Painting While Traveling

Dear Art lover,

     Today is the last day of my anniversary sale on my art!  Thus proving that January has escaped almost as quickly as I dreaded.  I still have so much to do!  And you? 

Anyway, the sale celebrates my 15-year-run as a full-time artist.  I hope you will indulge.  The sale offers free worldwide shipping on any available art, even those offered through my galleries.  Sale ends Texas time (Central time US) at midnight tonight. 

So, go shopping!  http://BorsheimArts.com

 

     And ladies, I doubt your man would be offended if you surprised him this Valentine’s Day as well!  I am all for equal joys.

      If you have been following this blog or me on Facebook, you may remember that I moved to Croatia in mid-December.  I had decided to travel light, but even so, for three months of life, I have a fair amount of stuff.  I packed more art materials than clothes and personal items, which is typical for me.  However, I chose to pack only dry materials:  pastels, pastel pencils, paper, and computers.  I also took my travel easel, light and extension cords (which I did not realize would not work here with the type I brought).  Ah, Italia, amazing how many plug types and sizes they use!

      So, when I decided to paint a portrait of my Croatian landlords in oil, I was hardly prepared.   Today I share with you some of my silliness.  I did not want to buy too many supplies since that just added to the baggage later.  And I tend to multitask.

     This first image shows you how I got palettes for mixing the paints that I ordered online.  Those mushrooms had the perfect plastic container:  wide open on top, low sides, and a smooth bottom (often veggie containers have ridges, I assume for controlling the water on the contents).  I usually buy food in glass jars based on the shape of the jar (for spirits and medium).  However, I rarely buy food that I would not eat since that would not be multitasking; that would be overpaying for future trash.  Also, once my landlady saw what I was doing, she and her sister supplied me with more jars and palettes than I can use in my time here.  Sweet.  Miranda apparently saves all of her newspapers for recycling too, so I was fortunate to have an instant stack!

     The second and third images show my brush holder.  It would be better if the plastic container was a wee bit taller, but not worth the effort.  And, the best brushes I found here were NOT the ones I originally found in a boat paint shop or a bookshop (they do not have art material stores in this little town of Umag).  Even the hardware stores did not help me.  The softest and best paintbrushes I found were in a nearby grocery store.  They were colored sets made for kids!  Thus, the handles were shorter than I am used to.  I never before thought about how it might affect my color mixing abilities to use a brush with purple, or light green, or pink, or blue, or yellow hairs!  But it is fun to have color-coded handles.

     Oh, and I used [un-popped] popcorn in the jar to hold the brushes upright.  Beans, lintels, etc. work well, but I do not eat those that often.  When I looked around my kitchen, popcorn was the only thing that would work.  Pebbles would work, but takes collection time.  These little details I had forgotten until I was ready to start painting.  So… use was works and gets one painting.

     This last image is just silly.  I moved my painting around the flat at different times of day since lighting is important and I needed to judge what I had painted during the middle of the night.  I just enjoyed the light coming through the curtains.

     I hope you have had a chance to check out the new online blog features and if you have any feedback, that would be appreciated.  I would like this site to be easy for you to use.

     And, as always, thank you for your continued interest.  Share this with anyone you think might appreciate it! 

Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com