Tag Archives: contemporary drawing

Near Harris Reward, Tasmania – New Drawing

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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

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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.

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!

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..

New Drawing – Rebirth and progress pictures

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rebirth_lily_mae_martin
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:

one

two

three

four

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

New small drawings

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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