La Notte Bianca White Night Florence Italy

a woman hand-carves a tiny stone

Dear Art Lover,

     And today is a day that reminds me that I once tried to do something that my childhood fears made me promise myself that I would never do.  Sadly, my fears were realized.  And yet, I appear to still be kicking.  So, I choose to use today as my anniversary to re-evaluate what is most important to my life, remind myself that I can say “no” to distractions, and try to create something worthwhile in the process.
     Allora, while I turn off the computer work and perhaps even the house hunting, I am going to spoil myself silly today by creating art.
     But, hey, you do not need to be down or bored by my post!  So recently, a friend came down to Florence and we put some legs to use, walking all over the city.  I have already shared with you some of the garden images.  Here are some from the arts and crafts fair happening at the Fortezza da Basso (what one friend calls the “Ethnic Fair” since there is one floor of non-Italian hand-made creations of all types).  

Furniture Exhibition [Design] at Fortezza da Basso

     Later, we walked around to visit a friend’s gallery and wandered around various piazzas because it was La Notte Bianca, the White Night [always 30 April for Florence].  In recent years past, this has been a night of spettacoli, light shows, concerts, and more. This year it was way stripped back and very little was happening that we could see.  This may have been related to the big Mafia-involved scandal that was Milano Expo 2015.  I suspect that a lot of regular citizens lost a lot of money, but perhaps so did the city governments.  But that is another story . . . and not so pretty.

Peace,

Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com

A new underground shoppe on Via San Niccolo'  Florence

Peek-a-BOO! 

Very Italian Composition :-)

Flowers from Florence For Rudy

Dear Art Lover,

     Today is the birthday of a lady I admire very much: Audrey Hepburn.  Not just a beauty, but a generosity of spirit with a grace and gentleness I could never hope to match.

     However, it is also the birthday of several friends [Lisa, Hilary, ].  But today I want to give a shout out to “my kid” Rudy Sanchez in Austin, Texas.  He is now 35 years old (or as the Italians would say, he HAS 35 years).  You taught me so much, Rudy, and I always wished that I could have done more for you. 

Happy 35^th Birthday, Rudy!  

Torta for TWO !  Cheesecake from Osteria Santo Spirito. mmm

     Because you are doing so well creating city gardens for the people in central Texas, I want to send you some image of flowers, sculpture, and more from my beloved city in Italia.  I wish you could have actually tasted this cheesecake from Osteria Santo Spirito with me.  It was nothing short of yummy!  [a little bird told me so. Hahaha]

      Incidentally, the crew of Ron Howard with actor Tom Hanks, among many others, are filming in Florence now on another of the Dan Brown novels.

Peace,
Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com

Not quite "Hook 'em, Horns!" but I was going for that.

Apparently dogs are supposed to dress "properly" too! :-D

I love my blue suede boots!  Giardino dell'Iris - Florence, Italia

Kelly and Rudy many (too many) years ago.  Austin, Texas

Anthurium Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Nature often repeats her patterns and shapes, especially when they are successful. No doubt you have seen the spiral in the nautilus shell (often used as a visual to explain the mathematical terms of the Golden Mean or Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Sequence). That spiral shape is also found in many plants, such as in the branches of an agave, the petals on the head of an artichoke, fruitlets of a pineapple, and in pine cones.

Ripples, twists, fractals, branching and more … we see recurring Nature’s patterns everywhere from the cracked dry earth to the veining in leaves to the billows of cloud patches, the scales on a snake, soap bubbles, honeycomb, and the staggered rows of kernels on corn cobs. Under water, over water, even water: the repetition of shapes, lines, and textures are everywhere. We are fascinated, as well as comforted by their beautiful design.

In what may be becoming my New Years' Eve tradition, I now would like to introduce you to another intentionally erotic artwork… if this is not your kind of thing, please just stop reading and go do something more interesting.

The concept, of course, is about the beauty and function in Nature’s repeating patterns.


“Anthurium”
pastel on black Firenze-brand paper
9” x 25”
$1800 + $20 shipping (6.75% sales tax to Texas destinations)

The idea for this pastel painting titled “Anthurium” was birthed back in 2007 in Florence, Italy. I did a commissioned pencil drawing for an Italian flower vendor who opened shop every day (but Sunday) in the piazza closest to my rented flat.

One day he asked me if I could do a drawing from a photograph and when I responded with a shrug, “Perché no?”, he pulled out a small, dark photo of himself, posing in shorts with an almost body builder physique. He seemed quite pleased to see the surprise in my face. It had never occurred to me that he would want me to do a drawing of him.

At the time, I had not yet created many images of a figure in an environment. Despite my very long days at the Angel Academy of Arts, I came home each night and worked really hard to create a drawing that I wanted to sign. The reference photo was horrible, so I immediately decided to create my own design around the figure. I came up with a border reminiscent of the shape of Florence’s famous Duomo and drew flowers around my friend’s image.

When I was nearing completion, I took the drawing over to show him and he actually made me remove one of the flowers I had chosen for its compositional value, and he said to me with a straight face, “THIS is my favorite flower.” I looked at the flower he pointed to, looked back at his expression, and thought, “You have got to be kidding me!”

I never could tell if he was or not, but I finished the drawing with his beloved anthuriums and he seemed genuinely delighted with it. Some ideas hang inside my head for years before they manifest themselves. I hope this one makes you smile.

I wish you a colorful and joyful 2011, full of ups more than downs and an honest appreciation of Nature’s offerings. Thank you for reading my blog and cruising along with this artistic journey.