It was on the island of Bali that Lily took the first steps in her artistic career. After her marriage failed, at the age of 33, she began studying with the Dutch painter Carel Dake, who had moved to Bali. Each day, she drew models from the villages, using only charcoal. She usually made full-length portraits of them, with Dake coming by now and then to correct her work. A number of other artists were living in Bali during Lily’s time there, and she met Walter Spies, Rudolf Bonnet, Adrien Jean Le Mayeur and others. In all, she stayed in Bali for seven months, until she felt she had learned enough to work on her own.