News!

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 .

Drawing Language – Artist talk

From This Wild Song website:

Can’t wait for our next forum Drawing Language with artists Filomena Coppola, Lily Mae Martin and Charlotte Watson! Join us for a lovely afternoon at The Art Room ( in Footscray ) and learn more about these artist’s work, their drawing language, and their experiences as women in the arts.
Afternoon tea is provided, please bring your questions!
Places are limited

CLICK HERE

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I will talk about at this forum and am really looking forward to it. It’s been an interesting process stepping back and looking over my drawing career, there’s a lot to say. I’m also excited to meet the other artists and hear what they say too.

On Saturday – I went to an artist talk by Megan Evans at the Art Gallery of Ballarat and it was truly fantastic. Artists talks are so important – if you are an artist or interested in becoming one or just interested I think these experiences are truly valuable and totally worth attending.

See you there 🙂

Meanwhile I am working on this large one, at the kitchen table as I had to keep an eye on kids who also kept an eye on me 🙂

New work, Reawaken


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

“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.

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

Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize 2017

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..

In the gully – new drawing

in_the_gully_lily_mae_martin
In the gully – Waterloo state forest
By Lily Mae Martin
76 x 56cm
Ink on paper
2016

This is half the size of the other landscape I did, but I am pretty sure it took me just as long? There’s so much detail in this, the tiny bits of trees and shrubs.. So many times I felt I couldn’t do it. So many times I thought I should stop and move on but I pushed on through.
Though the news last week made me think well, what’s the fucking point? And I just stopped when it was a mere two hours work from completion.

I’ve spent the last week trying to keep my cool. Not quit all my jobs and all of my life. I think I did well. I may have eaten too much toast and bread and a whole thing of brownies – but considering the destruction I used to be capable of – I’ve really made myself proud.

I had coffee with a friend on Friday and as we were saying our goodbyes I think I was mumbling something about my drawing going down the toilet and she said she could spot all the different species in the one I was working on, and how cool it was. And just like that, the light went on and I was really excited again.

detail_in_the_gully_lily_mae_martin

So thank you, friend 🙂

Paul Guest Drawing Prize

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

Studio kitty, Author and Finisher, Sanctuary and Winter Masterpieces exhibitions and haberdashery

kira_lily_mae_martin
Friday it snowed twice and kidlet had her last day of school for the term. The above photo is from Friday evening – Kira kitty exploring the studio before curling up to sleep. I love her company. When I turn off the lamps and gather my things to leave she uncurls herself, meows at me and follows me down the stairs and back into the warm house.

kozminsky_lily_mae_martin
Saturday morning and it’s freezing. There is ice on the footpaths and roads. I walk very slowly but purposely to the train station, this is not a good morning to not be able to find my only pair of gloves. I sleep on the train for a few hours before making it into Melbourne town. It’s coffee and art time with friends. First up is Author and Finisher at Kozminsky by Nicholas Jones. The gallery is on the second floor and the space and the art is beautiful. There’s so much loveliness to take it, it felt really special to be able to see that. It is quite a sizeable exhibition and we were lucky to have Nicholas there to talk to us about making of particular pieces, the stories behind them and the practical sides of things like printing and framing.
bookart_lily_mae_martin

Then I went to the NGV to see the Degas exhibition. Contours feature so strongly in his works, they were so lovely to see up close. I found the famous ballet pieces charming but my favs for me were one off portraits of a peasant woman and a large bather rendered in pastel, and of course – the dead fox in the undergrowth.
foxdegas_lily_mae_martin

Lastly I go to see Becc Ország’s exhibition, Sanctuary, at Nicholas Projects. Beautiful drawings rendered in graphite, with delicate additions of gold leaf.The largest piece in the show really stood out for me, The Source of All Things ( Birth of The Rivers ) – it added a whole new experience to the drawings as a whole. Very dreamlike and making me recall magical places I have visited in my life; coastlines of Italy and Snowdonia in Wales.

Then it was onto collecting things for three little girls who are turning six soon. I stumbled into the haberdasher, l’uccello, in the Nicolas Buidling and it was such a visual treat. What a day.

luccello_lily_mae_martin

Here are the links to the galleries and artists mentioned, as well as a review written by Esther Anatolitis on Nicholas Jones’ exhibition. Have a click and get down to see these if you’re in Melbourne CBD soon.

NICHOLAS JONES: AUTHOR AND FINISHER by Esther Anatolitis

Nicholas Jones

Kozminsky

Edgar Degas NGV

Becc Ország

Nicholas Projects

l’uccello

Under Skin, Under Earth – A Tribute

under_skin_under_earth_lily_mae_martin
Under Skin, Under Earth. Ink on paper, 56 x 76cm , 2016

My Grandmother died a few days before I finished this drawing, it has been so hard to finish.

This begun as an experiment, which is the best part of not having a deadline – experimentation. I want to find ways to explore mortality – all the life and death lessons I have experienced over the last couple of years. I thought I would write about them – but that doesn’t feel like the right to do for me.

I’ve tried drawing people’s objects and painting still lives of flowers, while they were fun to do, they were not enough. I’ve been road tripping and sitting and reading and sketching and photographing and I get inklings of things and then I moved towards other things. I’ll get there, I’ll find it.

When I was a teenager, I spoke to Grandmother on the phone and she had asked me about my drawing. She always asked me about my drawing. When I told her I wasn’t doing that anymore she told me that I was being silly/ stupid/ ridiculous – one of those words, all of which I was deserving. I was such an angry teenager and was putting all that anger into being destructive towards myself instead of being constructive. Anyway, she said I was being silly/ stupid/ ridiculous – that I have a gift. I shouldn’t waste it.

So I’ve been trying not to waste it. I’ve had busy hands for a number of years now. In my early twenties I was making toys, she showed me how to make a simply teddy out of felt. I made a pirate one and Grandma examined it, said I was clever but I make repulsive things. I was really proud.I’ve been trying to make things that I think she would be interested in, my art has run the gamut of angst to art school to hyper sexualized to general interest and exploration of body to telling life stories. The kind of stories that Grandma’s would be interested in. It pains me that when our minds and experience become so rich, our bodies begin to age and fail.

Grandma passed away on Monday evening, I looked up the clock face of the Melbourne Town Hall around the time she left. When I got the texts and the calls and found out what time I remember this moment.. I wonder of it is connected. But maybe that’s just what we all do, try to find meaning in things and maybe there isn’t any meaning.

We are all so temporary. It’s heartbreaking.