Art Workshop in Tuscany

 

One of the sample views of this area, from Castelvecchio in Tuscany

Dear Art Lover,

 

     I occasionally am asked when I will teach another workshop.  And 2018 is the year.  I am pretty happy in what I call paradise and home now.  It took me a while, but now I would like to share some of it with you.  So, I started my research to see what was already available to you so that I could offer something different.

     It seems painting is the thing, especially in plein aire.  And the subject is very well covered in Tuscany, Italy!  I decided that sculpture is too complicated for space, materials, and later shipping your project home.  However, as I was reminded when I broke my wrist this past June, bas-relief sculpture  is not only VERY do-able, but even more than 3-d sculpting, relief really lets your work on your drawing skills, your composition ability, and your story-telling.  Naturally, those are skills also used in painting. 

Detail, The Gates of Paradise:  Florence, Italy

     I have set this for June 8-15, 2018.  Hopefully, we will have fireflies as we have my last two Junes here.  Magical they are!  I will meet you in Florence, Italy, [Firenze, Italia] where we will tour some prime examples of bas-relief sculpture, including seeing the famous Gates of Paradise.  By that evening, we will have moved up into the Medieval village that I call home:  Castelvecchio.  It is one of ten castled stone villages in an area collectively called Valleriana, the hills just north of Pescia.  Pescia lies between Firenze and Lucca, another charming walled city in Tuscany.

     Here is the link if you are curious for details:  http://www.borsheimarts.com/workshop_Bas-ReliefSculptureInTuscanyCastelvecchio2018.htm

     Accommodations here are with families, who let out apartments or small houses.  The prices are affordable and in January I will be posting a few images and prices of a variety of places from which you may choose.  The economy in the mountains seems a constant struggle and I would like to help out as I can.  That means that I will help you secure the place you like the best, but I will not add on any fees and your lodging payments go directly to the homeowner.  We will have a great time in a really pretty area and I will share with you all of the art information that I can, with six hours minimum of studio time each day after our Firenze adventure. 

    So, if you are looking for a last-minute stunning gift idea for the artist in your life, even if that is YOU, perhaps this is the sort of experience that would really make your 2018 and beyond.

http://www.borsheimarts.com/workshop_Bas-ReliefSculptureInTuscanyCastelvecchio2018.htm

Peace, Happy Solstice on Thursday, and enjoy all of this winter’s holiday festivities.

Thank you for being a part of my life.

Kelly Borsheim, artist

http://BorsheimArts.com

One of the beautiful views in Valleriana you will see during the art workshop 2018

https://www.patreon.com/KellyBorsheim

Yoda in the Snow

 

Yoda in Castelvecchio, Italy

Dear Art Lover,

     So, I was up till about 4 a.m. last night, determined to distribute my art newsletter to the subscription list before going to bed.  [Sign up here if you would like to receive this in your e-mail inbox:  http://www.borsheimarts.com/contact.htm ]  My neighbor has told me that if I close the shudders, my house will stay much warmer.  I did not move to be surrounded by trees just to close them off from my view, but recently, I thought to try this.  Thus, when I finally woke this morning, I discovered on Facebook that it was snowing in my village before I had even seen the outside for myself.  Oy!

     Shortly afterwards I let Yoda, my neighbor’s dog, out of his house, before a neighbor dropped by and whisked me off to her place for an impromptu lunch invite.  But afterwards, I let Yoda out of my house and he and the dogsitter went for a wee bit of a stroll before dark.  Here is a taste of our little winter adventure just outside of Castelvecchio. Sadly, the snow changed to rain as the day went on.  This is my first time seeing snow in Italy.

     Oh, so before I forget, this recent newsletter included a link to a new art workshop I will be teaching in June 2018 in Tuscany.  We will start in Florence, Italy, then move up into this Medieval village.. but no worries… the snow will be gone by June and instead, I hope that we shall see some fireflies!  Here is the link if you are curious:  http://www.borsheimarts.com/workshop_Bas-ReliefSculptureInTuscanyCastelvecchio2018.htm

Peace,

Kelly Borsheim, artist

http://BorsheimArts.com

No, these are NOT palm trees, but "Cavalo Nero"

Still Life Tenebrous Painting

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Here is a sneak peak at my current project in a Tenebrous still-life painting (Tenebrism). One of the objectives in this project is to create a painting that has text in it. One wants an idea of the quality of the text, but not necessarily be able to read it. I think it is better if one cannot read it since I usually find words in art distracting from the visual experience. While this is still a work-in-progress (WIP), you can already (I hope) get an idea of what is printed material vs. what is handwriting.

I must apologize for the quality of the images taken during this project. There is so much glare in this studio here in Italy that it makes it more difficult than usual to photograph an oil painting. The colors that I am painting are richer that what you see here.

Now, on the other side of that Atlantic Ocean, I will be teaching a Portrait Painting Workshop in central Florida. I will focus on how to create a likeness and go for a three-dimensional look. You will see some of the techniques and concepts that I have learned over the many years of creating, from sculpture to painting to street painting! The dates are May 17-19, 2013, and there is an EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION low price of $220 if you register by the first of April. [After 1 April 2013, the price is $290 for the 14-hour weekend workshop.] To learn more, please visit: www.borsheimarts.com/art-workshops/2013ArtPortraitWorkshopFlorida.htm Thank you for your interest!

I hope you will be a-wearin’ o’ the green today! Share the Irish love.

St. Patrick’s Day, Irish, art workshop, portrait workshop, tenebrous, still life painting

Basilica di Santo Spirito Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

One of the most interesting and certainly lively squares in Florence, Italy, is Piazza Santo Spirito. She thrives on the Oltrarno “other side” of the Arno River from Florence’s famous Duomo (in the background right of my first image). There is a market every morning and a different one all day on Sundays. I ended up randomly meeting several friends here recently as we shopped all of the eye candy and also bought some local organically grown foods (a bit of a redundant phrase for these parts).

The Basilica di Santo Spirito is a distinctive church that resides on the end of the piazza that is closest to the River Arno. It is not often that it is open to visitors, but today I wanted to share some of the art and architecture of the inside of this amazing place. Of special note is that two of the first sculptures that you will see (one on each side of the doors) are very good copies of Michelangelo’s compositions, the “Pietà” and “St. John the Baptist.” I believe the artist was Giovanni Lippi, an architect who worked under the name Nanni di Baccio Bigio (1510-1568) and a contemporary of the great Michelangelo. I hope you get the chance to visit the Basilica di Santo Spirito and the piazza with the same name. So much art is INSIDE the churches in Italy!

Now, on the other side of that Atlantic Ocean, I will be teaching a Portrait Painting Workshop in central Florida. I will focus on how to create a likeness and go for a three-dimensional look. You will see some of the techniques and concepts that I have learned over the many years of creating, from sculpture to painting to street painting! The dates are May 17-19, 2013, and there is an EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION low price of $220 if you register by the first of April. [After 1 April 2013, the price is $290 for the 14-hour weekend workshop.] To learn more, please visit: www.borsheimarts.com/art-workshops/2013ArtPortraitWorkshopFlorida.htm Thank you for your interest!

Portrait Workshop Florida

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Well, newsflash! I have just firmed up a workshop that I will be teaching in central Florida this May. I hope you may join me and let us make some art!

"Portrait Painting with Artist Kelly Borsheim"

2013 Art Workshop Dates:
Friday, May 17 from 6-9 pm;
Saturday, May 18, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (lunch is from 1 to 2 p.m.) and
Sunday, May 19 from noon to 5 p.m., 2013
(14 hours in total)

Location: Private historic Victorian estate in Sanford, Florida (central Florida). Paid attendees will be given the address before the workshop begins, but the location is near Country Club Road on Highway 46A.

In this hands-on introductory weekend portrait workshop, you will learn how to improve your drawing and observation skills for creating a portrait and how to achieve a more 3-dimensional effect in your art using pastels and charcoal. Or you may prefer to work with oil paint.

Instructor Kelly Borsheim will demonstrate for the class, as well as assist students on an individual basis on their project(s). Emphasis will be on the designing of a portrait and not so much making something look photographic. For this reason, we will create a copy of a master artwork (please choose one shown on the information page on Kelly’s site, borsheimarts.com. On the last day, if you like, you may bring in a photograph of a person's face and we can work with designing a portrait from it. [Or you may bring in a current project you wish to improve.] If you would like to do this, please contact the instructor for more information on the kinds of images you will need to take of your subject.

This workshop is intended for beginners, intermediate, and any professional artists who would like to work on design and technique for portrait painting. However, many of the concepts demonstrated and discussed will apply to many subjects in art. You will receive much personal instruction in a peaceful environment.

Participants do not need to have had prior art experience, although some drawing skills will be helpful. Class size is limited, so please enroll early. More details, as well as the supply list and prices, are listed on the information page on Kelly’s site, borsheimarts.com.

Thank you and by all means contact the studio with any questions!

The above portraits you see here are ones that I created. This last image is a portrait by Pietro Annigoni and is one of the choices you will have to copy in this workshop. Annigoni was a very good designer of portraits!

Art Workshops Pastel Sight-Size

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I am planning to be in Florida, Texas, and North Carolina (USA) around mid-May to mid-June... I would love to teach some workshops in one or more of these areas. Please contact me if you are interested in learning something artistic (tell me what) and are near any of these areas. Thank you. I will focus on 2-dimensional art this time since I will be flying in from Italy and logistics and supplies/tools may be an issue for me. I see that May 24-May 27 is Memorial Day weekend: I am not sure how that impacts you. Thank you for the feedback!

Thus far, the votes are coming in for pastel painting workshop and using the Sight-Size method of drawing and painting. Pictured here is the pastel painting “Reluctant Temptress”

"Reluctant Temptress"

12" x 9"
Pastel on Pastelbord
© Kelly Borsheim

Like this original pastel painting? There is a one-time offer going on right now to celebrate my “taking the plunge to full-time” art anniversary. Act before 15 February and enjoy more art for your bucks. See details of the twelfth anniversary ART EVENT, here: http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2013_01_GuggenheimSerraBilbao.htm

Portrait Art Workshop

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

If you find yourself in central Texas (Florence, actually) on Sunday, June 12, and want to learn about creating art portraits, come on out to my 3-hour Portrait Workshop.


In this hands-on introductory 3-hour workshop, you will learn how to draw faces. We will go over basic anatomy for the face and skull and also how to capture a likeness. We will talk about differences of the subject's age, sex, personality & expression. Instructor Kelly Borsheim will demonstrate, as well as assisting students on an individual basis. Copy a masterwork (select from one on this page) or bring in a photo of your own to work from.

To register and receive more information, click here:
http://www.borsheimarts.com/art-workshops/Portrait-Workshop.htm

Guinea and Marble Carving

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I wanted to write some more about art, but this week it has been too cold to carve stone. I spent this past weekend labeling postcards, ordering giclée, and doing many other art-business tasks. Now, I am a bit happy that the weather is not so warm because I am working on a painting for a competition and need not the distraction of the marble.

Art News -- Pastel Workshop Savings:

Robert Adams of Hawaiian Art Journey recently told me that he would like to help celebrate my ten-year anniversary by offering a special savings to you:
$100 off (that is $10 x 10) Registration for Art Workshop "Pastels in Paradise with Kelly Borsheim" in Kona, Hawai'i April 17-22: Register BEFORE 28 Feb.


So, how about that? Now, I would like to leave you with these two images of some of the company I keep when I carve stone. These guineas are half-wild and wander around these parts, mostly kept by a neighbor. I feed them a bit too, which is why there is a jar of bird seed on my work table, blocking the view of my current work-in-progress, the “Gymnast” in Colorado Yule Marble. It would be wonderful if I could finish her before May, but for the moment she waits . . .

Streetpainting Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Last week I visited Vatican City and so this Thursday chose to recreate in the streets of Florence one of the Sybils on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. I hope you like my self-portrait in this “work-in-progress” shot. I did not realize I did that until I saw the images later.

I was delighted later that afternoon as a class of Italian children came to watch me work. I offered one a pastel stick, but she shied away. Instead, her classmate asked if she could try and next thing I knew, I was passing out various orange colors and pointing to the sections of the Sybil’s skirt in which each child should color.

The kids and I had a blast together. I wanted a photo of all of our orange hands and one of the teachers offered to take it for us. I asked the kids if they wanted to be on my blog and the idea seemed to be fun to them. I handed out the last of my wet baby wipes to clean their hands a bit and then they were off to catch a train. What a delightful day and great experience for us all.





Later that evening, the capo of our group of madonnari (street painters), Claudio, arrived to see my colleague Johnny and me. [Johnny is not in most of these images because he had another job and joined me for only parts of the day.] Since he had another commission to work on with our colleague Tomo, he offered to let Johnny and me draw that next day (their normal day).

So, around midnight that first night, I wrote on the street in Italian, “Please do not clean” and we set cardboard boxes around our drawing in hopes that the street cleaning truck would pass us by the next morning. It worked this time, although when I arrived on Friday, an older Italian woman complained to me that it was bruttissima that I left such ugly boxes in the street overnight. And while protected from cars, I noticed that someone rode a bike and/or stroller through the drawing and there were lots of footprints in different directions, implying that at least one person was dancing on our work overnight!

Also, the next morning I arrived to see a man erecting scaffolding close to my work area. I am starting to wonder if the city really does own the scaffolding company as one friend told me. Florence has an abundance of this and I have yet to see the famous Duomo without it!

He was breaking off some of the metal “T”s that were used to adjust the height of each leg, telling me that it was for public safety. I photographed this one young boy who was fascinated by the process and kept telling his father to wait a moment more since he did not want to leave. He was quite cute. We finished up around 5:30 pm. People were out and complimentary, but I had dinner plans and needed to get home to wash up. Enjoy these images.

And if you are interested in learning pastels in a fun and beautiful environment that allows you to focus on art and nature, please check out my pastel workshop in Hawaii in September. http://borsheimarts.com/art-workshops/hawaii-pastels.htm

Via Della Spada – Firenze Italia

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I have been creating more works with the pastel and charcoal combination that I began in Italy and am loving the effect! Here is the newest completed work of another couple in the rain: a night scene in the streets of Florence, Italy:

“Via Della Spada – Firenze, Italia”
25” x 18”
pastel & charcoal
copyright 2010 Kelly Borsheim

SOLD to a private collector-11 March 2010!

And check out my first pastel workshop at a resort in Kona, Hawai’i. It will happen this September, so mark your calendars, this is gonna be so much fun!
http://borsheimarts.com/art-workshops/hawaii-pastels.htm

Landscape Workshop in Fiesole - Steve Armes

American landscape artist Steve Armes comes to Italia to paint as often as possible. He had also made friends via the Internet with my friend Dorian Iten from Switzerland. Anyway, Dorian invited several of us artists here in Firenze to attend a free workshop that Steve generously offered this past Saturday. I know almost nothing first-hand about painting landscapes, so this was a wonderful opportunity.

We all met up at Fiesole, the last stop on l'autobus # 7, up the mountain from Firenze. After showing us some of his work, giving us an overview of materials and how to prep the board to paint on, and discussing his approach, Steve led us around a corner not too far away from the bus stop to an abandoned building that apparently is a great place to drink beer and then smash the glass bottles.

But Steve set up his easel and, under changing light conditions on this cloudy day, did a great demonstration for a couple of hours before several of my friends set up theirs and began to work. I must confess that while I enjoyed that morning, I was itching to get home to my figure work and left around 13:00 to return to Firenze. A nap was in my future as well. I do hope to be showing some of my current projects soon . . .

If you would like to see some of Steve's finished works or learn more about him, visit: stevearmes.com

If you would like to see Dorian's site, check out:
www.dorian-iten.com