Near Harris Reward, Tasmania – New Drawing

Posted by lilymae on June 25, 2017

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

Posted by lilymae on May 27, 2017

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

Posted by lilymae on May 17, 2017

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

What your ears look like

Posted by lilymae on April 14, 2017

Very little sleep – look at her cute ears!

All the art – gearing up

Posted by lilymae on February 19, 2017

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

Posted by lilymae on December 29, 2016

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

Road trips, gardening, exhibitions

Posted by lilymae on December 18, 2016

Oak! These things are EVERYWHERE in our garden.

A beautiful visitor.

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.

Truck stop views.

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

A house near the old gas station.

Kitty sums up how we all feel.

Small drawing

Posted by lilymae on November 2, 2016

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

Posted by lilymae on September 16, 2016

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.

Eight years in self portraits

Posted by lilymae on August 18, 2016

I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while, creating one post with all the self portraits – selfies – that I have done over the years. I’ve been examining myself for about eight years now, I haven’t always liked what I’ve seen. But it is an impressive, sometimes scary, sometimes sad and sometimes funny collection. I know I don’t have copies of all of them. They’re spread out over four old computers and some have probably accidentally/ on purposely been deleted.

2008 – Australia