Mural Frisket Figure Painting Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Mural making is a bit of a different process than my street painting and my fine art painting. Funny how you learn the strengths and process of each system and make it work out all right, even sometimes mixing the things you learn from each different form of art and hopefully making all of your work stronger.

In mural painting, the environment is created first and then the figures are placed inside of it. [In street painting, one usually starts with the face and works out, so as not to step on the art. In my fine art painting, I work the whole composition, bouncing all over to develop the work in a consistent way.] However, speed and efficiency are qualities one strives for when working in the client’s space. It lessens the distraction factor for all lives involved. Thus, most of the work for my mural project here in Italia was done in my own studio in Firenze, Italia, or on the plane, bus, or while walking somewhere. Constantly thinking I am, and compositional “problems” must be solved, as well as keeping to one main idea. Too much of anything usually confuses and tires the audience.

Because of other things going on in my life, my prep time was quite diminished. I did not have time to draw from a live model, always my preference. Thus, I had to work from digital images from a model and her photographer that I hired. Most of the summer, I was not in the same country as she, so logistics meant that I could not even shoot my own images. None-the-less, I work with great people and I cannot believe how easy it all went. Even after I drew the mural on the wall, I discovered that I needed a reshoot of the woman in the pool. I realized why the image I had was not working. It has to do with perspective. But I received a new image the next day, gratefully! Because of the short turn-times, I think these figures look more like photographs than I hope my normal work does.

As in street painting, I gridded out my figures, only this time onto a transparent paper. This is so I can move the paper around on the scene I have created on the wall and see where the figure on the paper looks best before I draw her into the painting. Sure, I know generally where I want each figure, based on my Bozzetto (small drawing), but my bozzetto in this case was one-tenth the size of the wall. No doubt, mathematical errors will be found simply in the enlarging process. My client and I actually had several fun discussions on how we wanted to change things that just did not look or feel right, regardless of the logic we saw in the perspective work. I have to admit that I really enjoyed our dialogues, especially when I reworked the pool a couple of times.

I admit to being lazy at times. So, while I drew in the outlines of the ladies, I decided not to bother with a precise frisket when I drew the woman in the pool. Frisket is basically a masking material with adhesive on one side. It is designed to protect an area from receiving the treatment given to surrounding areas. I used to use a special kind back in the early 1990s when I did restoration work on 4 x 5 inch film transparencies. I am not crazy about using friskets because I do not like the hard edge they always leave. However, this is how it is done and I did not have time to come up with a preferred method. The main point is to not have landscape showing through underneath my figure. Acrylic paint does not have to be opaque, although it does not become less so with time, as oil painting does.

In these next three images, you may see how I tried to minimize the edging by taping INSIDE my figure outline. I must have been drinking too much wine or liquor that night or was simply really tired when I masked the right hand. The rectangular tape shape tells me that I probably just forgot to cut away the tape outside of my line. That slowed me down a bit as I had to paint with extra care the faux stone floor behind the hand. It is so much easier to paint with abandon to get the strokes moving freely right up to an edge, and then remove the tape for a lovely look!

The last image today is a horrible work-in-progress of the third woman in the scene. While my model Anna Rosa posed for me, I had decided to change her face and turn her into a redhead. I also was inventing the clothing and lighting on the torso, since she had posed wearing a short dress. In addition, I used a photo of me taken in San Sebastian, Spain, as a reference for a more horizontal forearm position. I still have work to do on the redhead.

Thanks for reading! My book about my street painting in Italy is now available in Amazon.com in the US, as well as in several European Amazons. Check it out on my home page for an easy link; Amazon even allows you to see some of the inside pages: http://borsheimarts.com/ You may also order a signed copy directly from me (no extra charge for the inscription) and I will get you a shipping quote from Italy. Contact me directly, please.

Designing the Figure Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),
I spend half of my weekdays working with an art model named Federica. She is really cute and a trooper to model in the winter time. Like my apartment here in Florence, Italy, sometimes the old doors and windows do not fully CLOSE! The studio now has a piece of glass missing as someone tried to close an unreachable window all the way. Using a ladder and climbing as high as I could, I used a stick today to “secure” a piece of cardboard over part of the window. It was a horrible fix (the cardboard I found was not large enough), but as Federica and I agreed, “Meglio di niente” (better than nothing).

I include here some of my daily snapshots from some time ago to show you a bit of the process. I am painting a grisaille, but instead of using black and white, I am painting with Titanium White (Michael Harding brand) and Rembrandt’s Van Dyke Brown. It makes a warmer gray. I am painting on an primed linen (I think) canvas with a loose gray campitura (starting background color), tacked onto 80 x 40 cm stretcher bars.

Image 1: Blocking-in the mass of the figure, trying to capture the gesture in the form.

Image 2: I have now drawn in my contour lines of the figure’s main parts, the background props, and have even designed my shadow shapes and colored them in (except for the face). The face took more time because of the more intricate shapes that I needed to design. I say design because the goal is not to “copy” the live model in front of me, but to use her as an inspiration or reference for my own creation.

Image 3: Now the face. I am amused by this because this face reminds me of my cousin Carrie a bit. And NOT the model. We all tend to draw ourselves [family being a part of the same face(s) that we see most often].

Image 4: Now I painted in opaque paint two tones for each background segment… designing the darks and lights of the background (wall); the tall black box [box in light and box in shadow], and the stool (here not differentiated so well yet: the stool in light and the stool in shadow).

Image 5: I love this image! I added an averaged light tone to the figure in light. Now you may truly understand how my figure is really only a pattern of abstracted shapes! Federica had just gotten her hair cut into a new do – and it is really cool on her!

Image 6: Close-up shot of the abstract design.

Image 7: Here you can see that I have started creating the “Big Form Modeling” to change my 2-tone design into something that begins to look three-dimensional. I have always been a “butt and legs man” so I tend to start with the pelvis and work my way down.

Stay tuned . . .

Valentina Charcoal Drawing

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I have been sifting through my piles of life drawings from models that I drew in Italy and trying to figure out what I can do with them. I want to keep many of them as studies or pose ideas for future multi-figure works that are brewing in my head. Others I simply like as they are and consider them finished works.

This next charcoal drawing is one of those. Usually I put the dates on my work, having a memory that focuses more on emotion than data. This one I did not, but I suspect that I drew this figure art in early 2009 when I was hosting an Open Studio for artists in Florence, Italy. If it was not 2009, then it was in 2008 near the time that I did a drawing of Francesco on this same-proportioned paper. [You may view the framed hands of Francesco here.]

I have drawn Valentina many times. She is a terrific model and a fun person. This horizontal composition of a lovely woman’s torso as she reclines with her arm resting along her body’s top edge is available framed for only $150 + $15 shipping (sales tax added, if applicable). Surround yourself with Valentina’s luscious curves…

“Sketch of Valentina”

6” x 17” (framed)
charcoal drawing on watercolor paper
copyright 2008-2011 Kelly Borsheim
$150 + $15 shipping (and maybe sales tax)

P.S. Please pardon the glare on this framed image. It is so hard to photograph some things! Here is an image before she was framed:

Charcoal Drawing Daydreaming Nude Woman

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Back in January my friend Dana and I hired a model that I knew to pose for us. Jessica is a Sicilian artist based in Florence, Italy, where I met her while street painting. She has that dark, dramatic Mediterranean beauty. Over the course of several months, Dana and I drew Jessica every chance we could pin her down for a modeling session.

I took my unfinished drawing back to my studio in central Texas and finished the other, non-figurative compositional elements there. Originally I was thinking of the title “Rectangles and Circles,” but each time I looked at the drawn expression of the model, I kept thinking that I caught her lost in her own thoughts.

So, I present to you:

“Daydreaming of Yesterday”
Charcoal with Pastel
Roma-brand Italian paper
46 x 64 cm (approx. 18” x 25”)
$1950




“Happy Thanksgiving” to all Americans and their friends and anyone else who appreciates the idea of gratitude. Be well.

Figure Drawing

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

There is a young girl, Sarah, here in Florence, Italy, who has become one of my favorite models. She is punctual and charming to work with. And she is truly lovely.

I created this figure drawing in charcoal on the 3rd of June, taking a short break from street painting. I find sketching from a model between drawing in the street all day relaxing and engaging.

This original charcoal drawing is on "green-blue" Canson’s Mi-Tientes colored paper is approximately 14 inches tall. The female figure is half-seated and half-reclining as her legs reach toward the viewer and the model leans away, against a chair.

She is priced at $150, including shipping. Sales tax is extra and depends on your location. If interested in adding her to your collection, or allowing this drawing of Sarah to start your collection, please contact the studio or just use the PayPal button below.

Thank you so much for your support and interest!
Tell a friend, if you like.