Bird Bronzed

The little bird didn't die in vain though I'm sure he wouldn't agree. Here's the finished painting / drawing. It's charcoal on paper.

Summer Projects

The weather has been so bad that we barely noticed the spring and most people are still shaking off the winter blues. It's hard to believe it's June.

None the less, it's summer time here again and in Paris that's when people start to meet up, socialise more, dust down their projects and collaborate.

I've joined a film crew in Paris as their storyboard artist. Among the projects that we're working on is a romantic drama about two people who meet online and eventually marry. The script is bound to change but here's a photo of the last meeting with some of the people involved. Actors, directors and crew & myself. The first draft of the first part of the storyboard is below.

Apart from that, I'm still drawing nudes of course. Below is a sketch from last Saturdays session with the live model. She's brilliant and usually creates pretty good poses but it's when she's taking breaks that she looks the most dramatic. If we weren't so busy talking among ourselves, that's when we should be drawing her.

Bird - day 2

I think that this drawing is almost finished now. It's on paper with charcoal. It may be that I'll paint the background. I don't want to ruin the work that I've done so far so I'll have to experiment first.

Bird-leaving his mark

Today I found a barely alive little bird in a neighbors garden. He didn't last very long but he went peacefully. These are very beautiful creatures. So I started drawing him on a large sheet of stretched paper. He's leaving his mark, slowly, but surely.

The sun came out in Paris :)

We had a couple of days of sunshine, something that has been a bit rare this year. So I took advantage and got out as much as possible. There were a couple of parties and I got to the Louvre. That's another couple of things that I've been missing with all this activity lately.

So here are a few photos.

First off, a small party. I've been doing a lot of engraving work this year. Mostly thanks to a bunch of local architects who pushed me into it and motivate me to keep at it. So thanks to Jean-François Vincent for that. The other photo is Pierre who drank too much wine at the little exhibition we had.






I was at a party last night but didn't take any photos. It was in the 10eme. Had a great time at Helen Tangs. Lovely people and mostly artists.

At the Louvre today, there weren't too many people for a change. So I visited the Dutch artists section. I'm incredibly impressed by the work of Pickenoy. Not only are the paintings still in perfect condition but they are fantastically well painted. The paintings are from the 16th century but look as though they were painted yesterday.

No doubth the Louvre restorers deserve a great deal of credit but the paint is uncracked, the colours smooth and beautifully applied and there is incredible grace and aliveness in the portraits. To find a photo with the same life in it would be more than a challenge. I don't think it would be possible. These details are from the portrait of Johanna Le Maire




Here's a marvelous detail from a painting by Gerard Dou.


I also had a wander around the streets of Paris and visited the Palais Royal. There I saw the famous Vefour restaurant. Apart from the great art and the the incredible restaurants there is always something good to see. It's worth wandering around this area anytime the sun is shining but especially on a Sunday as they have students of the academy of music performing classical music on the street.



I'll post more photos of exhibitions etc on my newsletter. Be sure to sign up. It's on the bottom of my homepage. http://tjbyrne.com

World Drawing day.

Today is world drawing day. It's a big deal. I love drawing so here's my contribution, posted to Youtube. You'll find more information here http://www.drawingday.org/index.php
Participate, it's great.

The Irish Embassy Expo

Hi there
Hope you had a good weekend. I had a pretty charged one as they say. The exhibition in the embassy went well and there was a pretty good turn out. For art lovers it may have been a bit difficult to commit to as there were so many other art exhibitions this last weekend. Sorry to all my friends whose exhibitions I didn't get to see.

It was great to see so many of you at the exhibition and I hope I had a chance to chat with everyone. There was pretty decent weather and the mood was good. Even a little bit of champagne flowing. This exhibition continues for a month.


So here's a photo taken on the day. This is from the left, Natalie Martin, Anna Anderson (the Irish Ambassador to France), me and Bernadette Martin.


The next exhibition is Sunday, May 23rd, in Saint-Germain-les-Corbeil (91250), 3 avenue de la Pointe Ringale, Seine et Marne. The show runs from the 23rd of May until the 1st of June and promises to be excellent. I viewed the other artists works this week and everyone's work is of a very high quality.

On the 6th of June there is the Goal Ball. It's in Hotel Concorde LaFayette, 75017 Paris. I'm exhibiting paintings in aid of the charity Goal. A commissioned portrait will be offered to the highest bidder on the evening.

More details here www.goal-ball.org/p/auction.php