Life Drawing - Launching a new location in Florence Italy

On March 5th 2020, thanks to the British Institute of Florence, a new life drawing location is opening. It's a place where people who are passionate about drawing the human figure can come together every Thursday as a community and draw. We have fantastic models and a great location. A very supportive management team and it's right in the middle of Florence, alongside the Arno, near ponte Santa Trinita.     


 
Beginning at 6.30pm and we will draw for 2 hours. Each Thursday evening is very low cost and we include a glass of wine for participants. All levels are welcome. We also use a new method of rewarding the model for the pose. The donation method is a more dynamic way of rewarding these very professional people and I hope it motivates the very best to model for us.

The new location is Lungarno Guicciardini, 15, 50125 Firenze FI, Italia

€6, glass of wine, donation to the model.
6.30pm - 8.30pm Short and longer poses.

The difference between a 15 minute sketch & a 2 hour drawing is similar to the difference between a 2 hour drawing & a 15 hour drawing. These are drawn in Florence in February 2020.

Life Drawing-August 21st

Tomorrow evening (Sunday 21st of August) there is a session of life drawing in Paris 3éme.
Emily will pose from 2pm-5pm.

We can take 15 people comfortably. The apartment is a very comfortable and elegant space but there are limited seating arangements so if you have a folding chair, please bring it.

Please, RSVP 'only' if you are certain to attend.

email: tj@tjbyrne.com

The door code will be provided,
after you RSVP.

When: 3rd session -
14th August 5-8pm.

Where:
9 Rue du Prevot, 75004 Paris.
The apartment is on the second floor, at the corner of Rue St Antoine, right opposite the exit for metro St. Paul. Press the bell marked 'Runciman'.

Come early, to be sure to be on time. Please RSVP.

Bring your own drawing materials and if you have one - a folding seat. Watercolours are fine but be prepared to leave things neatly after you. No spray fixative inside the apartment, thank you.

Cost: Shared cost of the model (60 for 3 hours divided by the number of artists) plus EU10 donation for the facilities.

The maximum cost will be EU15 per person.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Some recent drawings

These drawings were done in the last couple of weeks. I'll be posting more later. They are on cartridge paper, 180g, using pencil or compressed charcoal. All were done in Paris, in the apartment at 9 rue du Prevot, 75003.

Thanks to the models. They have been great and to the other people who attended the model vivant sessions because they make the ambiance of creation.

Water from a vase - March 31

Last evening I was invited to a private drawing session with a small group of french artists in Paris. That's really nice. It's rare to get an invite like that.

This is the last drawing I produced from the 2 hour session. So what's so special about this? The drawing was done in 20 minutes and the models, particularly Bertrand, had to hold the same very challenging position for that period, without moving. Bravo the models!

The other thing, is the line quality. I've always felt that there is no real limit to the amount we can do and see in a short period of time but everyone seems to work from the basis of low expectations. There was an artist there encouraging everyone, making comments on work etc. He wasn't a teacher. He was saying that the arm knows what to draw and just to move the entire thing and the drawing will just come out. I agree with that, though I don't think it's easy to comprehend with the logical mind and it requires a certain amount of surrender to achieve.

The mind comprehends a great deal very quickly and it's only when we really try to analyse too much that it slows down. It's perfectly capable of communicating from eye to hand without any need for understanding, experience with perspective, internal narrative etc. In fact the stiller the mind the better the process. It pours out of the hand like water from a vase.

Some of my earliest drawings, from the age of 11, were like this. They shocked me at the time and I tried and tried to be like that all the time but it took me years of hard work and learning to realise that all the knowledge and experience, might just, be getting in the way.

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.