Marble Carving Ballerina

Dear Art Lover,

     I cannot go to the stone quarry in Vellano, Italy, every day.  Two days in a row of carving stone is too much for my knee, which never seems to heal!  But also, I have other projects and obligations in this period and am trying to find a balance among them.

     However, I have started a new carving on a piece of green marble I bought in Pietrasanta when I dropped off my new bronze sculpture at a foundry there.  Each day or half day at Cava Nardini makes me happy.  I mean, such lovely views! Many times there are also wonderful clouds and sunsets. The light changes plenty for interest.

Stone carving in progress - new start

     I often try to choose a stone that I have never worked with before.  This green marble with white inclusions in the cracks is beautiful, but as Marco Nardini describes:  It is like glass… chipping and shattering.  It is better to grind such a stone than to carve it.  I had hoped the cracks were superficial.  You will see in at least one of these photos that the quality of this stone may be difficult to manage.  Dead stone or stone separated with such weaknesses must be removed and I will have to redesign based on what is left in the stone.  However, if I pull it off, she will be lovely. 

Cracks are even more evident once the carving started.

I am always fascinated by the light changes over the hills.

      I am carving an abstract ballerina with fabric flowing up over her head.  It is a challenge to design and carve flowing curves in a rectangular cut stone.  I want to make it so that when I have completed her, your brain will not see the original shape of the rock, and instead just enjoy her current form. And, you may recall that colorful stones look rather pasty until they are polished.  This rock is a lovely not-quite-as-dark-as-forest green with white marble hightlights.  She is busy enough in pattern that I want to create only simple shapes to show off her personality.

Direct carving:  drawing design on the stone and then cut.

     Oh, the image of the tree jutting into the sky is a castagna tree, or chestnut.  During and after the symposium in July, we sculptors were enjoying plucking plums.  This past Sunday in Vellano was a festival for chestnuts.  It is so amazing to eat food in its own season.  I find it is a way to celebrate change, and unfortunately be a way to become even more aware of the passing years.  And our weather has turned cold this week.

    

Peace,

Kelly

http://BorsheimArts.com

 

Lovely subtle light changes as the day ends

Castagna [Italian] = Chestnut

Cava Nardini, Vellano, Tuscany, Italy

P.S.  Happy Anniversary to Amber and Alex! 

Touching Stone

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

One of the most difficult things to do in stone carving is to have two objects touch without making one too long or too short. While I have plenty of carving left to do on the base of my “Gymnast” marble sculpture, it is time to address how the hips of the figure will rest upon the turtle shell that holds her up.

Also, I have been working on many different parts of the figure - from hair to toes to her chest and neck and her hands. It is time to refine the shape of her hips as I figure out the connection to what is below. Categorically, my work falls somewhere between reality and abstraction. So, while I will not be creating an exact replica of the soft flesh of even the strongly developed gluts of an athlete as it is pressed over a hard form, I do want a great line for many viewpoints. I want the eye to move along, and I want the viewer’s hand to pass over the marble figure and feel a soft sensuality in the cool stone.


While I had planned last night to go into town for a late night concert of Indian music, I decided to stay home instead and photograph my crotch. That sounds like a lot more fun than it was. But after I got cleaned up and lost all of the day’s stone dust, I donned a pair of tights and tried to emulate the pose. This is part of the problem: I do not want this sculpture to look like me. However, when I am carving, it is actually my body that is the most available. I am happy that I have no neighbors nearby since I often tend to feel the shape of my own muscles and then draw what I felt onto the stone, adapting the anatomy to fit the work.

But my fingers are too thick to really “see” how the shape feels as the soft flesh folds over a bit of the hard tortoise shell. So, I needed either an interesting set of mirrors or some self-portraits. Hmmm. Scary. But this connection is very important. I asked John Borsheim, the mechanical engineer, to talk to me a bit about how much I could cut into the stone before it became so much like an hourglass that the sculpture would snap in two at that point if there is any stress while moving the stone carving. Better to err on the side of caution. This is also part of the reason for creating the turtles heads UP off of the bottom surface, while the legs will help create a circular base. More on that later . . .


I have not been happy with the hips, feeling that they are a bit large and malformed for a figure that size. I began to feel that the hips were getting too much vertical length and thus went back to my original measurement and cut off much stone. Measuring has always been a challenge to me. I am not sure what these images may tell you, but the hips will start to pull in more to give the pike position that noticeable “V” shape. In the last image (taken at dusk, hence the bluish cast), I can clearly see that I still must cut off some of that thigh as it gets closer to the torso. Anyway, I marked it in the near dark and will continue to shape the stone.


I am at the “dangerous” stage of my stone carving process with this marble sculpture. I say “dangerous” because I am almost to the point in which my mind can fully imagine the finished work. The problem is, the “Gymnast” is physically far from completed. At this stage, my mind becomes restless and my thoughts shift to thinking of the challenges I will have with the next stone. You can see the possible destructive nature of this situation, right?

The good news is that with all of my years of carving stone, I know full well that I will move beyond this step in due time and fall in love again with my current marble. I just hope there is enough time because she is the largest and most difficult carving I have yet attempted and I want to finish her desperately.

3-D Challenges Stone Carving

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

When painting, the difficult part is often creating a believable figure from one vantagepoint. When working from life, this can be frustrating since even the best models inevitably move. However, when I carve stone, I do not use a model. I suspect the two major reasons would be obvious - the time involved and the dangerous flying chips.

Working in the round means that as I move around the figure, the view and the line must flow in a way that fits. Anatomy may be “wrong,” but if the artist is either lucky or clever (or both), the viewer will never think of these things and simply admire the work.

As I have mentioned before in my art newsletters and in the descriptions on individual works presented on my Web site, often the view most helpful to me as the creator of the work, is the one least likely to be seen by the viewer. That is, the view from above. In this first image, I am standing behind the “Gymnast” marble carving and looking down her rib cage to see the shape of her hips.
Not entirely happy, am I. You may see that the bum sticks out behind the figure on the left more than on the right in an unflattering way. Perhaps you may see the brown crayon mark denoting the separation of the gluts. I have drawn a pencil line to the left of this where I will carve off extra stone to remedy the form problems. I must be careful not to get too “efficient” because not all of the cheek needs to come off. It is only from that ONE vantagepoint -- that one edge -- that needs removal of material.


The next two images show different views of the same area. The first is a profile from the left and the form looks very different! Just a side note: in my markings to myself as a direct carver, the back and forth squiggles indicate places I will remove stone, while the circle is an area I wish to keep. I mark the latter sometimes because it means that I am getting close to the final surface, in relation to the areas surrounding it.


The last image is taken at eye level with the hips. Can you see that this viewpoint gives me a completely different batch of information (while lacking others)?

What a first day of summer in the North, eh?

Stone Carving Tools

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

So, here is a brief peek into my little world out in the woods. I am continuing work on my marble “Gymnast.” While I have never been good about names and labels, I will try to use the proper terms for equipment here as I share with you some of my tools.

I bought a pneumatic die grinder with an extension tube at the front, as shown in this first image. Into that I added a double-cut carbide grinding tool connected to a 6-inch shaft. That is about as much reaching as I know how to do, other than to use a Fordham (and I think I broke mine some time ago). But even a Fordham might be of limited use since it has a flexible shaft. I need something rigid that not only will reach the distances I need, but help me push the tool into the marble to carve it. This is especially important since I cannot get even one finger into some of these areas between the figure’s torso and her thighs.


I hope it is obvious from this first image that the main difficulty in carving down into the negative space of the body in a pike position is that the gymnast’s head is in the way! This second image shows you what I really do not even get to see when I am carving (vs. photographing). I am reaching down between the face (upper left) and right arm (bottom of image) and trying to carve a deeper crease between the figure’s legs, just above her knees. It is like hiking in a snowy cave!


This third image shows a right angle die grinder … a Home Depot item with a great warranty. I have traded in two of these babies over the years for a brand new replacement! This stone carving tool also has a double-cut carbide tip with a 6-inch shaft on it. Fantastic helpers, but not many choices in tip shapes unless I am willing to wait and pay for a special order. Patience is rarely one of my virtues!


And even though I cannot always see what I am carving, I still like to draw on the stone to help me delineate various anatomical forms. Something to aim for! A straight pencil with a tapered tip will simply not leave a mark on the stone inside this narrow crevice. In this last image, you may see my thumb up against the figure’s eye as I am holding a specialized scissors that hold a pencil between its front claws. These teeth in the scissors are not designed to hold something as thick as a pencil, but it was all I could think to use. So, I bend the pencil in an angle that I think I want and squeeze the scissor handles very tightly so that I do not lose my pencil when I move down into my “well” of a workspace.

Really, I hope that I can pull this off! What are your favorite tools – for stone carving or any task?

Happy birthday, John! And thank you for showing me a lot about tools.

Stone Carving Pelican Lips

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Each day that I work to carve out the interior forms of my marble “Gymnast” I wonder if I am insane to have chosen to do this. However, the more the air enters the stone carving, the more I see that I made the right decision. It is slow going, and I can only appreciate that I have electric tools to speed it up a little. The difficulty has been in REACHING those inside areas.

While I work, my mind drifts onto thoughts of lips. I need to carve more on the “Gymnast”’s face, but I want to wait until the interior is more defined and I can focus on the face.

So, I will share with you part of my lips series in stone sculpture: “Pelican Lips” His dimensions are 12.5" h x 22" w x 6.5" d.

The stone is a brown marble from Canada, but the patterns in the stone look a lot like petrified wood. At the time that I carved this one, I had been seeing a lot of bird forms around me. I have watched pelicans (and their funny suicidal-looking hunting dives, straight down and head first into the water) along various coastlines throughout parts of my life. One side of the thick slab of stone in this sculpture shows a pair of human lips, while the other features a pair of pelicans. Bringing nature to humanity ;-)



If you enjoy this artwork and are interesting in purchasing him, please contact Don Elliott at the Franklin Barry Gallery / The Frame Shop
617 Massachusetts Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Tel. 317.822.8455
E-mail: theframeshopindy@aol.com

Layaway is accepted, too! Thank you for your interest in stone carving!


P.S. In this last image, you may see how, as a direct carver, I am drawing directly onto the stone. The stone tends to pale in color during the carving process, but once he is polished his true glory appears!

Awe in Stone Carving

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

“How did you do that?” is one question that seems to define the word “awe” for me. That is the one of the reasons I cannot seem to make a simple design in my sculpture – the attempt to make you (and me) feel awe. But I know that I also do it for the light. Mainly here, I am speaking about undercuts. I get frustrated enough because I am a slow producer, but then in the course of doing the work, I always seem to want to push myself to tackle a new challenge.

So, in my current marble carving project, the “Gymnast”, I thought creating a face that I can hardly reach was bad enough. Today, I took a masonry bit and drilled through the stone to create a space between the upper body and the vertical thighs. The “Gymnast” is in a tight pike position, with her toes pointed to the heavens.

I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to drill from one end of the stone to the other and have the drill bit emerge on the other side … in the intended position! Twice even – once over the breasts but under the arms and the second hole was created below the breast line. This seems like a no-brainer, but sometimes it is easier to measure the angle of the drill when one is not right on top of it. It is helpful to have someone else around on occasion to act as an extra eye or hand, but it did not happen today and I wanted to get on with it.


After I created the first two holes, I then changed to one of my new favorite tools – a double cut carbide tip on a 6” shaft. As seen here in the photos, I used it to go in from the top between the arms to start to connect holes and open up the space a little bit. I tend to stand back from the piece often to check my proportions and line. At some point, I drew in a line for the bird’s eye view of the breasts, keeping the line further out than I really want to cut. I can refine the line later, but I will never be able to retrieve cut stone.


In this last image, I am looking over the left shoulder of the “Gymnast” and down into the small opening of her folded up form. Really, what was I thinking?

My goal was to finish this marble sculpture before I returned to Italy in May, but I would be surprised if I can pull that off. Still, it is good to have goals.

Stone Carving the Head

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I have been able to carve stone these last few afternoons – the weather in this part of Texas has been quite lovely and surprisingly warm for winter. Continuing work on my “Gymnast” marble sculpture, I decided that it was time to tackle the head of the figure.

The critical part of myself admonished me to just start on it and botch it early on in the process because I would hate myself more if I did all of that work on the rest of the figure BEFORE ruining the face. Thankfully at my age I fully understand that this is only the voice that spurs me to take care to do my best work possible, but …to get to it. The other reality is that my training is to work the figure all around, developing the composition to the same level everywhere.

When I find myself hesitating, I have learned to stop to figure out what my brain is telling me. When I find myself unable to make one part of the stone carving smaller even when I KNOW it must be done, it is because another section of the stone nearby is way too large. There is another part of my brain unwilling to make the necessary changes because it is still seeing the (spatial) relationship that currently exists. And thus, the next step is to take an action that allows the parts of my brain to come to an agreement. Seriously, this is the way that my brain works.


In this case, I am referring to the fact that I could no longer make myself carve the face smaller until I reduced the larger mass of hair surrounding the face. In these first two images you may see that I have begun to carve away the hair above the ears. I am also beginning to remove the “Helmet Hair” effect, by carving the marble closer to the surface of the temple and forehead. Hair lies on top of the skull, but when pulled back, it is not such a bulky form.

In the last two images, I show you how I did the same thing to reduce the size of the left half of the face of the figure. Because I want her ponytail to fall over the back of the gymnast’s neck in an asymmetrical way, her head remained bulkier on the left side where I had left lots of stone for hair. To help myself see just how much I needed to carve, I redrew my centerline down her back and remeasured.

It is true that everything is relative. And also: that making one change affects the other relationships in the composition. All I can tell you is that one of the best feelings in stone carving is not being able to remember what the stone looked like before you made your cuts. Thus far, I have not botched her face!


An aside: I have been getting a few inquiries about whether or not I will be returning to Italy. I am aware that some people read this blog because I have written so much about that charming country. Yes, I will be returning this spring. And in a few weeks, I will be visiting London. I hope to be sharing some tidbits about my museum visits from that trip as well.

I am at the stage in my stone carving of the “Gymnast” that there will not be dramatic changes happening within one or two days’ work. And with the weather becoming more winter-like even as I write this, my time with this project may become more and more interrupted. I am not sure if it will interest you to see every little detail of this carving, so I will try to share some more of my images of Italy and art in general.

Feel free to send me requests for writing topics. I never want to waste your time.
Thank you!

Daddy Longlegs

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

One of the benefits of working outside is noticing all of the “critters.” The other day I got to see a single ladybug on my marble “Gymnast” sculpture project. I do not really see ladybugs that often here, and that red round body contrasting with the white marble was fun.

More recently, I approached my marble work to find a Daddy Longlegs hanging out under the figure’s right arm. They are harmless and friendly enough. But I do worry that I will damage one of those delicate legs. I shooed him away, but then realized that my electric rotary tool apparently had no juice. After trying several sockets and wiggling lots of wire parts, I took it into the shop to take things apart.


Inside, one wire just pulled out WAY too easily. Most wire is coated with only the tips showing exposed metal. In this case, this tip had broken off inside the tool. Fixing it was just a matter of cutting away more of the plastic tubing around it and reattaching the wire.


When I returned to my carving site, my Daddy Longlegs friend was back, hiding under the left arm this time.

Nature's holidays are best - happy solstice! The skies were solid clouds (still are) over my home in central Texas, so I missed any chance of seeing the lunar eclipse last night.

Crack in Stone

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I have been trying to get back to my “drug of choice” – stone. So in-between preparing for exhibits, making art for my galleries, and just plain old “takin’ care of business,” I have been going outside to work on my marble carving of the “Gymnast.” I last wrote about her on my January 19, 2010 blog entry. I had just cut a hole into the space under the chin and in front of the vertical legs.

When I have left a work for a long period of time, I tend to move back into it slowly, reacquainting myself with the form and at the same time, trying to see the work with a fresh eye. I want to be fully focused before I continue. My first thought is to notice my emotional response to the artwork-in-progress. While it is difficult to carve emotion, per se, any negative emotions are often my first clue that something is wrong with the shape. I just have to figure out what sometimes. [Other times, it is quite apparent.]

I first noticed that there was a crack in the stone near the outer toes on the figure’s right foot (pointed out with red arrows in the first image). So, the first step back into carving was obvious and I removed entirely the stone outside of the crack. Some carvers like to use SuperGlue or some such adhesive to keep the crack secure as they carve around it. But thus far, my feeling is to get rid of a defect, or dead stone, and redesign. In this case, I still have plenty of marble for the feet.


This next pair of images shows you the markings I made on my stone of what to remove or lines to follow as I shape the feet. I tend to stand back about six feet from various vantage points to make sure that the line I will be creating flows beautifully.


In this final image, you can see what the end of my workday looks like. I do tend to watch the setting sun through the trees as I wrap up the day’s work. You can also see some of the mulch I have been spreading around my work site. The electric company came in a week or two ago and cut down and trimmed all of the trees within about 20 or 30 feet of the electric lines. I asked them if I could keep the mulch they made from the smaller branches and brush. I have been shoveling a little bit each day that I am out. Lovely stuff! And the cedar (juniper really) smells fantastic, although most of my privacy is gone.

Thank you for your interest in art and process.

Happy Birthday to my sweet brother Paul!

Open Book Stone Carving

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Today was a glorious day! 84 degrees, partly sunny, a wee bit windy . . . my favorite kind of stone carving day! I like to stop work each day in my studio – whether indoor or out – leaving something unfinished. I have found that it is a way to stave off a creative block. Monday I left myself with the start of an idea, but not a full answer.

Today, I began to focus on the top portion of my marble sculpture. Those who either read this blog often or have taken a class from me might remember that I often feel that the most helpful information about the form will often be found by the view one is least likely to have, that is, the bird’s eye view.


Thus, I began today’s work by getting out my trusty stepladder and having a look. I decided to pull back the woman’s rib cage, emphasizing even more the arching gesture while pulling her into the male’s form a bit. Then I figured out how the lines I drew Monday on the stone might work and connect up with one another on an artwork in the round.

I love triangles, but I did not really love this idea. However, I did not have another at the moment. When this happens to me, I try to determine whether or not I can cut into the stone to explore the current idea without losing something that I later will want. For me, this is the challenge of direct carving. For collaboration with the stone to occur, sometimes I must remove material so that an idea emerges.


After I chiseled out the diamond in the neck, I stepped back to take a look. (See the second image.) I felt nothing. Well, not really, I actually decided that any upward hint of a neck actually detracted from the lines I have carved in the marble torsos. However, I still loved the “S” curve of the clavicle (collarbone). So, I decided to emphasize that line.

As I was chiseling away, my mind drifted to my friend and mentor Vasily (Fedorouk)’s work. Over the years that I have known him and studied his work, I began to notice that certain shapes or poses seem to reoccur in his sculpture. Like Leonardo da Vinci’s solo finger pointing up, I guess all artists have some gesture or line that has some personal meaning, however subliminal.

And then it occurred to me . . . I had carved this shape before on another torso in marble back in 2004! This particular "S" curve of the clavicle reminds me of an open book. And an open book could be interpreted as a type of vulnerability or perhaps accessibility. It is also a form of generosity. I will let the psychologists take it from there.


It felt great getting this resolved today, for I still am unsure of what I want to do with the base . . . There is a cold front expected tonight, so I stopped work long enough to get all the plants indoors and bring up some firewood to the house. The sun had set by the time I returned to the marble.

Of course I could see her whiteness in the dying light and I needed nothing more. I am close enough to the final shape that I use my fingers more than my eyes to feel and refine the form. I love running my fingers along the weaving landscape of muscles and my sense of touch gives me much more information now. I used the rough end of my carbide file to remove the tool marks of the day until it was almost pitch black outside. A good day’s work, to be sure.

Gratitude is best when expressed. So in the spirit of the American Thanksgiving, I just wanted to say thank you for your interest in my journey. I could not do it without you.