Leonardo da Vinci Leda and the Swan

Dear Art Lover,

     Last fall I met a couple in Zecchi’s Art Store in Firenze, Italia.  Soon after that meeting, I began to teach the husband Gary how to create his first painting . . . ever!  And what was his choice?  Leonardo da Vinci, naturalemente!  He has now finished his copy of Leda and the Swan.  The original design is by da Vinci, but the image as best known by paintings done by his students.  You may see more information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leda_and_the_Swan_%28Leonardo%29

and the myth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leda_%28mythology%29

Gary's copy of "Leda and the Swan"

      Anyway, Gary and I worked about two hours for perhaps three weeks last fall.  We used a color copy generated from a photo of the composition of his choice.  He painted in oils on wood prepared by a local Italian shop with gesso vero.  And he came back to Firenze a day or two after I was able to return in late March this year.  We continued our schedule for another three weeks.  He only recently finished this, his first painting and I must say that I think he took to it brilliantly!  Gary is a bit shy, so I am only posting pictures of his project, with his permission.  

     And me?  Well, any teacher will tell you that teaching teaches the teacher as well.  I came away from this experience with some new friends and having a much greater appreciation for the design work of Leonardo da Vinci.  One problem I have with these art schools in Firenze (or at least the one I attended), the skills taught are more designed to have your hand create what your eye and brain see.  Those are definitely necessary skills, but I want to explore more design. 

Anyway, Congratulations to Gary on completing his first painting!

My other great news is that my book, “My Life as a Street Painter in Florence, Italy” is now available in Florence!  Find her at the Paperback Exchange near the famous and incredible Duomo (and also near Zecchi’s) at Via dell’Oche 4r   [Tel. 055 293460]  and online at:  http://www.papex.it/    Paperback is the main Anglo-American Bookshop and they are really kind there!

Peace,
Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com

Camera Obscura Bristol England

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Artists and art critics have been interested in the camera obscura for several centuries, but it was first described by a Chinese philosopher in the 5^th century B.C.  Aristotle (384 to 322 BCE) described the principles of the camera obscura and pinhole camera when he viewed a solar eclipse as projected onto the ground through tiny spaces between tree leaves (a pinhole).

However, it was not until Alhazen (nicknamed "Ptolemy the Second”) that it was put together that the projected image on the screen was actually the rearranged (upside down) image of the light from the other side of the aperture (pinhole).  Alhazen was a mathematician, scientist, and astronomer who made many advances in optics.  He was even studying the magnifying power of a lens.  Alhazan is thought to have died in Cairo, Egypt  in 1040 A.D.

Leonardo da Vinci took his turn describing the optics effects and suggested their use by artists as an aid in drawing.  By the mid-1500s, another Italian Giambattista della Porta began publishing a series of books (“Magia Naturalis,” starting in 1558) about many topics, including the use of a convex lens and he receives credit for having perfected the camera obscura.  He also explained in popular terms how the lens of the eye was similar to the lens of the camera obscura, increasing the latter’s fame.

Today, the debate continues on whether or not famous artists, such as Vermeer, have used a camera obscura to aid in their realistic drawings and paintings.  I am not so fussed about these things because from what I have seen, if one can draw well from life, tools are aids.  If one cannot draw well, then the tools are a crutch.  But I think that one can see the difference in the struggle:  Just a theory.  I also tend to be more interested in the idea and how well its execution has evoked emotion.  Technique is a large part of the awe factor, but without the other qualities, the work can be dull.

While in Bristol, England, last week, I got to see the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge:  In person and on foot, but also, with a large camera obscura!  There is a nearby Observatory that houses a camera obscura.  The building is 337 feet above the gorge and river below.  Oddly enough, I took most of the images from inside the Observatory near the bridge (vs. of the observatory itself), and the image of it was taken from the bridge.  You will just see the tops of this building that once was a snuff mill.

The mill suffered a huge fire and lay dormant for decades until an artist, William West, rented it as a studio in 1828.  During his time there, he installed the camera obscura that is still there today.  The 5-inch convex lens and sloping mirror project an image of the surrounding areas outside (including the suspension bridge), but not a mirror image, onto a large white disk.  I was surprised by how bumpy this surface was. 

When my friend Wendy and I entered the tower room with the camera obscura and its projected image, it was dark and there were two women and three children enjoying the experience.  Of course, the entire space would have to be painted dark, with no other windows in order to clearly see the projected image.  I was surprised at how sharp the image was and on a bright day it is said to be even better. 

 

The lens and the mirror above it are naturally high up.  The mirror exists simply to direct the image, otherwise one would be looking at the sky above projected downwards.  The mirror is connected to a large metal pole that is on a pair of rollers.  The rollers rotate the mirror in a circle around the lens.  Visitors may push this long handle to change the view.  You may see in one image the blurred movement in the projected image while the mirror is being re-aimed.  I was amused when one of the adults pointed out to the children some people kissing in the park.  I really is true that one should be careful of public behavior:  someone is inevitably watching! Haha.

Later, the door was opened and I took a few shots of the room with more light in it so you can get a better idea of the hardware and set up.  

The Bristol Observatory

is one of the two camera obscuras open to the public in England.  Wendy was surprised that it now costs £2 to enter, having been free to visit for so long.  However, when researching this blog post, I found an article in the BBC that stated back in June 2013 that both the observatory and the camera obscura were for sale for £2M.  The article implies that there was some time in which the facility was not open at all.  I do not know whether or not a sale was made, but I was happy to be able to see this wondrous thing.  

The Observatory is listed on the “Buildings at Risk Register” by English Heritage.  Perhaps the small donation is enough to keep the doors open… or at least, keep a person employed for a bit.  The Observatory also houses the entrance that artist William West built to a cave that opens out on the face of the cliff overlooking the gorge.  We did not visit that, preferring to do some plein air painting instead.  

Follow these links for more information about the camera obscura in Bristol, England:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observatory,_Bristol


http://visitbristol.co.uk/things-to-do/clifton-observatory-camera-obscura-and-cave-p24651
In general, the camera obscura information (ie, not just the Bristol c.o.):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura
http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html

Florence Italy Palazzo Vecchio

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),
The Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”) in Florence, Italy is the seat of the Florentine City Hall government. Like so many other buildings in Florence, it is also an incredible museum. Thanks to a posting on Facebook by Freya’s Florence Tours, a friend of mine and I got to enter the Palazzo Vecchio for FREE this past Saturday. I have wanted to see more than her courtyard for a very long time now, so what a fun thing to do on a winter day in the Renaissance City!

Having been disappointed with my digital cameras over the last several years, unable to take images with high enough quality to sell as affordable stock photography, I broke down recently and bought a Fuji X10. While I have not really sat still long enough to get familiar with its many features, it was quite easy to discover its panoramic 360 image maker! No doubt I will get better at this with practice, but I hope that you enjoy these handheld panoramas of the inside of the Palazzo Vecchio.

On the left side of this first image, you will see covered scaffolding as the search for a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci fresco is taking place. Links of interest:

• National Geographic writes about search for Leonardo’s art in Palazzo Vecchio: cool photos.
  
  
• Discovery News: Searching for Leonardo’s Lost Art: “At least $265,000 is needed to build a portable particle accelerator and a germanium crystal detector.” [sounds pretty cool, like science fiction, si?]
  

This third panorama is of the ceiling of the main room and the first one we entered after walking up one flight of stairs.

The rooms are certainly elaborate and I cannot even conceive of such a thing being attempted in anyone’s palace… but I was told that the Medici or other ruling families might never even leave the confines of this building. If true, one would understand the need for lots of eye candy!

Do you not just LOVE how they believed in child labor? I mean – do you see how many young ones are holding up the ceiling art?

I am including only a small sampling of the art on the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio, but you can see that the artists of the time were quite imaginative in the creatures and in the decorative way they arranged elements.

This last image is of a niche that I think should hold one of my sculptures, don’t you? Haha. One can dream, right? And, hey, why not? I could carve a stone figure that would complement this environment!

Open Book Stone Carving

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Today was a glorious day! 84 degrees, partly sunny, a wee bit windy . . . my favorite kind of stone carving day! I like to stop work each day in my studio – whether indoor or out – leaving something unfinished. I have found that it is a way to stave off a creative block. Monday I left myself with the start of an idea, but not a full answer.

Today, I began to focus on the top portion of my marble sculpture. Those who either read this blog often or have taken a class from me might remember that I often feel that the most helpful information about the form will often be found by the view one is least likely to have, that is, the bird’s eye view.


Thus, I began today’s work by getting out my trusty stepladder and having a look. I decided to pull back the woman’s rib cage, emphasizing even more the arching gesture while pulling her into the male’s form a bit. Then I figured out how the lines I drew Monday on the stone might work and connect up with one another on an artwork in the round.

I love triangles, but I did not really love this idea. However, I did not have another at the moment. When this happens to me, I try to determine whether or not I can cut into the stone to explore the current idea without losing something that I later will want. For me, this is the challenge of direct carving. For collaboration with the stone to occur, sometimes I must remove material so that an idea emerges.


After I chiseled out the diamond in the neck, I stepped back to take a look. (See the second image.) I felt nothing. Well, not really, I actually decided that any upward hint of a neck actually detracted from the lines I have carved in the marble torsos. However, I still loved the “S” curve of the clavicle (collarbone). So, I decided to emphasize that line.

As I was chiseling away, my mind drifted to my friend and mentor Vasily (Fedorouk)’s work. Over the years that I have known him and studied his work, I began to notice that certain shapes or poses seem to reoccur in his sculpture. Like Leonardo da Vinci’s solo finger pointing up, I guess all artists have some gesture or line that has some personal meaning, however subliminal.

And then it occurred to me . . . I had carved this shape before on another torso in marble back in 2004! This particular "S" curve of the clavicle reminds me of an open book. And an open book could be interpreted as a type of vulnerability or perhaps accessibility. It is also a form of generosity. I will let the psychologists take it from there.


It felt great getting this resolved today, for I still am unsure of what I want to do with the base . . . There is a cold front expected tonight, so I stopped work long enough to get all the plants indoors and bring up some firewood to the house. The sun had set by the time I returned to the marble.

Of course I could see her whiteness in the dying light and I needed nothing more. I am close enough to the final shape that I use my fingers more than my eyes to feel and refine the form. I love running my fingers along the weaving landscape of muscles and my sense of touch gives me much more information now. I used the rough end of my carbide file to remove the tool marks of the day until it was almost pitch black outside. A good day’s work, to be sure.

Gratitude is best when expressed. So in the spirit of the American Thanksgiving, I just wanted to say thank you for your interest in my journey. I could not do it without you.

Erotic Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

It is very frustrating, but sometimes my work is not permitted to be exhibited because of “rules” against nudity in art. This despite the fact that most people are extremely complimentary of the sensitivity in which I portray people in their most vulnerable state (or so they tell me).

So, if you cannot beat ‘em, . . . join ‘em.

And I actually feel a bit excited to be joining the ranks of many of my predecessors, including lots of the “Big Boys” such as Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Théodore Géricault, Rodin, Pablo Picasso, and my friend and mentor Vasily Fedorouk. Even Michelangelo painted quite a lascivious “Leda and the Swan” composition. I suspect that besides the Japanese, Egyptians, and the Greeks, every culture has birthed some form of erotic art.

While exploring various compositions, I was trying to think of a title to inspire me and keep me on track. I was seeking eroticism, not vulgarity. My ex-roommate Elena, from Italy, unknowingly named this pastel and charcoal drawing. She and I happened to be corresponding shortly after I began work on this piece. She often addresses me as “tesoro,” which is Italian for “treasure” and is a term of affection among the Italians.

Thus, I would be happy to introduce to you my first published work of intentionally erotic art.

”Tesoro!”
22” x 16”
Charcoal and Pastel Drawing
Roma-brand paper
$1800 (+ $20 shipping + applicable sales tax)
by Kelly Borsheim

And I wish you a sensuous and joyful 2010 full of passion and amore.

Leonardo da Vinci + San Gennaro Angel

Cari Amici,

This past Friday the 13th I attended a lecture on Leonardo da Vinci by the Maestro John Angel at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. Perhaps it is horrible for me to say, but Leonardo has not interested me too much before. So I was a bit surprised at how much I enjoyed this lecture!

In his opening statements, I thought that the Maestro was brilliant to illustrate his basic premise with a recipe by Leonardo: that the most famous Renaissance man was curious and creative, but that his ideas rarely seemed to pan out.

This gesso sealant (for a painting canvas) recipe is written in one of Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts in Paris and is cited by Richter (R628):

One coat of mastic in white turps
Three coats of grappa (acqua vitae) and arsenic
One liberal coat of boiled linseed oil
One thick coat of white varnish, applied with a stick
When dry, wash the whole with urine.

I must say that the grappa and arsenic amused me, especially after seeing how some people drink here! As master painter John Angel pointed out, “Arsenic is not harmful to gesso, just pointless and very harmful to the painter.” But this type of thinking just might explain why Leonardo’s “Last Supper” (in Italian, “Il Cenacolo” or “L'Ultima Cena”) was already in need of repair during the artist’s own lifetime.

It was surprising to me that for such a famous artist who produced so few finished works, I saw several art pieces in John Angel’s lecture than I had never before seen. One that particularly caught my eye is one that the Maestro said that not everyone acknowledges as done by Leonardo. It is the “San Gennaro Angel” (pictured here), a sculpture in terra-cotta in a church in San Gennaro, just outside of Florence, Italy. The Maestro later e-mailed me for clarification:

“However, it looks like a Leonardo (based on the style of the drapery, etc.), and it seems unlikely that anybody else would have borrowed the style of a young unknown artist (at that point, nobody would have known his style). Its date fits with Verrocchio's Pistoia altarpiece, placing Leonardo in the area at that time (the late 1470s), and gelling with the need for him to get out of Florence for a time, in order to let the "backside game" scandal die down a bit. I have attached a jpg of the sculpture. It was proposed as a Leonardo in the 1990s, I think.”

“Playing the backside game” was how Leonardo referred to his penchant for 10-year-old boys. The scandal refers to the time that Leonardo, along with three others, was accused of sodomy. The charges were later dropped, perhaps because one of the other three was part of a rather powerful family.

Anyway, another point worth noting: It is strange that Leonardo da Vinci is so often referred to as a scientist, when he discovered no scientific principles. He is, however, a champion of the empirical method, preferring to collect his data from pure observation of nature vs. a manipulation of variables or basing his ideas off of the work of others.

Another story that I found a bit . . . non lo so . . . disturbing, curious, perhaps simply the yin yang of human behaviour? Anyway, apparently Leonardo became a familiar face in hospitals, entertaining and spending many hours with the old and the sick. And then, after they died, he would claim their bodies and dismember them for his personal anatomy studies.
And on that note, I am off to sleep . . .

Ciao, ciao, ragazzi!
Kelly

PS Many special thanks to Maestro Michael John Angel for the lecture and for taking time to respond to my e-mail asking for clarification on a few points. And for sending me this image of Leonardo’s sculpted angel. Here is a link to the Angel Academy of Art:
Maestro John Angel at the Angel Academy of Art