Wishing You All A Very Happy Christmas

It's that time of year again so a nice seasonal image for you. 

It's the cover art from my version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Wishing a very Happy Christmas to all my readers!

"The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey" Twentieth Anniversary Edition

It's hard to believe that The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, written by  Susan Wojciechowski, and illustrated by me, is twenty years old.

It has been hugely successful selling more than a million copies in the US alone and has been translated into many different languages. 

The audiobook read by James Earl Jones was nominated for a grammy and there were stage versions and musicals were also created.

In 2007 a movie version was made starring Tom Berenger, Joely Richardson and n one of her earliest roles, Saoirse Ronan.

The book won numerous awards for Susan and for me, including the Kate Greenaway Medal, the Christopher Award and the Bisto Irish Book of the Year Award.

Below you can see some of the different incarnations of The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.

 

And here is the latest!

I'm really delighted with the new large format edition which celebrates our twentieth anniversary.

Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men

The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer.

If you are in the Dublin area over the Christmas period pop down to Dun Laoghaire's beautiful new LexIcon library to see my exhibition, "Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men"

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. 

The exhibition runs until 30th January.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

Exhibition: 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men' curated by PJ Lynch

On Friday 20th November 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men', an exhibition featuring the work of award-winning Irish artist PJ Lynch, will be launched at 6.30pm in dlr LexIcon, Level 3.
The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. P.J. Lynch has worked as a children's book illustrator since leaving Brighton College of Art in England in 1984.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

Exhibition: 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men' curated by PJ Lynch

On Friday 20th November 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men', an exhibition featuring the work of award-winning Irish artist PJ Lynch, will be launched at 6.30pm in dlr LexIcon, Level 3.
The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. P.J. Lynch has worked as a children's book illustrator since leaving Brighton College of Art in England in 1984.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

Exhibition: 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men' curated by PJ Lynch

On Friday 20th November 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men', an exhibition featuring the work of award-winning Irish artist PJ Lynch, will be launched at 6.30pm in dlr LexIcon, Level 3.
The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. P.J. Lynch has worked as a children's book illustrator since leaving Brighton College of Art in England in 1984.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

Two Books Shortlisted in The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards

I am thrilled to have two books shortlisted for the The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards.
The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, is shortlisted in the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Junior and Eoin Colfer's super compilation, Once Upon A Place, for which I supplied the illustrations, is up for the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior 
I would really appreciate you votes in both categories.

Click on the link below to vote.
It only takes a minute and you might win 100EUR of Book Tokens.
http://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote2015http://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote2015

PJ Lynch "Across the Atlantic Tour"

At the beginning of November in 1620, the Mayflower and her passengers were nearing the end of their gruelling voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. It took them 66 days.

This weekend I'll be going the easy way, by plane, and it shouldn't take much more than 7 hours. 

What a difference 395 years makes!

The lovely people at Candlewick Press will be bringing me around New England to talk about The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland's Good Fortune. I love the cool name they have for my tour!

I will be visiting a lot of schools but there will be bookstore appearances and public events as well;

On Sunday morning Nov 8th, I will be at Plimoth Plantation, that wonderful living history museum that was such an inspiration to me in the making of my book.

Nov 9th and 10th there will be various events at Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, NH. 

See their website for details.

On Nov 11th at 7pm I will be doing a public event at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

And just before I return home I will be appearing on the 14th Nov I will be at the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair at Storrs, CT.

Adventures in Charcoal: P.J. Lynch's Once Upon a Place Illustrations

There is a nice piece about my work on Once Upon A Place by Jenny Duffy in The Looking Glass Magazine.

The Very Grand Launch of "Once Upon A Place"

It has been a busy few days leading up to the publication of "Once Upon A Place" compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer.

The anthology was well and truly launched on Monday night in the very grand setting of Dublin's Iveagh House. 

At one point our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, kindly joined Eoin and me for a chat about the book.

It was a lovely occasion, and it was so great to meet with so many of the writers who contributed to the anthology. 

Many thanks to everyone at Children's Books Ireland, Gráinne and Siobhán at Little Island, Nessa and all at the office of Laureate na nOg, and of course my buddy Eoin for inviting me to be a part of this amazing project, and for making the night such a success.

Earlier in the day Eoin and I had a lot of fun at Archbishop Marsh's Library with young people from North Dublin Muslim School, and we also put in an appearance on Swipe TV with Clare and Simon.

"Patrick and the President "

I have been working away on a very lovely story by Ryan Tubridy about President Kennedy's visit to Ireland in the summer of 1963.  

It is called "Patrick and the President"  and will be published next October.

Here's the press release which has just gone out.

The Walker Books Group is delighted to announce the world-rights acquisition of a captivating picture book about President John F. Kennedy’s return to his ancestral home in Ireland in 1963.

Written by Ryan Tubridy, Ireland’s foremost radio and television broadcaster and host of Ireland’s premier Friday night chat show The Late, Late Show, and illustrated by Kate Greenaway Medal-winner P.J. Lynch, Patrick and the President beautifully evokes a seminal moment in Ireland’s history through the eyes of a young boy. 

When President John F. Kennedy returned to Ireland in 1963 and visited his ancestral home, Dunganstown, he described the trip as the best four days of his life. For a generation of people of Ireland it was a visit with lasting impact, and many homes still display their JFK memorabilia with pride. In this warmly told, big-hearted picture book, Ryan captures the feverish excitement in the build-up to JFK’s visit and the emotional investment from both parties – all evoked through the eyes of a young boy called Patrick who wants to know, more than anything, what it would feel like to shake the President’s hand.

Firmly rooted in historical fact, this feast of a book offers readers a very pure, and personal, take on JFK’s visit to County Wexford. P.J Lynch’s masterful watercolour paintings are brimming over with the style and sensibility of 1960’s Ireland and bring vividly to life the character of Patrick, his family, his school mates and, of course, this charismatic world leader – President John F. Kennedy.

“John F. Kennedy’s visit in 1963 was such a significant moment in Ireland’s history and culture,” says Deirdre McDermott, Walker Books picture book publisher. “It struck a deep emotional chord with many Irish people. It feels to us that this story – Patrick’s story – was one that Ryan was always meant to tell. And this era – these characters, these lives – were always meant to be painted by P.J. We are very proud to be publishing Patrick and the President and we are equally proud to welcome Ryan onto our list, especially as he has long since promoted and encouraged children, of all ages, to be engaged with books.”

“What a labour of love!” adds Maria Tunney, Senior Picture Book Editor. “Ryan perfectly embodies the hopes, the spirit and the ambitions of a nation in the character of young Patrick.”

About writing Patrick and the President, Ryan Tubridy says: “It has always been a dream of mine to write a book for children, so this is a magical moment for me. The fact that P.J. Lynch is illustrating the story makes it even more special. The story of JFK's visit to Ireland is profound and colourful and even more so through the eyes of my new fictional friend, Patrick, who gets caught up in the excitement of the event. The sight of a child reading a book is one of the most gratifying of them all. If children can enjoy this postcard from the past and maybe want to learn more about Irish history, I think we’ll have achieved something.”

On illustrating Patrick and the President, P.J. says, “President John F. Kennedy has always held a special place in the hearts and imaginations of the Irish people. I first encountered his handsome profile on a silver half dollar, brought from America by a visiting cousin; I was a little boy then and I knew nothing about his extraordinary life and career. However, I knew he was special, and I knew that he belonged to us, as well as to the people of America. It has been a great pleasure for me to work on Ryan’s story, and to help recreate the magic of those few days when President Kennedy visited Ireland and made a little boy’s dream came true."

Ryan Tubridy is an award-winning radio and television broadcaster with Ireland’s RTÉ. He currently presents a weekday morning chat show, The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 and is also the host of The Late Late Show, Ireland's most popular TV show and the world's longest running chat show on RTÉ One. In 2011, Ryan began working with BBC Radio 2 and since then he has covered for Graham Norton, Ken Bruce, Chris Evans’ Breakfast Show and Simon Mayo’s Drivetime Show. More recently, Tubridy has embarked on a career as a writer with his debut title JFK in Ireland, a profile of US President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 visit to Ireland, publishing in 2011 and his second title, The Irish Are Coming released in 2013. Aside from broadcasting and writing, Tubridy is intensely passionate about US politics. Having spent 18 months researching President Kennedy's historic visit to Ireland in 1963, Ryan worked on a documentary for RTÉ One – a behind the scenes at this era-defining visit. In 2011, he acted as Master of Ceremonies at the welcoming event for Barack and Michelle Obama. Ryan lives in Dublin with his family.

P.J. Lynch has won many awards throughout his incredible career, including the Mother Goose Award, the Christopher Medal in the US three times, the Irish Bisto Book of the Year award and the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal on two occasions, first for The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, and again for When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest. His meticulous research brings impeccable detail to the many books he has illustrated, including such titles as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Mysterious Traveller by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham and The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland’s Good Fortune – the first book that P.J. has both written and illustrated. Most recently, he created the artwork for Once Upon A Place, Irish Children’s Laureate Eoin Colfer’s anthology of stories and poems. P.J. has been commissioned to design posters for Opera Ireland and the Abbey Theatre, as well as designing stamps for An Post. He lives in Dublin with his wife and their three children.

For Press Enquiries please contact

Sarah.Bennett@walker.co.uk / 0207 396 2426

"Comics, Covers and Children's"

Below is a painting I did quite some time ago for "Catkin" by Antonia Barber.

It is currently on show in the Central Library at the Ilac Centre in Dublin, as part of a collection of work from Illustrators Ireland members. 

The show, curated by IGI member Margaret Anne Suggs, is called "Comics, Covers and Children's" and features work from ... Comics, book Covers and Children's Picture books. 

So there is a huge and lovely variety of styles to see.

After the Central Library, the exhibition travels to a number of other libraries around the city, see the poster for details.

PJ's Pilgrims at the Society of Illustrators in New York

I am honoured and delighted that this illustration from The Boy Who Fell Off The Mayflower has been selected by jury for the Original Art 2015 Show at the Society of Illustrators in New York!

My work has been exhibited at the  Society of Illustrators  before and I wish I could be at the launch of this year's event to meet some of my New York based friends and illustrator colleagues, but not this time I'm afraid.

Angels in Mosaic

I'm giving a workshop in the portrait sketch tomorrow at Kennedy Art.
It's always a great day of painting and good craic.
My next one is on the 17th October.

And on Sunday I'm off to Spilimbergo again to see how the team at Travianutto are getting on with the Knock Bascilica mosaic.
Here's how some of the Angels were looking on my last visit.
I know they have been working very hard on this project so there will be a lot more mosaic for me to see.

"Across the Atlantic Tour"

I am thrilled to be coming to America this November to promote  my new book The Boy Who Fell Off The Mayflower.
The tour kicks off at Plimoth Plantation and will also include an event at the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair  with lots of other events in between.
Can't wait!

Culture Night at the United Art Club

Young Sam Lynch will be playing piano while Brian Gallagher and PJ Lynch  are drawing portraits on Culture Night at the United Arts Club in Dublin!

Sam has just learned "Naval" by Yann Tiersen for the occasion.

I hope lots of you can come along for Sam's first gig.

Once Upon A Place at the Electric Picnic

We had a brilliant weekend hanging out with some of Ireland's best writers at the Electric Picnic music and Arts Festival.

The focus for us was Once Upon A Place, a wonderful book of short stories and poems with illustrations by me. The project was initiated by Laureate Na nÓg, Eoin Colfer to help to reacquaint Irish children with the beauty and magic of our country.

The book is published by Little Island and comes out in October
 Enda Wyley was there reading her own poem from the book, and talking about the other poets featured therein. She's not only an amazing writer but a great reader as well. 

I did some live drawing on Saturday wilst Eoin chatted with author/publisher Siobhán Parkinson, poet Enda Wyley and our expert compere, (give that woman a chatshow) Patricia Forde.

Next day another starry group including  Roddy Doyle, Sarah Webb , Oisín McGann and Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick read  extracts from their stories. 

Click here see what Marie-Louise and husband Michael Emberley got up to at the Electric Picnic.

Many thanks are due to Children's Books Ireland, and Little Island for alltheir work on this project and for making the inaugural Electric Picnic children's literature event such a great success.

Awesome Death and the Maiden USB Drives!

 Do you ever find that you can't locate your USB flash drives?
USB Memory Direct have a great solution, a personalized business card that houses a USB flash drive.
I have just taken delivery of some printed with my Death and the Maiden poster image and I can tell you that the quality is excellent.
I will be giving three of these away on my FaceBook page next week.

Four Day Drawing and Painting Workshop in Belfast

It has been a long summer hasn’t it?
If you are itching to get stuck into some serious drawing and painting come and join Julie Douglas and me for our four day drawing and oil painting workshop in Belfast.
Friday 28th - Monday 31st August

We will be working together to provide you with a rounded learning experience, which will include using charcoal, pencil and oils. Each day is structured, with achievable goals, pushing your skills and confidence up.
The course will include colour mixing, portrait painting and life drawing, with demonstrations each day.

The cost is £425 which includes refreshments and lunch. Students will bring their own materials and a list will be provided nearer the time.
I am really looking forward to it.
Working with Julie is always great fun, and we will also get through a lot of great work!
For details and booking please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Progress on the mosaic for the Bascilica at the National Shrine at Knock

I have just returned from another trip to Spilimbergo in northern Italy to see how the work is going on the big mosaic that I have designed for the Bascilica at the National Shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo. 

The image will show a representation of the Knock apparition of 1879. 

My design is being interpreted in mosaic by the exceptionally talented people at Travisanutto mosaics.

They are used to creating mosaics as large as this one, (It will measure more than 14 metres square) but I'm pretty sure this will be the largest ever mosaic in Ireland.

 Here are a few photos showing the artisans at work.
A sea of smalti. Viewing some of the larger areas that have been completed.

You can just see my painting in the background.

This shows how the little pieces of coloured glass (smalti) and marble combine like pixels on a screen to create an image

 
I can't show too much of the mosaic in progress, but It was such a moving experience for me to see the wonderful work they are doing at Travisanutto that I have to share  a detail of one of the foreground figures.
It amazes me how the artisans (they insist on not being called artists) can create such wonderful effects with combinations of stone and glass.