“You draw even when you’re upset”

Is something G said to me a few weeks back and it has been stuck in my mind. Especially over these last few weeks since being back, when so much life things have been happening and I have had to get very creative about getting myself time and space to draw. A lot of the time I worry that I can’t get and never get anything done.

I’ve been scratching away at this drawing for the last almost two weeks – in between looking after a very unwell child ( poor pickle ) and supervising the Kitty and The Chooks..
It’s about A5 in size, so it is very small for me. I’m not too happy about my last drawing – I mean it just feels like it is missing some magic. So I’m busy doing the ground work – the work before the work – right now.

Little one has been ill, and I drew this of her while she was napping.. Only half way through it her temperature spiked and I rushed her to see a doctor. What happened next was only stuff that I never even dreamed of – being a parent is so glamourous – but she came good and that is what really matters.

She drew and cut out mermaids – there are like twenty of them and I am meaning to work out a way to put them altogether to keep them safe. It can be maddening how much stuff gets everywhere with little people – but finding her drawings really, really is something special.

So, the chooks. We got these girls about a fortnight ago now, I can’t believe how lucky we are.. They are 4 and 5 years old and are not seen apart. I am home a lot so they get freerange of the yard. They even put themselves to bed – why can’t children be more like chickens!? I kid, I kid..
I’ve had a burst of new ideas for an artwork, but because of Life things I can’t get to it right away, so today I thought I’d draw the girls their portraits.

Meet Sooty & Maude

That’s all from me for now — it is time to shut down and get offline while I experiment and play with ideas.

Near Harris Reward, Tasmania – New Drawing

Well, that was hard!

Near Harris Reward
By Lily Mae Martin
112 x 75cm
Ink on Paper
2017

I did another whole different drawing while trying to do this one, this one was so so so hard. It’s the largest and most dense drawing I have done ( to date )..

THE FERNS!

I really want to get back to West Coast of Tasmania, I don’t feel like I explored as much as I could have.. I didn’t get to do as much as I could. I’m trying to move things about to make it happen – but money and time do not come when you want it…if only! The Secret failed me 😛

Still I am untangling the experience and still I am scratching a little lostly ( that is probably not a word, oh well ) at paper. Behind my eyes I am back there and going for those walks through shrubs and trees with things growing off of things and I don’t know what anything is called.

Little clueless speck.

These last weeks have been on and off – Kidlet with a tempreture of almost 40, we got chickens! Gardening and cooking and baking with my lovely cousin. Life life is good though winter is not my favourite time – it is just weather and here in Oz, the cold is quite mild.

I must get back to the scratching and the f**king ferns.

Understory

Understory – Tasmania
By Lily Mae Martin
56 x 76cm
Ink on paper
2017

This isn’t the first drawing I have started that was inspired by my recent stay in Western Tasmania, but it is the first to be finished. It was very hard to finish. I’m trying to let the lines speak more – keep the mark making looser. Trying not to go over and over them – render, render, render..

There are parts I feel that I have achieved this more than others, and I am very happy with the results. This is such a depareture from the starkness – the nakedness – of the nudes. There’s so much going on and yet my eyes are lulled into the movement of light and dark. Having the same calming effect on me as listening to white noise. It feels, it is, a different world. And I keep dreaming about it too – behind my eyelids I am back there looking at everything growing out, on, of everything. A branch falls and the tip stabs itself back into the soft earth, and then things grow from it. Evidence that there was movement long ago but this place just readjusted, took it back into itself. A process that took many, many years but time is different there. Everything is different there. I am different there.

Now I am in my studio but part of me still feels like it is there. I must go back to Tasmania, but in what shape that’ll take will have to be seen. It’s just time to make the work now.

Artworks for sale

Hello there – I have a number of artworks that are framed and avalible for sale at Scott Livesey Galleries in Melbourne. I thought I’d put together a post with their details and if you are interested please contact the gallery on T: +61 3 9824 7770 or email at INFO@SCOTTLIVESEYGALLERIES.COM

First up, the landscapes
Haunted – 56 x 76cm, ink on paper, 2017

Waterloo State Forest, View From Back – 105 x 75cm, ink on paper, 2016

In The Gully, 56 x 76cm, ink on paper, 2016

Then – the nudes – these vary in sizes

As yet untitled, 56 x 76cm, ink on paper, 2017

As yet untitled, 56x76cm, ink on paper, 2017

Rebirth, 75 x 105cm, ink on paper, 2017

Ride, 30 x 30cm, ink on paper, 2016

Dancer, 30 x 30cm, ink on paper, 2016

There are more, if you follow this link: Lily Mae Martin at Scott Livesey Galleries

All the art – gearing up

Well, the beginning of the year I saw a clean slate and I was both excited and deeply depressed about this. 2016 was a very successful year in terms of exhibitions and building up momentum.

I’ve moved things about so I work full time hours, with bits taken out for school drop off and pick up and cuddles and gardening and cooking. The I work into the evenings Monday to Friday. I’m finding that since I broke my laptop – and have this hear clunky desk top – online stuff isn’t taking over my life as much. And I feel like I have more time, or maybe that’s just the mental clear out – either way, I feel so much better.

My drawing board situation is that there are four pieces coming together, there are more that are in my mind.. I’m doing the landscape for a specific idea which I will talk about later and the nudes – I’m working on some smaller ones for a possible exhibition in future.

Just make the work.

On Saturday I went to Melbourne for the continuation of the Summer Salon exhibition at Scott Livesey Galleries ( LINK ) It’s up for the duration of February so get down and check it out, I have four pieces on display – a landscape, two small nudes and one large nude ( pictured)

In the morning I got to the James Makin Gallery to see Godwin Bradbeer’s Episodes Then & Now exhibition –LINK. It’s on until February 25th and you should totally go see it.

There’s a large retrospective of his work coming up in March – Stigma and Enigma so I hope to make that – it is indeed a different experience to see work IRL than just online.. I think people forget that.
I also wanted to get down to see LAURA curated by my friend Sophia Hewson – but I ran out of time!!!! *cries* So if you’re in Melbourne make sure you go and see it – LINK

Now, that is a very full and lush post and I better get back to it.

AND my tomato plants have flourished and I’ve been eating them, which is the best.

New Drawing – Rebirth and progress pictures

rebirth_lily_mae_martin
Rebirth
By Lily Mae Martin
105 x 75cm
Ink on paper
2016

Rebirth is a meditation on the identity shifts that occur in a woman after the
act of giving birth.

Birth is a physical experience that may be simultaneously extraordinary and
traumatic. Motherhood is central to a traditional understanding of female
identity; at the same time, the physical implications and complications of birth
work in direct opposition to contemporary female beauty standards that play a
role in reinforcing those same social roles and responsibilities.

The woman in this drawing kneels naked, but it is not a pose of submission.
She leans forward as if poised to stand, her hands gripping her thighs. The
face, usually the primary source of emotional expression, is hidden, giving the
naked body space to speak. The woman’s breasts and stomach draw the
viewer’s focus, representations of both sexuality and motherhood and the
complicated relationship between the two. The scarring across her belly,
incurred from a pregnancy injury and usually hidden from sight, recalls
physical distress and trauma, but also speaks to experience, knowledge,
strength and resilience.

Here are some pictures of the work in progress:

one

two

three

four

So this is my final piece for 2016! What a year it has been. I have a whole lot of things planned for 2017 – experiments and a residency and new small works.

Thank you to everyone for your interest and support and sharing my work.

All the best for 2017

LMM xx

Road trips, gardening, exhibitions

oak Oak! These things are EVERYWHERE in our garden.

butterfly A beautiful visitor.

lmmlc Two small drawings by me, hanging next to a painting by Luke Sciberras at Scott Livesey Galleries in Armadale, on view until December 21st

picbykidlet By Kidlet
“I tried to draw you mummy, but it didn’t work”
“Am I angry?”
“No, it just didn’t work”
“I love it, can I keep it?”
“Yeah, but it didn’t work out how I wanted it to”
“That doesn’t matter, because it is AMAZING”

npp Nadia Toukhsati’s paint palette.

dt Truck stop views.

ey

ss1 Drawing together – “You never draw anything cool mummy” haha. Bless.

ntogs A house near the old gas station.

hotkitty Kitty sums up how we all feel.

Small drawing

dancer_lily_mae_martin
Dancer
By Lily Mae Martin
30 x 30cm
Ink on paper
2016

I’m playing around with scale at the moment, which sounds straight forward but has been surprisingly challenging. Another thing to show me that when I think I know it all, I really don’t know all the much. It’s humbling.
It’s been a lot of fun but some of them I sketch and scribble at and still think no no no, this has to be a larger work. It won’r feel right until I’ve spent several months scratching away at it.

Though I have a fair bit of reference material it’s amazing what I thought would work on a smaller scale doesn’t work at all. Husband said I should aim for less detail to which I did not agree with. ( Though he is probably right because he is objective and far more sensible that I but no no no, not the detail!! )

Ah, I am meant to be vacuuming and feeding my body breakfast but I am already getting tucked into my work.

It’s good to be back.

For any sales please contact Scott Livesey Galleries
909A High Street,
Armadale, Victoria, Australia
e: info@scottliveseygalleries.com
Ph: (03) 9824 7770

Some recent media

trouble_magazine

My drawing I am blood, bones and a beating heart is the cover of the September issue of Trouble Magazine.

I was also interviewed by the Courier a couple of days ago. They called while I was strolling in the old cemetery, drinking coffee. I didn’t mention this to the journalist, but I am mentioning here! Here is a link
CLICK

Back in June I was invited to speak on The Arts Show with Alex McCulloch. I’m on at 36:20, just after Hey Jude.
LINK

My exhibition at Ararat Regional Art Gallery opened yesterday. There is an artist talk tomorrow at 1PM.