PJ Interviewed by Dr Pat Donlon, at the NLI

A few years ago the National Library of Ireland and Children's Books Ireland co-hosted an event in which I was interviewed by my dear friend and famous bibliophile, Dr Pat Donlon.
Pat was formerly the director of the NLI, and it was she who arranged for the Library to acquire a large collection of my original illustrations way back in 1994.
The interview has recently gone on-line and can be viewed, along with a great selection of other interviews, at this link.
It's always a happy occasion chatting about books with Pat.

A Watercolour Life Study

Here's a watercolour I did from life at the UAC life room.
It was a twenty five minute pose and I would have loved more time on it, but, looking at it now, I like that sketchy spontaneity that having to work fast gives you.

"Fables and Fairy Tales in Irish Art" at the National Gallery of Ireland

The Study Morning on "Fables and Fairy Tales in Irish Art" at the National Gallery went really well.
It was a treat to spend a few hours discussing artists and writers who have fascinated me for so many years in the company of such experts as Dr Nicola Gordon Bowe, Dr. Jarlath Killeen, Dr. Roisin Kennedy, and Professor Kevin Whelan.
Many thanks to Dr Marie Bourke of the NGI for arranging such a great event and for inviting me to be part of the programme.


I used this picture "The Castle" in my presentation to show how a youngster can get totally lost in the fantasy world he might discover in a book.

"Illustrating the Fantastic in Life and in Art"

I always liked that image in the previous post, but felt that the grimness of the Spirit was compromised by the cheery household scene that I had to show behind him.
Anyway I couldn't resist tweaking it while I had the image in Photoshop.
As happens so often, simplifying the picture seems to improve it a great deal.

I will be talking about "Illustrating the Fantastic in Life and in Art" at the National Gallery of Ireland on Saturday as part of the Study Morning on Fables and Fairy Tales in Irish Art.
I might well use this picture as a darker example of my work.

"Two Centuries After"

If you are in Bologna this week at the international Book Fair, you might consider visiting the Dickens exhibition, "Two Centuries After", at the beautiful Palazzo Saraceni in the center of the city.
The exhibition is organized by Cooperativa Culturale Giannino Stoppani for BolognaFiere.
I have five pictures in the group show, including a few of the grimmer pictures from A Christmas Carol that I haven't exhibited before.

St Patrick's Day Parade 2012

My studio is in a great position in the centre of Dublin, and it's really useful when it comes to watching the annual St Patrick's Day Parade.
Many congratulations to the organizers and participants for putting on another wonderful show.

Two Hour Colour Study

Back to the painting.
This is a two hour study I did of Joanna yesterday.

Life Drawing of Laurie

Here's a sketch I did of Laurie a while ago as a change from all the life painting I have been doing.
I used a charcoal ground and worked into it with graphite pencils and added chalk highlights.
It has a nice sketchy quality about it.

Life Study of Molly

Molly is another new model for our life drawing group.
I spent four hours painting her yesterday.
This series shows the process.









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Watercolour of Dora

I rarely paint watercolours from life apart from the occasional still life, so it was unusual for me to tackle the subject of Dora, a neighbour's cat.
She was having a snooze in our garden and I got five or ten minutes before she moved.
It was nice to do something so quick and loose.

Telling Tall & Tiny Tales

I was delighted to find that I still have a few originals from Oscar Wilde: Stories for Children.
This one of the Selfish Giant will be exhibited in the Ark, Dublin's Cultural Centre for Children, in a show called Telling Tall & Tiny Tales .
It will run from the 4th - 30th April.