In Honour of Non-Representational Painter Lila Lewis Irving

I have to say, I will not forget in my lifetime the experience of John and I meeting abstract painter extraordinaire Lila Lewis Irving at her studio and home in Port Credit Ontario.

We spent Saturday at the Arts on the Credit Show, an amazing art and artisan show in Mississauga Ontario, at the Inn on the water in Port Credit. John and I specifically went there to see a friend of John's from high school, a wonderful mosaic artist. Her work is whimsical and exciting. There were many really good artists in that show.

As we were leaving the show, after being there upwards of 3 hours, looking around, talking to John's friend as well as a couple of the other artists, we were suggested strongly to make a stop at another artist's studio. We were tired, John just coming off a bad cold and we had an hour drive or so to get home. Could we maybe just say "yeah we will stop" then bypass it and go home? No lol! John's friend Sue was going to quiz us on the "statue" in Lila's home and we better know what it is when asked. Ok, so we went. "You gotta see this studio, you have to see her work, it's amazing!" So, we stopped. Well, we are so glad we did.

The space was almost indescribable, so amazing and wondrous, a work of art in itself. A woman who was there showed us around. Lila has 3 floors of art everywhere, hundreds of canvasses as well as some fantastic pieces by fellow artists. Not only is there her artwork, there are interesting items, eclectic worldly things, amazing surreal whimsical sculptures, a photographer's dream really. This was the home of a true artist, a genuine creative person, living and breathing their art on a daily basis, surrounded by it in so many ways.
Lila is an abstract painter. There is abstract art (throwing paint around as she said to us later) and then there is ABSTRACT ART.  Lila's work right away struck me as the capital letter kind! It has DEPTH! It also has balance, it has scrumptious texture, it has the perfect MIX of texture and flat, it has thought, it has composition, it is exciting, it is too many things to use meager text and fonts to describe. This woman is good. This woman is a Painter.

Although we were able to stay only 45 mins or so, and sat and spoke with her about half of that time, we didn't want to overstay our welcome and it was time to head home. We left Lila's studio and we said immediately to each other that we were so glad we stopped there.

About the statue, it was something to behold I tell yah. It was a "person" of wood. To appreciate it you'd have to stop in at her studio and behold it yourself.

Lila has a long list of exhibitions, collections her work is included in, as well as awards.

Article on Lila

Lila's Biography