Portrait of Brian Rising River Florence, Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I got a two-hour start on the portrait of Irish artist Brian Smyth on Monday evening. He is sitting in what I call a “bird of prey” pose and staring right behind my head. There are a lot of artists in the room and my easel is behind the standing row of others, with plenty of space for them to move back to look at their work from a distance. A lot of painters like to use binoculars. I have yet to succumb. Some part of me wants to work with whatever I have got; another hates shopping except on rare occasions; and still another likes the challenge of recreating the shapes and shadows one sees, regardless of how hazy the details. Or maybe I am just lazy and wanting to avoid the headache that looking through binocs often gives me.

I have created a lot of mistakes in this first attempt. I like photographing my art since it helps me see it in a very fresh way, in a way that a mirror rarely does. My tones are off, as well as many of the shapes, especially from the nose down. Peccato!

So, let me struggle with this again on Thursday. The second image happened after another artist told me that she loves the impression that my WIP (work-in-progress) made as he is stashed in one of the few open spaces I found in the studio. That is one long canvas that is wrapped around the board. I just couldn't be bothered to attach it during painting. I simply draped the canvas over the backside from the top of the board while it was on the easel. See? Lazy!

Most mornings I ride my bike upstream along the River Arno here in Florence, Italy. I have been thinking lately that Tuscany is not so different from Texas. After a dry and relatively warm winter here through January (Feb was COLD), we had a drought this summer bad enough to worry the farmers about the olive yield, and now we have a ton of rain. “Feast and Famine” always seemed like the creed of Texas to me. The Arno River is rising. Even the “beach” along the Oltrarno side of the river is thoroughly submerged. (And have you seen the images lately of a once again flooded Venice?) However, the forecast looks up from here on out and I am looking forward to spending some time in the country this weekend to watch la raccolta delle olive (olive harvest).

Florentine Sunset Pastel Painting

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

So, we are still in bella Italia - at least in my mind anyway.
A lot of cities are built around rivers. They often remain much of the focal point and a cherished part of each city. While I have not traveled as much as I would have liked to, nor do I normally live in a city, I love the energy of Florence, Italy. Her river, the Arno River, is not one that I would neither swim in nor eat anything that came out of her. However, she enchants me just the same.

I have been lucky enough to live in the central part of Florence for long enough stretches of time that I have seen many gorgeous sunsets during the course of my “haunting” the city at dusk. It never gets old.

I decided to create a pastel painting, with metallic acrylic painted highlights, to share with you some of my absolute delight with Florence’s Arno River and one of the several bridges over her.

“Florentine Sunset” (Firenze, Italia)
12” x 16” Pastel with Acrylic Painting
copyright 2010-2011 Kelly Borsheim
$800



Would you like to learn how to do this for a Hawaiian sunset? If yes, come join me at Kona Village Resort on the Big Island in Hawai’I for art workshop “Pastels in Paradise”. Dates are April 17-22. 2011, so register now!

Arno River Ponte Vecchio

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I knew that one day (or night, as this image depicts) I would draw this little boat parked on the far side of the famous Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy, over the Arno River. What a joy this project was! I am still fascinated with using black paper and have begun to apply colors (instead of my previous “white on black” series). I hope you love the look as well.

"Dark Arno"
pastel on black paper
64 x 23 cm
copyright 2010 Kelly Borsheim
SOLD - 11 August 2010 -- THANK YOU!

I feel honored each time someone here in Italy at my current exhibit compliments this pastel painting because it is very common to see paintings of the famous Ponte Vecchio. To have created a new take on the bridge over the Arno River is quite an accomplishment. Florence is definitely an artist’s town!

Happy Father’s Day to my own father, PJ, and to all those wonderful dads out there.

Locks of Love – Florence, Italy

The Italians are quite the passionate bunch. It shows in many ways – from the care that is put into the preparing a meal to the pure enjoyment of every passeggiata, the evening walk throughout the city’s streets, usually arm in arm. One can see lovers, friends, siblings, and parent and child couples of all ages walking linked and involved in familiar conversations as they people-watch.

Of course, the passion extends to areas of romance. Pictured here are some of the proclamations of a lasting devotion – the locks of love. One can see them in various, sometimes random, places around Italia. Sometimes so many locks are placed in a spot that they are eventually cut off and the process may begin again. This image was taken at the end of the arched walkway that is near the famous Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy, along the Arno River.