Sailors Falls, Daylesford

Posted by lilymae on November 30, 2018

My little one and her friend chat while looking out at the waterfall. This was the one warm day that we had this year, good times! 😛

J’s feet

Posted by lilymae on November 26, 2018

J’s feet
22.5 x 18 cm
By Lily Mae Martin
Ink on cotton paper
2018

G’Day Dürer

Posted by lilymae on November 24, 2018

A few years ago I did a drawing of Dürer’s preyer hands. But it was a quick drawing and I feel like I am way better at drawing now than I was then so decided to revisit it. While I was looking at reference material I came across more hands studies of his so decided to do a few. These are the drawings I can do while on the run – cafes, swimming chauffeur duties, at the kitchen table waiting for red beans to cook down.

I started out with seven and have ended up with five that I am happy with.

All drawings are 14x19cm, by Lily Mae Martin

Thank you for reading and looking and sharing and supporting my work. I have a number of drawings I haven’t added here and I will do soon.

Beloved

Posted by lilymae on November 2, 2018

Beloved

By Lily Mae Martin, ink on cotton paper, 76x56cm 2018

Rope by Garth Knight

5AM period pain and drawing

Posted by lilymae on October 11, 2018

That title just about sums up my week so far. A lot of the unexpected keeps on happening and my body clock is all out of whack – daylight savings! Title of this post courtesy of waking up at 5AM in a lot of pain, with the cat jumping on my face and me finding off the drawing above.

I’m working on bigger drawings but needed a little break from them so decided to do a little series like some of Dürer’s hand studies. He is a favourite artist of mine, I thought of two things while researching him recently.

1.) In the past it was perfectly acceptable for an artist to draw, etch, paint, sculpt, woodwork etc while these days I feel the pressure to do ONE or the OTHER.

2.) MASTER artist is definitely a word reserved for male artists.

Yesterday I had a very big day in Melbourne looking at a lot of art. I really want to write about that but my thoughts are still formulating also I am running out of time as today is also a big day and then Friday I will DO NOTHING.

Weekend in drawings

Posted by lilymae on September 26, 2018

Daughter wants to go to a birthdya party dressed up as a fridge.

Little puppy that we a minding for the week.

Went to see Aunty Marlene Gilson’s paintings at the Art Gallery of Ballarat and came across these two women who talked and looked for so long I thought I’d capture the moment with a quick drawing.

I’ve been having some struggles so gardening and quick drawing is bringing me back into focus and calming me down.

A tired, beautiful little face.

Not every drawing has to come out as you planned, not every drawing has to be ‘finished’. Art is such a unique window into the human experience – I have to remember that.

bird of paradise

Posted by lilymae on September 18, 2018

Earlier in the year I ran an observing nature drawing work shop at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. Each class I would bring in seeds, flower and leaf samples. In the end, as it was getting colder and my flowers were not flowering I was sourcing from florists.

Teaching drawing is pretty amazing, but it’s also a battle as I just really want to sit down and draw too. I took in two birds of paradise flowers to the final class and decided to also draw it – after the class, of course 😛

This was months ago but I forgot about it and just came across it in my sketch book last week. I think it is pretty good.

Inexorable – new drawing

Posted by lilymae on September 13, 2018

Inexorable, 105x75cm by Lily Mae Martin, ink on cotton paper- 2018
Drawing photographed by Gene Hammond-Lewis .

I did various studies for this drawing, and then I took my time rendering and rendering and trying out a slightly different technique to the usual. Then my kid got sick, I got sick, kid got sick again and it seems like I had been working on this drawing for so long I couldn’t see it anymore. In fact Gene and my kid both told me that it was finished and I didn’t believe them for about a week.

Titling this work was hard too, I had read various poems and birth prayers to try and convey what this work is about in one or few words, what a job.

I loved these lines from Plath’s Three Women in regard to birth

I do not have to think, or even rehearse.
What happens in me will happen without attention.

And the line from the birth prayer by Louis Macneice

I am not yet born

Judith Wright’s Women to Child

You who were darkness warmed my flesh

But as with the work and the title I have to accept them for what they are – a piece of a larger conversation, all of my works. And to not put so much on one work, one title that I can’t move forward.

When I accepted this I was happy again, though I must say the difficulty also comes from a year of very little recognition, little positive feedback – or any feedback. It gets very easy to get lost. I don’t expect to be in everything but nothing is a little tricky to navigate. So this too – makes it very hard to see my work and to keep on going.

Anyway, here we are – I did it and I am digging extra deep to keep on keeping on.