Tag Archives: drawing

Pens down, feet on the ground

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I was fumbling about in the studio so I put things down and have been out and about. Autumn has been beautiful and I’ve been walking; looking at the birds and enjoying the colour of the leaves changing, watching the clouds and taking in the smoke from all of the burn offs – ’tis the season.


I’ve been reading about colour and thinking about the different was I could utilize them in artworks – all stuff I must have studied once upon a time however it has been a long time! So these thoughts have been informing the way I have been looking at the landscapes I have been trudging around in. It’s pretty amazing.


When I can’t adventure I’ve been weeding in my garden and making plans for what new friends we can grow/ get for our yard.

My Poppet is unwell this evening and I use these moments as a time to do a quick sketch!

Two new drawings

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I am SO PLEASED with these two – I still don’t have titles yet, I’ll come up with something soon.
They are 56 x 76cm, ink on paper.

I was working on other drawings in the same style but different subjects, however I am not too sure about them, so will sit on them for a little while longer. Working on two images at once is ideal, I think three and four pushed it a little too far for me and I got a little stressed out on the way.
Always learning!

Paint sketches, pen sketches

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Hiiiiiiii there.
I have been excited to post here as it’s been quite the week AND THEN I got a nice big fat rejection. Well, I tried! After a week of a brief but powerful existential crisis, then a break through with my work which felt like it was teetering on the edge of madness, then onto a day of a depression that felt like it was consuming me from inside out and now well I feel deeply exhausted. But human. That’s good, yeah? No. Yes. Maybe. Who can tell.

Anyway I am trying to not get too far ahead of myself and overthink things and think that I understand anything because I don’t. I don’t get it, I don’t think anyone gets it and that’s cool. There’s crumpets and there’s pen and paper and some paint, it’s all good.

I feel motivated to draw and paint and I made some things this week that really felt exciting. I made some shit things too, but that’s par for the course. Though, I am not posting the shit things here 😉

I did some small studies in oil, I have more on the way. I want to keep my painting loose, I always assumed I’d be a photo realist painter – I do not know why. Something to do with the story that we tell ourselves? Anyway I am still deeply, deeply moved by the impressionist paintings. Which I never thought much of until they came to the National Gallery of Victoria when I was working there and the paint just took me to another place. Paintings are not the same in a book or on the screen. But as much as I love paint as a medium I am so so so very bad at being ‘looser’ with it. I always find I over work my paintings, and not in a good way at all. The one time I smashed it I had done many studies – in paint and in drawing so I am going to go back to that.

These are my favourite ones that I made this week, they are all one layer with added highlights on canvas paper.

I also made some blind contour line drawings as well – these are a few of my favs

Some of these ideas I haven been sitting on for a while, I knew I wanted to paint them but haven’t felt like I could paint in a while. Now I am like hey stop thinking thinking thinking and start doing and making and working it all out with your hands. Don’t know where it’ll all go which is absolutely and utterly terrifying but that’s got to be a good thing also, yes? If they don’t work out I can just go back to what I know works, yes? Or burn it all down. Ha.

I am pretty proud of them, hope you like them also and I am onto doing some other studies that I think are lovely too.

So for this week and then next – Keep the faith, take risks, eat crumpets, pat a cat, high five a kidlet and be kind to you.

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.

All the art – gearing up

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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.

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!

Sketching

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I did a whole lot of sketches last night, my studio is covered in them and it feels like that is the way it should be and I curse any time it has been any thing other than this!
Anyway I know I am doing work that I probably shouldn’t be doing as there are some works that should be done but I’ll get on top of all of that next week I promise.

Here’s one sketch I did..

Three Hearts

Today I did not attempt to work in my studio because it was very, very hot. So I settled for podcasts under the fan and smaller sketching and working out some things that are admin and very dull. So tomorrow it is Friday, feels like that came about super soon ( as did 2017, as did being thirty three, as did my grey hairs.. ) so I think I should like, leave the house and do things in preparation for a whole weekend drawing! yay!!!

The Longest Shortest Time – Drawing

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The Longest Shortest Time seemed like the perfect title for this new drawing, it’s title comes from one of my favourite podcasts of the same name.

Her lush pregnancy hair was very fun to draw. I wanted to do a few works focusing on pregnancy – ( and fourth trimester, contact me of you want to model! ) as I have many feelings around parenting. And also it blows my mind how all consuming these times are, but how bloody quick it passes too! The discourse we have around all of this stuff is deeply troubling, I could write more about it, but writing makes me exhausted.

I am feeling very motivated and excited about drawing and creating and have so many ideas but little paper.. Will have to fix that soon!

Here is a link to the Longest Shortest Time Podcast, have a listen to all things family, birth, boobs!

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..

Drawing together

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Ah, school holidays.
Movie, draw, draw, movie, movie, draw, draw, eat, wee, sleep…. Kidlet did hang out the washing without being asked and weeded some of the garden. I felt like these holidays were a huge abyss opening up in front of us all and now I can see the end of it already so quick sticks gotta make the most of it… And so, here are some of the drawings we have been doing together:

Movie watching.

I love how there is an arrow used to demonstrate that Kitty has transformed into a Pegasus. Super hero Kidelt is like “Let’s Save the World!” and casual-kitty-now-Pegasus still has a meh attitude of a cat “Okay”.. haha.. Okay. LOVE it.

NYE was SO BORING. But that’s ok. Just a night, I drew my new jug, it’s blue.
The jar with the dying flowers was one of about four at the time. Kidet will often come inside announcing “MUMMY, I HAVE PICKED YOU SOME FLOWERS!” and her fist will be full of various weeds. I will fill a jar with water and it’ll sit about the house until they have wilted and the water is putrid. But I never deny them. I do ask her not to pick flowers too much though, there’s got to be something left for the bees.

Snowman drawing, I assume it’s because we are still watching all the terrible Christmas themed movies just to really get it out of our systems.

Sleepy face, we have been very active despite me just telling you about all the movies we have been watching. But I don’t have to share everything 😉

This just in – found my wedding ring. PHEW.