Tag Archives: Australian drawing

News!

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I keeping meaning to update and have not, apologies. Getting back into the new year routine has been harder than I thought. Ya know? Husband works in the unpredictable film industry and though it is interesting it’s definitely keeping me on my toes. Last minute changes are the new normal. There are other things too, but they are not my story so I’ll shuddup.

Life, hey?

NEWS –

Two things, I have a drawing shortlisted in the DOBELL DRAWING PRIZE

I am thrilled to be in it, this was the only prize I was applying for this year as prizes cost MONEY and heartache 😛 . This one really matters to me as it is one of the most important art prizes in drawing in this country. Many thanks to the judges Ben Quilty, Michelle Belgiorno and Simon Cooper.

The exhibition will be showing at the NAS Gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney. 28th of March to the 25th of May. Let me know what you think if you visit the exhibition!

AND

I have a solo exhibition this year!!!!!! All details yet to come but the key dates are:

Opening Saturday July the 27th at Scott Livesey Galleries in Armadale, Melbourne. Exhibition will run from July 27th to August 17th.

I have been working really hard on this one and am really, really excited about it.

Ok so I’ll leave you with the image that will be in the Dobell and next post I will show you some quick, smaller drawings I did through the summer holidays.

Inexorable, 105x75cm by Lily Mae Martin, ink on cotton paper- 2018
Drawing photographed by Gene Hammond-Lewis .

New work, Reawaken

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Reawaken
By Lily Mae Martin
56 x 76cm
Ink on paper
2018

I’m pretty pleased with this one, a merging of my two loves – the nude figure and the ( Tasmanian ) landscape.

I had these ideas a few months back, spoke to my model who ( bless her ) came over by my rather last minute request. I had frantically sketched out some poses and I am still learning how to direct people. I had been thinking about Poussin’s drawings and have always enjoyed how the figures seemed to drape.
My lecturer at VCA, Berhnard Sachs – had asked me what art I looked at during one of my tutes when I was an undergrad, I think I replied comic books. He then marched me down to the library and got me looking at the drawings of Poussin and others, he talked to me about chiaroscuro. I now look at everything; performance, the written word, the spoken word, photography, abstract, figurative, printmaking and yes, comics and zines. I think it’s importrant to observe as much as possible, outside of what you make, like to make, wish to make.

So here we are years later. I drape my model in a Poussin-type pose and have her balance on a plastic stool I had purchaed from a bargin shop some years back. I think it worked.

Works on Paper exhibition

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“WORKS ON PAPER”
at Scott Livesey Galleries
909A High Street
Armadale VIC
7th to the 24th of Feb

The opening will be on Saturday the 17th of Feb, 1 to 3PM.

Featuring Jason Benjamin, McLean Edwards, Yanni Floros, Todd Hunter, Ellie Kammer, Lily Mae Martin, Matt R Martin, John Pastoriza-Piñol, Luke Sciberras and Paul White amongst others.

Here is an online link to most of the works in the show: W.O.P.18

I have a number of works in this, ranging from larger framed works to medium framed to small framed and a number of unframed small works in a folio.
I hope you can make it, I am very proud of the work I have done and to be exhibiting in such a great gallery with many amazing artists.

Mungo, Sunset

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Mungo, NSW

I began these two drawings whilst at the Art Vault in Mildura and completed them when I got home.
They are both ink wash and pen, 23cm x 31cm. They are inspired from my visit during a sunset after a very hot day.

Mungo, sunset

Haunted – Waterloo State Forest

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Haunted
By Lily Mae Martin
Ink on paper
56 x 76cm
2017

These drawings – the landscapes – are challenging, but this one almost didn’t happen. It is on the last sheet of cold pressed paper, which I bought way back in 2013. ( 2013 Lily made a number of poor choices. ) The paper is beautiful, but rough as and my pens just get ruined on it far to quickly. But I don’t want to waste things and this one is meant to match up with the gully one ( in size, at least )
The foreground was the easiest, it is quite illustrative ( dare I say ) and was easy to get my head and pen around. However when it came to creating a sense of depth in the image with the middle and backgrounds – I did loose it all at one point. I had the horrible week of trying to fix it, and thinking I may as well have to abandon it after many, many, many weeks of work. Which was really upsetting.
I kept on at it though, got some advice from my Gene and really hammed up the contrast in this image. it is meant to be dark. Dealing with the after affects of death and grief.
I’m working on a brief for these.


In the gully
By Lily Mae Martin
Ink on paper
56 x 76cm
2016

So they can sit either side of the largest one:


Waterloo State Forest, view from the back
Lily Mae Martin
105 x 75cm
Ink on Paper
2016

My proposed idea is:

However there are more coming so this may change for sure. I thought I’d just do these three, but noooo. There’s many more to come and a statement too.

Summer Salon exhibition

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Summer Salon exhibition continues throughout February at Scott Livesey Galleries in Armadale, Melbourne.
I have the above large drawing, one of my Waterloo landscapes and two smaller drawings in this exhibition.
There’s drinks happening today at the gallery with many of the artists present including myself. Hope to see you there!

Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize 2017

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I am very pleased to say that my drawing Rebirth has been selected as a finalist for the Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize for 2017 in Sydney.

This drawing is a really special one to me, in that I am really really proud of it. So I am super excited it will be showing in this prize.

Thank you to my team of people who have helped me get this ready to be gallery ready! You know who you are and you really make this so special. See, this drawing just made it into the entry – I had just finished it before the deadline and it seems as if it was meant to be. ( Well, there’s lots of work that has gone into all of this so, we made it happen! )

The full list of finalists are on the website which you can see here: Finalists for the 2017 Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize

I’ve just gotten back to work so things will be quite on this here blog because I JUST WANT TO DRAW..

Seated Nude – New Drawing

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seated_nude_lily_mae_martin

Seated Nude
By Lily Mae Martin
105 x 75cm
Ink on paper
2016

It may seem a little haphazard, the way I work. My last finished piece that I posted here was a landscape..

WaterlooForestfinal_lily_mae_martin

…which took me several months to draw ) but I assure you there is a method to the madness!
Sort of.

Such a relief it was, going back to working on the body. I’m trying to work out ways of combining the two – but I am not quite there yet. Though I have heaps of ideas and I am super excited.

Though I love this drawing –

under_skin_under_earth_lily_mae_martin
– my girl in a cave, it was an experiment – I don’t think it quite achieved It. ( Whatever It is, I’m still trying to work that out .. )

This worked –

Morning Song, ink on paper, 76 x 56cm , 2016

Morning Song, ink on paper, 76 x 56cm , 2016

But I am not sure how to make that a series. That’s ok, I still got some nudes to draw in their negative space and some landscapes without figures to finish and then, hopefully, I have worked out a little bit more in my head and with my hands what it is that I am making.

Still, looking through this post alone with the drawings I have made this year I cannot express to you how excited I am about making the new works and how proud I am of what I have already created. Not meaning to sound up myself or nothing – but if there’s no joy in what you do then what’s the point.

My back aches and the nude is fresh off of the board. Time for a tea and some sleep.

Paul Guest Drawing Prize

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My drawing Crawling has been shortlisted for the Paul Guest Drawing Prize. The exhibition will run from the 27th of August to the 16th of October at the Bendigo Art Gallery. Here is the link to the full list of finalists, there’s some great artists listed : LINK

crawling_lily_mae_martin

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

New drawing – Waterloo State Forest, view from the back

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WaterlooForestfinal_lily_mae_martin

Waterloo State Forest, view from the back
Lily Mae Martin
105 x 75cm
Ink on Paper

Waterloo State Forest, view from the back is an exploration of death and grief through the peripheral. Much of my work focuses on the intimate details of the human body, but watching a loved one die can complicate that work. Death is the process of the body shutting down, and documenting that isn’t always possible or right. Waterloo is the documentary of a life passing, and of the lives around it changing, as it is experienced through the landscape: a hushed forest, pitted with mineshafts; the perpetual shifting of light and shadow; the symbiosis of regrowth and decay.