Short Drawing Poses on the 30th of January, Florence Italy

Hi
This was a good week of drawing and some lovely pieces were produced at both the short and long drawing events. The long pose is turning into a painting group with several people doing watercolour studies. Our male model on Wednesday was pretty good, a young David and he will pose for us again this coming Monday evening on the 30th of January. Mondays are for short poses.
This Monday 30th of January, the male model will pose for: 1, 2, 5, 10, 15 minutes & finishes with 2 x 25 minute poses. This would be a good time to bring your more expressive drawing media with you. Suggested donation: €10 cash or more. Tips for the model gratefully accepted.
From 7 - 9pm.
Address: Lungarno Guicciardini, 15, 50125 Firenze.

There is no long pose this week.

See you there.
Tom

One year of Life Drawing in Florence, Italy

 

The first year of Florence's Social Life Drawing has been a real success. Thanks to everyone who participates. We are fortunate to have the help of two art patrons and wonderful attendees in this process. A central, warm location great lighting. Decent heating, comfortable seating and the props necessary for good poses. Thank you, to the British Institute and to John Hoenig for the support in growing this creative community.

 

 

 

You can find us at Lungarno Guicciardini, 15, 50125 Firenze. Ground floor entrance. 

 

The life drawing group is not a school and there are no lessons involved. So no systems or styles of drawing are imposed. Each person does their own thing and if they are so inclined, encourages others to understand why they are drawing in a particular manner. So there is a lot of friendly discussion, banter and debate about the drawings & sketches we produce. Some participants are academically trained and just want to keep up their practice with a convenient model in a social setting while others are exploring the process of creating. At the end of the sessions people share a glass of wine together and cluster, sometimes to look at each others work or just to chat.
 

There are some great people who attend and then there’s me, notoriously grumpy and keeping to myself as I limp my way around the studio. Despite that I do enjoy the company of almost everyone. It’s a challenge to get people to come out of their comfort zones so I don’t try. Everyone is free to just evolve or not, as they wish. 

There is no overall purpose to these drawing events but they are an opportunity to download stuff from the back of the brain and make marks on paper without an obligation to conform. So professionals and experimenters can mix easily.

                                                         

There are two regular evenings.

Monday, every week:
The Monday evenings are every week from 7-9pm and consists of short poses. The short poses begin with a series of 1 minute poses followed by longer and longer ones, eventually working up to 2 x 25 minutes at the end. Some really dynamic pieces have come out of this and there’s a nice energy created in the process.

Drawing by Nele Sadlo

Drawing by Jan Frankin

Wednesday, 1st and 3rd week of each month:
There is also a Wednesday evening event of long poses. This is twice per month and is for people who are more focused, drawing the model in just one position for 2 hours. Both events are brilliant and the long poses give people the opportunity to study things like the portrait, hands, feet or overall posture.

Drawing by Tom J. Byrne

       Drawing by Paul Martini

Both events have a suggested donation of €10, or more if you like and we encourage people to leave a tip for the hard working model, depending on how happy you are with the poses. Materials are not included, so bring along your favorite papers and drawing materials. There are some easels for those who want them.

Our models are both male and female and are professional. Many work for the various art schools in Florence. I’ve been inviting mostly female models because they are easier to find but after many requests I’ll be including more, reliable male models too. 

Drawing by Nele Sadlo

Drawing by Diane Sugalski

Plein Air Landscape in oil, T.J. Byrne

Drawing by Tom J. Byrne

I teach figure drawing and landscape painting with the Florence Studio but there are no lessons in the Monday or Wednesday workshops. You can check out the Florence Studio here. https://theflorencestudio.com/landscape-classes

 

 

Paris model vivant

Tomorrow evening (Sunday 14th of August) there is a session of life drawing in Paris 4éme with one of the cities best male life drawing models.

Bertrand will pose from 5pm-8pm. There's a good group already booked but we have room for a couple of others.

This Sunday the times are different to accomodate the model who is coming directly from his holidays to model for us. It means that Sunday is not a broken day for most of us and gives more time earlier in the day.
   
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.
 
Tom

Back to life drawing

There is life drawing in a Paris apartment for the next month. Today was the first session and there will be two per week from the second week of August. Our thanks go to our hostess who so kindly invited us to draw in her home.

The location is right beside Saint Paul, so easy to get to and the light is very good, with large floor to ceiling windows.
Our model, as ever, was excellent and everyone worked to their own particular standard and level of interest. It ended in a very good ambiance. Everyone who booked for the session turned up, so thanks very much to everyone for that.

I can't resist posting a photo of some of them at work. It's a low res picture, so only the artists will recognise themselves.

Some sketches from today.

Alps 2011

Yesterday, we returned from a week in the Alps. They are known for snow and sking and very few people go there in the spring and summer. So it's very peaceful.

It's active with hikers walking up mountains and cyclists emulating the heros of the tour de France. So most are very peaceful sorts seeking the solitude and fresh air of the countryside

It's a very spectacular place with amazing things to see and do. The people are especially friendly. It's an ideal for artists, with amazing views, powerful energies, tall peaks, rivers and grazing land full of goats and cattle. The architecture is very fine too. I would have liked to spend more time drawing and painting. It would be worth it. Next time.

Here are some drawings from the trip.



Some rocks in the river which runs through Allemonte.


A view from the river to the opposite bank.


A study of water around a rock.



A sketch of my wife.


A study of some flower petals.

Recent drawings on the metro

I've been doing a lot of metro journeys and rather than read I've been drawing. It really gives a lot of people pleasure to see me drawing on the train. I'm amazed by how friendly they get when they spot what I'm doing.

Sometimes the subject notices I'm doing their portrait but generally not. Other times people have mistakenly assumed I was drawing them, when in fact I was drawing the person beside or behind them. It's surprising how often they would like to see what I've done. Children are particularly interested.

Women are funny though. There have been a few times when I've been doing their portraits and either they have asked for my card or they have simply passed me their phone number. Hilarious when that happens because I'm not the most attractive of guys, especially by Parisian standards. None the less I take it as a compliment and always pass it to the bloke that looks like he needs it the most. I'm married :)

Here are a few of the recent sketches from November and December 09. I get about 3 minutes or perhaps a little longer to draw these so there's nothing too finished.