Teaching art in October

I'll be teaching art to adults in a private school, in Bastille, from October. It's in a building designed by Gustave Eiffel. There is fantastic light. A good ambiance and plenty of space.

Here's the poster and if you would like to sign up, send me your details by email. tj@tjbyrne.com with the subject marked, October art school.

There will be no messages taken at the phone number until September.

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.

Teaching street sketching

Yesterday was the second day that I've taught street sketching and it was great. In the morning, the weather was extremely dramatic, so we were very lucky to have clear skies and brilliant views for the afternoon.

I taught a range of things, from perspective drawing to tonal perspective to blind drawing. They were just introductions of course but everyone got the basics and their drawing method changed. I was amazed by the leap forward that most of them made. Even more amazed that they didn't always recognise the progress themselves :)


Here's a building we drew where everyone is looking for perspective but in a very different way to the method of using vanishing points etc.


Basic explanation of perspective drawing. Horizon line and vanishing point. The simplicity of this seemed to amaze everyone and everyone got it. One person did a cats eye view of the scene. Their perspective was very different to everyone elses but just as accurate.


Perspective created by tonal values rather than line.


Perspective in a cafe. Exactly the same thing happens here as in the other drawings. The horizon line and vanishing point are just guides and there is nothing technical in the process of the drawing.


After the class, I unwound in le Baron Rouge, sketching the people there.

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.

Proménade Plante

Yesterday I was teaching techniques of drawing & perspective to artists on the Proménade Plante in Paris. It was a great day and thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks to those that attended the sessions.

Picnic weekend

Here are a few sketches from the walk, along the Marne, last Saturday. We had a pretty nice day. Enjoyed a great picnic, talked a lot, walked a lot and saw a lot of new things.

Thanks to everyone who came. I didn't have my camera with me unfortunately.

We did more walking than drawing but it was really good. Nice picnic and great company. Most of our drawing was done along the Marne, near the chocolate factory.

There is another sketch from Sunday (the top one) at the Parc des Buttes. It was another picnic but this one was a birthday celebration.

Walking and drawing-the forest and Village of Noisiel

To take advantage of the good weather this weekend. Get some exercise. Do some drawing. Have a picnic and see some sights.

This Saturday, 2nd of June I'm inviting a few artist friends (10 in all) to go walking and picnicing outside of Paris, to end with a cinema in plein air.

16h - Meet at Noisiel train station, RER(A) line from Paris.

16h.15 - We walk through the forest (see Google map)
 
17h - We arrive at cemetery beside park with nice views and a lake. Here we draw for a half hour or have picnic.

17h.30 - We walk towards chocolate factory. (Beautiful old building with amazing history) on an island in a river (see map). Draw the building, the village or the river. More picnic perhaps.

19h - Walk along river and find other spots to draw. There is a lake. The village. Chateau, etc.

22h.30 - The Cinema in plein air. It's a bit late but the cinema is right beside the train station so getting back is no problem. The film is the premier of Habemus Papam. 

This is really a walk with art opportunities thrown in.

 

Lunar Eclipse - Paris Picnic

This Wednesday, June 15th, Captain Bob is organising a Lunar Eclipse-picnic on the Pont des Arts.

The pont Des arts is between the Louvre museum & the bibliotheque Mazarine.

Some friends will meet there at 9pm. The moon will be in Total Eclipse when it rises around 10:10 pm. It will start to rise as an ominous dark red. The eclipse will move from Total Eclipse to Partial Eclipse at 11 pm and from Partial Eclipse to Penumbral Eclipse at midnight. Basically the moon will start off dark red and become lighter and brighter as it rises in the sky.
Things to know

WHAT: Everyone brings food and drinks to share.

WHERE: Pont des Arts in the center of Paris. We'll gather around a bench between the middle of the bridge and the Left Bank side. Nearest metros: Pont Neuf and Louvre-Rivoli.

WHEN: Wednesday June 15, 9:00 PM - 12 midnight

WHY: Share one of the most memorable sights in Paris with some of the nicest people around.

WHO: You and your friends.

HOW to find us: Keep your eyes out for a small white telescope on tripod if the sky is clear. Check in by cell phone if you can't find us: 0614 17 37 97.
There's a THEME: Strawberries and Roses and Katherine Converse's 70th birthday!!!


PUZZLER: Why does lunar eclipse last so much longer than a solar eclipse?
ANSWER: Because the earth is much bigger than the moon so it casts a larger shadow that takes the moon 100 minutes to pass through, while the moon's shadow on the earth is tiny and only covers a given location for a few minutes.

RSVP:
Please send email if you're planning to join the picnic.
CONTACT ADDRESS: Send your RSVP to Captain Bob.
If you get an AOL error message from bobmohl2@aol.com, send mail to bobmohl@gmail.com

Parc Monceau and Starbucks

I've started sketching Paris people again & stretching myself, drawing more landscapes too. It's a lovely city to be doing that kind of thing in, when the sun shines. Thanks to Paris Sketchers, a group of artists who draw together or more often inspire one another, to go out and draw the streets of Paris.

The girls were in Starbucks on the Boulevard des Capucines, where I enjoyed a hot chocolate yesterday. The other is in the parc Monceau. A lovely garden, hidden away off boulevard Haussemann. Here's a link to some information about the park.

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.

Stages of the portrait

I'm painting using a very old method here. The portrait started with a Grisalle (black and white) using acrylic rather than oils to make the process move faster. You can paint in an almost photographic manner in black and white. That wasn't my intention here.



The next step is to apply the oils with a layer of sepia colour over the black and white work. I chose umber mixed with ochre jaune and a touch of cadmium red. It was a dominant tone in the composition and worked with the skin colours. As soon as the sepia is added the painting begins to look alive. The colour and the values of the black and white work make it look very dynamic. It's an illusion that only the artist will experience because of the amount of time they spend in front of the work. There is a lot more to do.



Straight away I began working in the background colour which effects how you see everything. Then the highlights in the skin are particularly important. The mid tones are basicly the sepia. Using cadmium rouge and blue with a touch of cadmium yellow for the cheeks and shadow areas (a touch more blue there). The griselle still shows through and gives all the colours a value and the shapes a dimension.



A few days later and many layers of colour have begun to add up to the completed painting. I corrected a few elements in the composition. The underpainting seems to have completely disappeared but if you look closely you can see areas where the colour receives it's value from the work beneath.



A close up of the portrait. The sunlight makes the wet paint reflective so it's not exactly as you see it here. It will be a few weeks before it is completly dry.

Latest portrait

I'll be posting more information about this painting and the stages involved in creating it. It's a commission for a family in Paris.

Back from Ireland

Hi
I just got back from Ireland yesterday. It was a nice few days visiting some of my family and seeing Dublin. I think my wife is happiest there but she couldn't come with me this time. I also visited the GOAL ball, charity event in the Burlington hotel, where I donated a piece of art for public auction.

So I've finished up the the ile Saint Louis gallery and am back to doing my own paintings, thank goodness. It's been a while and I've been missing it very much. The gallery experience was very good for learning about marketing and the hard work that goes into promotion and setting up shows. There's a lot to any business involved in the arts, when it is done well but this was particularly demanding as I was doing everything myself.

It's very good to be out of there now and planning my own working exhibitions and events. I'm still working with other artists and promoting people that I believe in.

I'm organising drawing with the human model in a large atelier in the 6th of Paris and that is proving popular with very interesting and intelligent people attending. It averages between 16 and 26 people per session. The models are fantastic. Super professional.

There's information about that here on my site:
http://www.tjbyrne.com/newslettersubscr.html

If you are interested and have any questions, feel free to post them here.

Des Femmes - Exposition & Vernissage

Laura Stevens is an English artist and photographer. She lives in Paris but travels all over the world on photographic assignments.


Laurence Dugas-Fermon. A french actress, model and photographic artist whose images are simply breathtaking.


Julie Coustarot, an employee of the "Maison Europeene de la photographie" in Paris. She studied 'history of art', then gained a degree in photography in Lyon.

The next exhibition promises to be very impressive. It's next Tuesday 3rd of May in Paris. There are 3 artists, two French and one English, all women, they bring their considerable creative talents together for the first time in the Greenlane Gallery. It seems to me that their art communicates poetic, romantic, dark & mysterious aspects of the human spirit.
Their exhibition consists of photography and video installations.
It's titled "Des Femmes" and runs from the 2nd to the 8th May.

The vernissage/opening is on Tuesday, 3rd of May. 18.30h - 20h

I'll introduce you if you turn up.

The address is, the Greenlane Gallery, Paris.
29 rue des deux ponts, ile Saint Louis, 75004, Paris, France

Metro: Pont Marie / Saint-Paul

Recent portrait

During the renovations it's been a breath of fresh air to have the gallery closed for the last couple of weeks.

The creative juices are flowing and I'm focused on my own work. I'm organising life drawing in a much larger venue and considering teaching painting and drawing methods.

Here's a commission I had this week. It's a spiritual guru from the USA and apparently this will be presented to him this coming Thursday 24th of March.



I had only a week to do it so I worked in a new medium which replaces acrylic. It's slower drying, made from soja, so there is no petroleum base. Naturally I was working from a photo so it's the way he appears there and I don't know the man. The colour and the energy of the piece are pretty good and I think he'll be happy with it. I do like it. The original has a nice glow and the colours are spectacular. Impossible to capture in a photo.

It always blows me away after I've completed a portrait. The fact that he's a spiritual person made a difference to the way I painted him.

Joined at the hip

I was playing around with some drawings and came up with this.
It's just interesting, n'est pas?
They are two seperate drawings done at the same time, of the same model.
& they join one another perfectly in terms of perspective etc.

Salon du Dessin, Paris 2011

Interested in drawing as an art form?

There is a salon of drawings in Paris from March 30th. It's a big exhibition with a lot of art collectors, galleries and dealers attending.

If you would like to join me and a group of other artists and collectors, just send me an email and I'll add you to the mailing list with all the details of time and place.

email: tj@tjbyrne.com

Or you can just go on your own. Here's the website of the Salon.
http://www.salondudessin.com

New Venue-Life Drawing in Paris 2011

I've been hosting life drawing on the ile saint Louis, 75004 Paris for more than a year and have a very loyal and talented group of artists who draw the model with me but the space we've been using is too small to continue there.

So it's time to bite the bullet and move to a larger venue.

The new location is in the 6eme of Paris, near the Pont Alexandre III. It's in a very large artists atelier which is owned by a friend of mine.

The model this week is excellent, Laurence, a female model that I've worked with many times before. The sessions are each friday, from 2pm - 5pm.

To be included with those, invited to attend, please sign up to the life drawing newsletter. You'll receive an invite, once a week, with all the details, including which model, price and what equipment etc.

This is the new venue.

See you there :)

Paris 75006

Snobbery, my subconscious says............

Good morning, I woke up with this thought and unless I write it down, I'll toss and turn all night. So I apologise in advance for inflicting it upon you. If you think that you suffer from snobbery, this may offend your sensibilities and I request that you turn back now and read no more.


My subconscious says:

Snobbery is born of: Ignorance, ineptitude & isolation.

i.i.i

Ignorance of the people or philosophy which is disdained.

Ineptitude towards the culture.

Isolation from the culture.

In effect a snobbish person is a crippled person, incapable of making contact with others on a purely human level. It is born of isolation, often from birth, by cultural norms which make no reference to the root causes of the norms.

So their point of reference becomes narrow in certain areas. Their brains never have the opportunity to fully develop reference points for certain actions and motivations, which are normal in a human being.

Their behaviour becomes modeled by the mature cultural structures which already exist within their artificial peer group. Like a crutch.

Imagine a child which never plays with other children but who is surrounded by adults.

With no reference to the root motivations which the adult culture is based upon, the person simply follows the preexisting rules and finds it difficult to step outside of the social bounderies within which they are constrained, because they do not have the points of reference necessary, emotionally/mentally/at a primitive level.

Points of reference which the brain requires, in order to fully develope. Hence, they are crippled, unless they can acquire the mental reference points, born of experience. This may be done through imaginatively reliving an experience. Such as reimagining their childhood while in a deeply suggestive mental state, or spending a lot of time with young children of a dramatically different culture.

"Dignité" at l'hotel de Ville de Paris

The vernissage of "Dignité" at l'hotel de Ville de Paris. These rooms are only used on special occassions and they are incredibly beautiful.

The exhibition is well worth visiting. Take your time, read the descriptions, put them in context and put yourself in the place of the people there.

The exhibition of photos runs until the 3rd of July.



Another view of the impressive architecture & decoration.
The walls are covered in magnificent paintings.

The artist who invited me, Guillaume Herbaut. His subject was Mexico. Shocking what is happening there. He risks his life to get the stories and photos. Some of the people he has interviewed made great sacrifices to communicate with us, to anyone outside of their environment.

Lack of education is one of the biggest hurdles there.