Turkish Light Still Life Painting

Dear Art-loving friend,

Shortly after carving stone in Bulgaria this past summer, I then went to Istanbul for a few days.  I did not buy as much as I wanted, however, I am a sucker for burning things… so I bought a couple of the tea light candle holders that glow with glorious hues from the colored glass mosaics.  One of those became a model in my next project, “Turkish Light.”

I have always moved slowly; ask my parents if you believe this not.  But while I have come to accept this part of myself, I still work to improve my productivity in creating art.  And when it also helps me to improve the quality, well, … you know that accepting the idea is a given.

I have also come to accept about myself that I have a self-sabotage mechanism in my brain. To that end, I refer to the idea that no matter how many times I do “shape exercises,”  my first attempts at drawing anything are way off.  It is difficult for me to do demos when I teach in part because of this problem.  [Another problem is talking while drawing… they rarely mix in my brain.]  Anyway, despite the encouragement by some to simply start my compositions in paint, I prefer to use charcoal.  

“Pentimento” is the Italian word that describes the concept of “the sins of the past will continue to haunt you.”  I know that oil paint goes transparent after many years and I know that red is a tricky color. I do not want my bad drawing to show through.  And I know that on this composition of red, white, and black… I increase the odds a bit of having problems.  So, you see me figuring out my design in charcoal on a mid-toned primed wooden panel.  

 I was not sure that I wanted the vase thingy as close to center, but later decided to leave it as is.  I liked the shapes between the objects, too.  Once my drawing was close enough, I used egg tempera to paint in the light shapes.  This is opaque and dries very quickly… like acrylic, but I think that I like egg tempera better, and hopefully it leaves more of a tooth for the oil paints.

I then layered in some of the cadmium orange and the serious reds.  The black came later.  These colors take forever to dry (an exaggeration, I hope you understand) and I had to be careful not to smear a thing, yet keep the edges I wanted soft … soft.  This painting then went up on a shelf to dry for about a month, I think.   

I took her down occasionally to develop the painting in layers, letting each one have about a week to dry, if I could manage that.  My models stayed in place while I worked on other easels.  Ok, so THAT part of the process is not particularly efficient for productivity, but hey, I love red and black, both slow driers.  It was the egg tempera trick that gave me light and speed.  There… I have given away all of my secrets.  So, I will go home now. 

I started “Turkish Light” in mid-July.  I finished her in mid-October.  Sadly, in my new flat, I have not yet figured out how to get a high-quality image of an oil painting.  But here is the shot that I have.  

“Turkish Light” is available.  She is a 50 x 35 cm (19.6 x 13.7 inches) oil painting on Italian Geso-vero’d primed wooden panel.  Please contact me if you would like to own this gem or gift her to someone you love.

Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm,

Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com