Life Imitates Art

Dear Art Lover,

     It took me a day perhaps to realize another reason that I really liked this photo of my landlord trimming the olive trees that I took earlier this week.  Then after having a break from looking, I realized that his pose reminds me of a sculpture I made while applying for a commission for an airline board-of-director’s gift.  What do you think of my landlord as the new model for “Warrior Spirit”?

See more views of the bronze here.  http://www.borsheimarts.com/sculpture/2006/warriorspirit.htm

     

     And the newest art newsletter is now online.  I introduced a new painting that depicts history and … snakes.  I hope that you enjoy it and I invite you to click here to see the many images and news that I have shared with you.

http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/201702_ArtNews-SerpentsSnakesDragons.htm

    

Happy birthday, Hugo! 

Kelly

P.S.  Subscribe to the art newsletter here (it is FREE):  http://www.borsheimarts.com/contact.htm

Kristen Live Model Painting

Dear Art Lover,

      

     I was surprised recently to receive a private message in Facebook from a woman in another country.  She told me that she had bought one of my oil paintings.  It was painted 2001, sketching from live models (usually just one three-hour session, with work at home later if I could add to it).  What a wonder!

     Last summer while I was in Texas, I released a few other earlier works.  These are even more affordable than my current paintings. Here is one of my earlier paintings [2001] from a live model, Kristen. I always liked the light on this one and her very dramatic profile. I re-stretched her and re-framed her this past summer in Texas. She measures 27 x 15 inches (without frame) and will sell for only $525 (with frame), with additional shipping at cost from Austin, Texas. Contact me if you like her, please.

http://www.borsheimarts.com/painting/2001/kristen.htm

Kristen, 27" x 15", framed

Kristen

27" h X 15"
Original Oil on Canvas
© 2001 Kelly Borsheim

$525, includes frame

[shipping from Austin, Texas

 not included]

Peace,

Kelly

http://BorsheimArts.com

P.S.  Happy birthday to one of my very first friends in college back in 1982, Terrisa in Texas! 

Hindsight and Daydreaming

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

For the last several New Year's Eve postings, I thought I would have a little fun and share something with you in the spirit of the culture of Pompeii (pre-volcanic explosion!):  Namely, some naughty art.  Pompei, Italia (as it is spelled in Italian), is rather famouse for its art.  The entryways of many homes and public spaces sported mosaics and fresco of, for example, a man with a giant phallus.  American tastes often dictate [ahem...] that this is simply... er, too much.

However, people who live closer to the Earth tend to openly celebrate human (and even animal) sexuality and see it as a natural part of living, as they saw spirituality.  So, to be greeted by an exaggerated male member was actually a wish or even a prayer, if you like, for fertile growth and prosperity in all areas of life, even economics. 

In this "down week" between Christmas and New Years' I have tried to remain at home alone (unsuccessfully, I must admit), working on my art and reflecting on all of the things that I might have done differently in 2013.  I wish sometimes that I did not ALWAYS put people ahead of my art.  Or rather, I need a balance, but more importantly, I need to learn how to avoid getting caught up in other people's drama.  And learn how to extricate myself from it sooner than later, once I recognize a negative situation.  [I did send a message to my former landladies wishing them happy holidays in an effort to let them know that I blame them less for my losing my home this spring and was happy to receive a lovely response.]

So, this year, I want to share with you two charcoal drawings that I created from live models.  "Hindsight" and "Daydreaming."  Both activities are worth doing (in moderation) and today, I celebrate them.  So, in 2014, it is my wish that we all keep reflecting, dreaming, and learning how to love and how to live closer to our Earth.  Happy 2014!


P.S.  I have recently updated my Web site and have added a page specifically for "Naughty Art."  That way, if it is just not your thing, you may choose to avoid clicking on those words.

After The Bath Sculpture Women

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

It is not so often that I get the opportunity to sculpt two models posing together. However, some years ago in Texas, I was able to host anOpen Sculpture Studio with Austin Visual Arts Association. I hired two great models and did a couple of sculptures of them. It is quite interesting to have people hold a position for hours (with breaks, of course; the body is simply not designed to stay still for very long!) while touching each other. Touch is so personal, even the most seemingly casual or insignificant.

Today’s featured sculpture “After the Bath” is the original “sketch” in clay that I created during a short series of modeling sessions (perhaps three sessions of three hours each?). These photos were taken during the patina (coloring) process out in my wooded studio in Texas. The two women are of different ages and physical physiques. I like the contradiction of shapes and forms. I like the openness of this composition to interpretation. What is yours?

"After The Bath"
terra-cotta, one-of-a-kind
10" h x 18" x 18"
© 2005-2006 Kelly Borsheim

Like this original sculpture? If you make arrangements to add this artwork to your collection before 15 February, you will receive MORE art (of your choosing). See details of the twelfth anniversary ART EVENT, here: http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2013_01_GuggenheimSerraBilbao.htm

Happy birthday, Great Aunt Lil in St. Paul!

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 . . .