Lillian mastered many techniques, media and styles in the course of her life in art. From oils to pastels, watercolour and gilding; from painting to appliqué and tapestry; from landscapes to interiors, flowers nudes and iconography.

Her vision embraced the mundane, the natural, the hyper-real and the supernatural, at times combining both the material and spiritual dimensions of life.

After decades of stretching out her right arm with brush in hand, Lillian eventually had to have her shoulder replaced. In consequence she lost the fine motor movement necessary for detailed art work. However, this did not deter her.

She carried on her life in art, initially using an iPad to produce digital works while recuperating from her operation, then moving to impasto and sgraffito works in oil, which saw fruition in the Library series. Her last two series, expulsion from paradise and the Mary Magdalene series, are mainly collage, often incorporating her own earlier paintings, with an added colour wash or gilding in some cases.

More than just a life in art, Lillian’s work expresses ways of seeing. She would often paint the same scene in radically different colours or styles; themes first seen in early appliqué works were given fuller expression in oils thirty years later; and the ‘homage à Matisse’ pictures, first expressed in oils created in her 1960s New York studio, were revisited in watercolour from her Cotswold studio twenty years later.

Changing perspective or style was not merely a superficial act with Lillian: it is perhaps more an expression of her spiritual life, always seeking to explore, find and express the essential in life.

And so it is a way of seeing, through a life in art, that is presented here. Not only as a testament to one woman’s dedication, determination and commitment, but also as an inspiration as to how we can engage with the world – with openness, imagination and sensitivity. And to that, those who knew her would also testify to her attentiveness, compassion and love.