Deep reflection of the last twelve months prior to this very date, peppered with metaphors both unique to my quirks and cliché to a person of my age/ experience/ socioeconomic status. Positive affirmations about the next 12 months to come – possibly something humorous, maybe something lovely and always something completely unrealistic. A nice and tidy round up of all the reflections and losses and gains of the year, signed off with some best wishes to whoever reads this thing. And always a reminder – especially to those of you in the Southern hemisphere – stay fucking hydrated.
Also – there’s a drawing I did of my face.
Author Archives: lilymae
Bug shells
I’m feeling daunted and inspired.. I am feeling all the things. I want to get onto the small works but I also love to draw big but I also feel like I need to challenge myself a bit more. With all these things as well as being human, having a relationship and being a mum I don’t know how to do it but I guess I’ll just give it a crack.
So that’s where I am at at the end of 2016. I was going to write something more but Kidlet can’t find her purple bunny and I’ve been distracted big time. Here’s some photos from recent days:
Swords Husband made for him and Kidlet!
John Olsen – Road to Bathurst 1998
Sea Country Spirits by Jenny Crompton
Happy 2017 to all. Stay hydrated!
New Drawing – Rebirth and progress pictures
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:
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
Sweet Relief
It’s done. It is all done and now we are in the confusing haze that is the week between Christmas Day and New Years. Which I much prefer to the blinding panic/ rage that is the lead up to Christmas!
I hardly got anything done that I planned to do. I got a bit sick in the week leading up to it all and just gave up. Which forced me to have a very low key Xmas day and I think I have to do that again each year. We didn’t have an excess of anything. Did it all meat and alcohol free so no one is in a bad way at all. A bit tired but no one is burnt out and now we are planning our bike trips and play dates and it’s all pretty lovely and relaxing. This is how it should be!
I did whip up a gingerbread house for Husband and Kidlet to decorate. And yes – I whipped it up and was very suspicious of how easy it was.. Kidelt and her friend got to demolish it on Xmas eve and it was very funny to watch. I think it’s becoming a little tradition which is super sweet.
A few days before the day I went and collected some new decorations for our tree – as the ones we do have a very sad and very old. There’s more glitter and stars now, which makes Kidlet very happy.
Eyes! >.< How special is the dress?
Now, it is time to get back to work.. I hope to finish a large drawing before New Years and then start a new one and that is how I will celebrate.
Road trips, gardening, exhibitions
Oak! These things are EVERYWHERE in our garden.
Two small drawings by me, hanging next to a painting by Luke Sciberras at Scott Livesey Galleries in Armadale, on view until December 21st
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”
Nadia Toukhsati’s paint palette.
Drawing together – “You never draw anything cool mummy” haha. Bless.
New small drawings
A couple of small drawings have been framed and delivered to Scott Livesey Galleries. These are much, much smaller than my usual works but I am enjoying making them.
I’m going to spend this summer smashing out some new works.. I have SO much awesome reference material, I feel like I have so many drawings I want to draw but of course I can only really work on one at a time. It’s a little frustrating but in a good way 😉
If you are interested in viewing/ purchasing a new work, please contact Scott Livesey Galleries
SCOTT LIVESEY GALLERIES
909A HIGH STREET, ARMADALE
VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, 3143 T: +61 3 9824 7770
F: +61 3 9824 7771
E: INFO@SCOTTLIVESEYGALLERIES.COM
Modelling for my art
Usually I have several works on the go at the same time but one is a standout. At the moment, I have four that I am equally as passionate and excited about – so I just wanted to say thank you to all the beautiful humans who have modelled for me of late.
But I also just wanted to put it out there that I have noticed there is a perceived idea that I go after particular types of bodies and therefore people don’t put their hand up to model because they feel that this is not them. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that this is not the case. Most of the people who have modelled for me have been familiar enough with my work to either be inclined to contact me of their own accord to offer or it’s been a bunch of circumstances that have lead to it happening. ( I hope that that makes sense ) Sometimes I use professional models.
At my recent exhibition at Ararat Regional Art Gallery the director Anthony Camm said that there is a dialogue going on between myself the artist and the sitter. Which I really felt proud about.
So if you want to model, it is anonymous ( unless it is a portrait, which this is not a call out for ) – write me. Let’s see if we can make it happen.
lilymaemartin at gmail dot com
Fairy garden, Christmas baubles, Super Moon
We planted seeds and fairy houses for Kidlet’s fairy garden – it’s still a while off, but taking shape…
Kitty and Kidlet play with a bauble.. Kidlet is wearing her kitty tail and it’s just so sweet
Baby dragonfly visits my veggie garden
Back of a book I picked up at a garage sale, it’s so beautiful – I wonder what the whole object would have looked like
We’ll see what we see
Kitty is nuzzling me with the top of her warm, fluffy head. She’s purring and watching her tail and nuzzling and closing her eyes in pleasure.
I want to be kitty.
I don’t want to do this grown up human stuff. I don’t want to check myself everyday for fear of running off my mouth, which when unchecked, I can do very easily. I don’t want to balance my mind, my meals, my time, my apologies, my fear, my sadness – my relief.
There are ways to make this easy.. No more rushing to meet imaginary deadlines – no one truly cares anyway. No more ‘going out’ – I am much, much better on paper.
“Every day you have to abandon your past or accept it and then, if you cannot accept it, you become a sculptor.”
Louise Bourgeois
So I’ll continue drawing over here, I’ll work it out and we’ll see what we see.