, I was exploring body image and different parts… Continue reading Sci Fi
These days I seem even more engaged than before in reviewing my art work. I believe this is a life review of sorts since the work spans decades. This week I had a look at my old sketch books. The drawing in this post is a recent one from around 2011. I'm guessing that's the date because… Continue reading By Our Hearts
I came upon these two sketch/paintings I made in 1987. They're in watercolour with ink lines. I enjoyed making and, now, viewing these paintings because I made them with a certain amount of freedom. I didn't sketch the images first, but applied the watercolour and ink directly to the paper. The images turned out less… Continue reading Ink & Watercolour Paintings & My Several Names
Arts of May 