Saviour is sold

Thank you for your enquiries. The Saviour painting has sold. It was purchased in Zozimus gallery in Dublin for EU2,000.

Saviour II

To see this painting in real life, visit Gallery Zozimus,
56, Francis Street, Dublin 8, Ireland.

It's a drawing in charcoal with a glaze of oil paint. The blue is painted in tempera.

It's called 'Saviour II'. You can interpret it any which way that you want but for me it has a very complex and personal, environmental meaning. In so far as we are all a part of the environment and if we don't make ourselves aware of the little parts that make up the whole we are effectively crucifying ourselves and everything else.

Exhibition of paintings in the Kennedy Gallery, Dublin

Hi
These are two of my paintings which are showing at the Kennedy Gallery, Dublin.

One is called, 'After the Hay' and is a painting in tempera and oil. It's a painting of fields in Brittany, after the Monks of Timadec have cut the long grass and bailed it. 80cm x 64cm

The other is a painting called 'Brittany fields' and is a similar view. It's also in tempera and oil. 80cm x 80cm


There is a vernissage/opening this evening (29th of November) at 7pm. The address is M. Kennedy & Sons Ltd, 12 Harcourt St, Dublin 2. You'll find the exhibition on the first floor. Enjoy the wine and cheese.

Tom

Art en Capital

The entrance.


Yong Man Kwon, from south Korea now living in the south of France.


View of Korean works and statues by Yvone Cleragerue.


I also visited Art en Capital yesterday. It took place in the Grand Palais des Champs Elysees, Paris.
This is an annual event. An exhibition of artists who are not represented by galleries and who live and work in the centre of Paris.
The first thing that strikes you is the enormous number of artists that are in Paris who are eager to exhibit but who are not represented. The exhibition had several hundred artists. It's very confusing to see this exhibition because there is no jury process and as such you have very good work placed beside not very good work. On the other hand, as the organisers say, the public decides what is good or not.

If you want to, you can reserve an entire 9m stand for your work which protects it from landing beside the work of someone that won't compliment it. It's a bit expensive but as there are thousands of art buyers attending the investment is a good one and great marketing. A lot better value than a particular, Irish art fair, at half the price.

There was some terrific work there. Particularly from visiting Asian artists. Their levels of skill and focus are impressive. In huge contrast with European artists there is an energy and daring in the work that is very strongly restrained. It feels like a wild horse that has been, barely tamed and is only holding itself back enough to perform for a particular moment. Unlike a lot of European art where the artists almost seem bored or going through the motions in their work.

The Asian artists have a lot of academic background and training yet they also have this fierce energy to get out there and express something bigger, better, brighter and stronger. Bursting out of the restraints of their academic training and using that famous focused intensity.

Icons

Yesterday, after setting up in the atelier in Bastile, I visited two exhibitions that I had been curious about. One was in Nation. An exhibition by an Icon Painter who studied in Greece. The exhibition took place in a small gallery on the second floor of the Centre Culturel Franco-Japonais, 8 Passage Turqueti, 75011 Paris. Metro -Nation. The artist is Dominique Groffe.

The artist has reproduced paintings of icons on wood using gold and tempera (egg). I'm interested in this because it's a subject that I'm studying at the moment. By doing the course you learn an enormous amount about the history of painting (as far back as the Egyptians) and you discover some of the most unlikely mediums with which you can paint and which last for thousands of years.

Although I like the artists ability to recreate the icons of past artists, I didn't see anything new being explored in the work. Creating an icon where the subject is religious is like a prayer for many people. A meditation and study of past works and as such gives a great deal of personal pleasure. The original images are full of hidden meanings as well and were not merely decorations. So that is also a study of history in itself.

It's fantastic to see this kind of work still being done. Otherwise it just disappears forever.

Site Update

Hi
My art website is updated. http://www.tjbyrne.com
It took 3 days non stop to do it. There is a lot of new work that needed to be edited and put online.
I'm using Freeway pro. A great piece of software that only works on a Mac and I'm doing it on my new,
tiny, easy to transport, 13" MacBook. It's surprisingly good but I'm still using my 17 inch laptop for the graphics
work as the MacBook doesn't have the neccesary graphics card to make it hum. I bought it mostly for easy
access to a wi-fi signal and it's lightness but I'm generally surprised by how powerful it is.

Have a look http://www.tjbyrne.com and let me know what you think.

Vernissage-Pre Ireland

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Well I'm heading off to Ireland next week and looking forward to meeting all the other artists at Art Ireland. It should be a great time, though I've no doubth, hard work. There won't be a chance for a vernissage or anything like that so we decided to have one here in our house before leaving France.

We needed a good excuse to clean up properly anyway. Things were a little dustier than expected but we managed to turn the house into a gallery for one evening. Have to say, that I'm really amazed and pleased by how many friends and neighbours turned up. It was a full house! Bursting at the seams! We had a great time and the preparation was well worth it. Terrible hangover the next morning. Must have been all the talking. Shouldn't talk and drink at the same time.

Anyway here are some photos. If you are coming to Art Ireland between November 16th-18th drop into stand Q2 and say hello.

Tom

FIAC 2007

This Year Fiac was hampered by the massive strike by the RATP. Despite this, FIAC was very well attended. All trains, metro, bus and RER were out on strike. There was literally no transport for either Thursday or Friday in or around Paris. Amazingly the Parisians didn't take offense despite the serious inconvenience. Instead they got onto their bikes, into their cars or put on their walking shoes and got on with it. There is an enormous amount of sympathy for the strikers and people believe that tolerating the events is for the greater good. Powerful attitude! The French are great at acting on principle or putting a concept before personal desires.

Art Fair time

All over Europe the art fairs are kicking in. If you were to go to all of them and have art in all of them you would have to be a prolific Octopus. Not likely! So you can visit them anyway. It's a lot of fun. In London there is the Frieze art fair. That can be a bit expensive to start collecting from but it's a great location to mix in the energy of the arts and meet galleries and artists. With the prices being limited only by your imagination.

But if you want to start somewhere more accessible there is the Affordable Art Fair which is on at the same time. You can artist spot at this event. Compare the prices of the artists work today and see how much you can guess they will be worth next year, or even if they will still be creating.

Usually it's easy enough to spot those that are in it for the long haul, or to put it more aptly, those that converse with the muse. My work is at the Arlev Art Gallery, Stand D4, Battersea Park, London. http://www.affordableartfair.co.uk/visitor.html

Here's a video of the Frieze fair. An insiders look at starting a collection of art.
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/video/2007/oct/12/frieze.collecting

In a couple of weeks the Fiac fair will be here in Paris and I'll do my own report on that here. Last year it was very intense. The crowds were impressive and some of the creations on show was really insightful and from time to time, eye popping.

There are alternative shows in Paris at the same time. Galleries that decided not to close up to do the show attract a lot of the overflow. The FIAC attracts collectors from all over the world who want to see Paris as well as the show so this is a very good place to expose your work.

On line programme-Ireland

Here's a great programme on Ireland that you can watch online. It discusses the changes coming to Ireland. It's a good show and a fair view on the state of play at the moment. I think that David McWilliams has some great points.

http://www.rte.ie/tv/thegenerationgame/prog1.html

Nuit Blanche

Last Saturday (6th October) night was Nuit Blanche in Paris. Everyone stays up all night and parties. That's the theory. This year it was a little different. This year France won against the all blacks in Cardiff, well done the French!!

I thought Parisians were pretty restrained. There was a little dancing in the streets and all the cars honked their horns. If the same thing happened in Ireland there wouldn't have been any sleep for a week.

So, normally Nuit Blanche is an artistic and cultural event that involves the museums staying open all night and much artistic performance in the streets and squares of the city. She has 20,000 artists to call upon for such events. This year the city's display was really exceptional. There was a lot to see and it would take many postings to describe everything. We had a good time. Great people and great art in a city that really gets into the groove of the theme.

Whats up?

It's been very busy here for the last few weeks. I'm writing this post to take time out of the things that need doing. I've also noticed that gardening recharges the creative batteries very well, to my surprise and delight.

So, why have I been so busy and what is busy.

I think that things have kicked in because the other big project has been properly completed and is now no longer at the front / back of my brain. We spent the summer enjoying where we are and also doing what had to be done before the new Montessori school year restarted but that wasn't a huge deal. Two weeks of repairs, carpentry and bits and bobs. It doesn't seem like the big stress thing that it used to be and it isn't. The parents and the children are happy and so is Amelie. She's even finally earning a salary. People never believe that you may not take a salary in your first year of starting a new business just to make sure the ship stays afloat but it's quiet common. So that's effectively done! The school is autonomous and a new generation of better educated children sallies forth.

Which leaves me mentally and emotionally free to create my own world and that's what's happening.
In the last few weeks lots of new opportunites have presented themselves and I've grasped the thistle, as they say.

During the summer I painted a lot. Experimenting in new methods, doing a lot of work out of doors from life, doing a lot of drawing in my atelier, with my wife as the model. Then the phone started ringing.

Can I represent you at the London Affordable Art fair this October?

Would you consider taking part in the Art Ireland Exhibition in November?

Would you like to be represented in a new gallery opening this December, in Williamsburg, New York?

Yes!

In short:

Thursday 18 - Sunday 21 October
My work on sale at the London Affordable Art Fair.
Arlev Art Gallery, Stand D4, Battersea Park, London. http://www.affordableartfair.co.uk/visitor.html

From the 16th - 18th November 07, My work will be at stand Q3 of the
Art Ireland Exhibition in the RDS, Dublin, Ireland.

In December my paintings will go on show in an, as yet, unnamed gallery in Williamshire, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

More coming soon.

Busy, means painting a lot and other creative endevours. I still have a lot of work to do before the exhibitions this year but the work is developing well and I'm happy with it. I'll post some of the recent paintings and perhaps a film of the painting process later.

The weather has improved here too, thank goodness.

The Cry of the Earth

Surrealism?

This image came to my mind several years ago and I made a drawing. It has continued to come to my mind as the terrible effects of man made climate change wreck havok on the world. The planet will survive ultimately but as it attempts to cleanse itself of the cause of the damage a lot of ecosystems and species will be destroyed.

Something to ponder.

Tempera and oils on board.

The end of the holidays

In Paris, each year during August everyone just disappears to the beaches and the countriside. At around the 20th of August the first wave return. It's an amazing thing to see. One day there is no one in the streets and the parks are empty and the next, the taxis are stretched to their limit and there are people appearing like magic.

This week was spent in a friends atelier in Place des Vosges. We worked together on our seperate projects and painted all day, every day. It was great and some good work came out of it for us both.

Here is a small one that I'm quiet pleased with. It's of a woman waiting on Pont des Arts. Her appointment hasn't arrived and she is the only one there. Done in Tempera and oils on wood.


Here's a link to photos of Pont Des Arts throught the years.

http://lefildutemps.free.fr/paris/pont_arts.htm

Portrait

It's been a while since I posted anything. There were a few distractions that, thankfully are now out of the way. I've been painting in my media of choice for the last few months and am pleased with the results. The more I get to know it the happier I am to have discovered it.

These are a couple of recent portraits. I'm not attempting to capture the reality of the person just the impression and according to the people I've painted so far, that's succeeded. In each case I've painted the person in one session using oils and tempra. The amount of tempra is very little. Most is in oils. It's very instinctive for me to work like this. A lot of good energy is created though it seems to be freaking out some of the other artists that I'm sharing the model with.

Got to be a good sign.

Narcissus Pickers

This painting is done in Oils and tempera on canvas.
It's for an exhibition in June.
Inspired by events in the south of france this spring.
It measures 150cm x 85cm

New Portrait

A portrait on canvas and painted in oils and tempera.

In the collection of Anne Frain.

More environment information

Here is a controvertial point of view on the current levels of Environmental Change.

http://www.aconvenientfiction.com

It's a reply to Al Gores film, An Inconvenient Truth.

I don't agree with a lot of what the A.C.F movie says but Al Gores film is really a political leverage campaign and as such is highly suspect.

The film linked above has a lot of very interesting information and counter balances a lot of the media promoted panic. Good to see the media reporting the issues of climate change but not good that everyone is getting so scared. I guess some people like to be scared though .^. ?

Personally I think it's time to panic and get off our asses but at the same time, if you are serious about making a change you should do it with a level head full of solid information rather than a one sided and fear based view.

Fresco

This is the current state of the Fresco. There is one more panel to complete.

Today I move it to the right and insert the other panel on the left. When that last panel is complete everything will be transfered to the apartment wall. It should look great when it's installed. Looks pretty goood here anyway and I'll miss it when it goes but I can always visit :)

March 31st, 2007

Hello
I get emails from people about this blog but no one posts comments. I don't mind but feel free to comment.

I've been busy in a good way. It's still pretty cold for Spring but there are good days too when the sun is glorious. The birds have the right idea though. They set up a right corus in the mornings and it's good to walk through the forest when they are singing and collecting for their nests. They seem to be having a great time while doing it.

I've been working on a fresco. It's very large and is being done on sheets of canvas which will be transfered to the clients wall when complete. It will consist of marble Portor pillars with Greek caps and gold edging. The landscape is fronted by a ballustrade and a path leading into a park. The person and her dog are the client and the photo here is the underpainting in preparation for the final colours. I'm doing it in oils on canvas in my studio.













Below:
The portrait below is done in tempera on board and is in the underpainting stage here. Initially working over green grey with white tempera for the tonal values in the painting. Once dry this will receive a series of transparent oil glazes to add colour & bring life. The light passes through the glazes and reflects off the underpainting. It's a beautiful and mysterious way of working and you can concentrate on the values seperate to the colour. So you have the chance to create a much richer and harmonious painting. It takes longer of course :) C'est la vie.




















I've also been doing a lot of drawings lately but don't have them scanned in. Happy with them though. Especially the very fast ones. You can create dozens or even hundreds of drawings over a period of months but it's rare to find one that will stand on it's own as a proper piece of work. This doesn't have to be particularly finished or shaded or 'worked up' in any sense. It has to have a sense of harmony and sometimes you will get a series of these all at the same time. It's rare though. I got a series of these last week which I'm pleased with.

So if you see a drawing with no real detail but which just sings to you. Don't dismiss it as not being a 'finished' or as an 'uncoloured' piece of work. It's the result of a lot of work which led up to that moment. Sometimes the result of years and years of work. All of it coming out in a moment and appearing on the paper like a piece of magic. Preserved like a butterfly pinned to a board. Don't pin butterflys to boards. Drawings are much more earth friendly.

Pride and Driving

I'm a grown adult. 40 years of age and I can proudly state that I have done my best to not damage the environment through use of a car in my life. Till yesterday. I took my first driving lesson with my wife beside me giving me directions on how the car works. It was remarkably easy and we didn't almost kill anything.

So why now? I live in the countryside outside of Paris and often have to nip into the city with work or to colect materials. Large paintings or even a series of large paintings under the arm are not a great idea on the train especially during rush hour.

So what now? Am I going to pollute, pollute, pollute in the name of art? I don't think so!

Trips in the car will be rare. I still don't like cars much, or at all really. As well as that, in April we are visiting a company in Lyon who manufacture a car that runs on air. Yes! Air!

It's been in production for a while and was first shown at the Paris car show in 2002. It was a bit of a put...put...put machine back then but aparently, has improved a lot. If it hasn't we won't go near it.

It goes 200K on compressed air and after that the fuel kicks in, which is vegatable oil, diesel or petrol. Someones got to try them out!

You can be sure that if it's good I'll post more info here about it. I reckon the hydro car is going to cost a fortune initially so while that's getting over itself we'll drive this and keep things clean.

That or stick to the diesl that we have at the moment.

March-portrait and landscape.

There's a lot happening at the moment. I'm working on a large painting for a client in Paris. It's very large so I have to do it on several sheets of canvas and then join them together. More on that later, when it's finished perhaps.

In the meantime I've done a nice portrait and a desert landscape.

The landscape is a wedding gift, from the bride to the groom. A nice idea. He spent some time in the desert and loved it so much that he speaks about it quiet often. This took over a week to complete. It's a large canvas. Not done from life unfortunately.



















The other is a portrait of a young girl. She has a rich dark brown skin, like a chestnut just out of it's shell. It shines in the softest of sunshine. She has modeled for six hours for this portrait. It requires a little more work and I'm looking forward to finishing it.

The landscape is done in traditional oils and the portrait is done in tempera.

Saraha 2

I painted this desert scene in June of last year. It happened quiet quickly and I was pleased with it. In October I looked at it again and realised that it was a little flat looking. This is often the case after some time has passed.

So I did a little more work on it.
Because I found a buyer and wanted a record of it I made a scan. Only yesterday I had the chance to see the two side by side.
It's amazing to see the two together and how much more dimension the new version has. It's good to leave a painting to sit for a while and let the painter mature a little.

Climate Change

PARIS, Feb. 2 — In a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet, the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is “unequivocal” and that human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.

Please read here.

Life drawing

It's taken a while to find a location for life drawing. There are some famous drawing groups in Paris but they tend to be very full of people so it's not so interesting. Recently I was invited to join a small group of artists at an atelier. There are four of us once a week and the space is good and big. Nice energy there and big windows with good light. The model is excellent.
Here are some drawings from the last session. Each took about 20 minutes.




This is the atelier. Nice big windows. Nice light.

Environmental concerns? Find out more.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

This video is vital information on the future of the planet.

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2006 was a very good Christmas.
We spent it with Amelies parents in the south of France. It was good for many reasons but mostly because nither of us worked during the time and I could communicate well in French with family and friends who didn't speak English. On previous visits I needed to have an interpretator or to stumble through conversation. Finally I feel like I am in France.

The weather was uncommonly mild. The mistral didn't blow in from the Mediterranean and there was no snow. I could walk in teeshirt and jeans without worrying about the cold. I'm very warm blooded most of the time so that's not so unusual. However I saw some flys and
other surprising out of season elements.

It was very beautiful. We went hill walking and visited some of the mountain fortresses from Pre Roman times.

There was the usual amazing feasts which only the french can do. Eating for six hours straight and looking like you've just finished a salad is no longer a surprise to me. I can't do it though.

They tell me that they only eat soup for weeks after these events to get back into shape. Wine and dark chocolate are part of this diet. It's remarkable to me. Irish people don't think about food the way the french do at all.

There was lots of inspiration there. Beautiful light and amazing architecture. The landscape is wonderful. Many paintings and drawings will come from this.