Painting The Woodlands and Galveston Texas

Dear Art Lover,     

      I drove to the Houston area this weekend, about 2-3 hours east of Austin, Texas, where I am hanging my hat for the next 30 days.  I timed my visit to the Italian Consulate so that I could see as many friends along the way as possible.  The first meeting happened on Saturday in The Woodlands, north of Houston.  Pinterest was having an arts and crafts event in the Marriott Hotel… what a space it was!  My friend Nancy Hines was doing an painting demo there.  In ONE hour!  She did an amazing job of it, too!  Check out her work on her site:

http://nancyhines.com/

     Then on Sunday morning, I drove to Missouri City to meet with a model who wanted to work with me.  We decided to drive to the beach in Galveston.  Hahah… I got my TacoCabana fix for lunch.  We worked under the pier since I am not a fan of direct sun and we had too few available hours to wait for the sun to lower her head.  While we were working there, a woman asked me if I had a business card.  She and her daughter had decided they wanted to picnic in the shade under the pier near us and had overheard us talking as we worked. 

     Well, the only things I had brought with me were my tools, an umbrella, and car keys.  So, I wrote my Web site address in the sand in front of her and she photographed it with her phone.  Hahaha… surreal, this world we live in.  I do hope that she looks me up because that is a lovely story about meeting a person!

    Hours later, I dropped my new model friend at his home and drove on into central Houston.  This last image is of me with Lucrecia and one of my photographs on metal.  Her sister Lili will receive this as her reward for the level of support she gave my “Casting Call:  I’m Melting!  Melting!  Into Bronze” art project on Kickstarter this past March.

     And this last image is just a fun one.  Back in Texas and the land that loves hot sauces, made with a variety of hot peppers.  Enjoy… 

Peace,

Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor and painter

http://BorsheimArts.com

Still Life Painting Perishables Project

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),
I have been working on an exercise to paint things that are perishable.  However, in my original composition, there were too many individuals wanting equal attention.  And that is not how a society runs.  [Sad, but true.]   So, I decided to put the focus more into the area of high chroma and hung some garbage bags over my models in such a way that the left side was more in shadow.  I am curious to see how the final painting turns out.

White Pencil Drawing of Nude Male Figure Florence Italy

Cari Amici,

Not too long ago, I hired one of the many charming Italian models here in Florence to pose for other artists and me for a two-hour sketch (including breaks). Since sculpting the bronze “I am You”, I became even more interested in how different individuals or specifically even men and women carry themselves.

So, on this evening, I asked Mauro to try to imitate the pose that you saw in the charcoal drawing of Ilaria that I posted yesterday. He really could not get into the pose, which I found interesting. But he did an acceptable job of holding the gesture that he did give us.

Here you see my work of a white pastel pencil on black paper. I am really enjoying this idea of light from darkness. I hope you do as well.
His price is 125 USD, plus $20 for shipping and handling. Contact me if you are interested in “Mauro in Light.”
Thank you for reading.

Kelly

Cartoon Transfer for Charcoal Drawing

By Wednesday night, my friend Janné and I were ready to transfer our cartoon drawings of the model Valentina to the better quality Umbria paper for our charcoal drawings. Pictured here you can see my tracing paper that is used to transfer my original drawing to the new paper.

This method of transfer does not harm the original. I used a blue felt pen to trace over my drawing. Then on the back side of the tracing paper, I rubbed some soft B charcoal over my lines (Nitram brand – French and not available in the States, that I know of). I then position the tracing paper over my Umbria paper, measuring my vertical placement lines from the paper’s edge so that my figure is oriented properly on the paper. And then I use a blunt pencil to trace over my blue felt lines and transfer charcoal lines onto the Umbria.


My next step is to lay-in the tones, starting with the background. I use a soft B charcoal (stubs usually) to scrub-in the ‘dirt on paper.’ Then I use a soft sponge to even out the charcoal and try for some consistent and desired tone. This is not precise because until I see the model in pose, I cannot determine any tonal relationships. Janné took the image you see of me wiping the extra charcoal dust into the street of Via Ghibellina here in Florence, Italy. Vine charcoal is quite dirty and the only other window in my apartment opens up over another woman’s courtyard. She often has laundry hanging up, so it seemed a bit rude to give her the dust. So, go ahead and chastise me for trashing Florence. Some art production is not particularly environmentally friendly.

This last image shows you my basic transfer from a cartoon drawing on inexpensive paper to a tonal disegno on Umbria paper. So far, I like Umbria much better than the Somerset that I used for the drawing of Francesco. As you can see, I have a lot of blending to do in the background, once I establish my desired tones in each area. And, of course, the figure needs much refinement. The face is too garish for my taste, but having gone through this process before, I know she will not end up looking like this for long. Also, I do not often see the model’s face (depending on her and my movements and the fall of her hair during each posing session). However, I want to create her beautiful face before adding wisps of hair over it. And finally, I am pleased with the sexy wave-like shadow her body causes on the model stand.

Thank you for reading!
Yours truly,
Kelly Borsheim

PS Buon Compleanno, Matteo!

Charcoal Figure Drawing Art

Ciao! Oggi it rains, so I have decided to set up a safer photoshoot in my room here on the same street that the house of Michelangelo is on in Firenze, so that I may get a final image of my charcoal drawing of Sara. So, here she is – 66 x 46 cm and the title is “A World Away.” Most models are familiar with this idea of where their minds travel while they are not moving during the pose.

Sara’s birthday is the 5th and I have come to understand that I do not always meet deadlines for myself, but if I set them based on what I would like to do for other people, the deadline takes on more significance for me and are met. When the rain stops and I have time, I will spray her with fixative and then take my charcoal drawing to the frame shop for a cornice. She will be more protected in this way and ready for her new life in someone else’s space.

I hope you enjoy “A World Away” and my little blog discussions during her creation about my choices on the disegno. Grazie!

Anonymous Patron of the Arts

Tomorrow, 11 Gennaio, is my seventh anniversary for taking the art plunge full-time! I have learned so much and I keep learning and growing and thinking. (Most people tell me too much thinking, ma . . . )

This evening I was able to complete the cycle on a wonderful gift that I recently received.
I gave a charming young Italian woman a framed drawing that I had created of her back on 24 October 2007 in Florence, Italy. It was a gift from an arts patron. And she was thrilled. (This image of the three of us – Eugenia, the model, “Eugenia” the drawing, and Kelly, the artist – was taken by Juan Pablo Ruiz.)

An American man who wishes to remain anonymous, and whom I have only met via e-mail, paid double my price + framing for my drawing of a new Italian model named Eugenia. I posted an image of the pencil (black and white) sketch on a grey paper of a seated female nude figure on the 2 November entry of my blog.

My arts patron asked me to frame the drawing and give it to the model as a gift. He wanted to support my efforts in Italia. Wow, that was a new one! Via e-mail, he wrote:

“. . . Your blog is great! I feel a bit like I myself am there in Italy enjoying the experience and fun of you and your new friends. I want to pay back a little, or you can think of it as a very minor benefactor to enable you to continue what you are doing, which is good for you, good for me, good for our country, etc.

Your experimentation with white pencil on black paper is interesting (Mario) . . . Your drawing of Eugenia (drawn Oct 24, posted Nov 2, 2007 in your blog) is quite my cup of tea. Wow. Your talent is really impressive and she is classic goddess. Is it still available? May I purchase it so that you can donate it to the model? . . .Tell her an anonymous American benefactor wanted to spread a little artistic goodwill to Italy.”

When I sounded a bit stunned (you want to overpay and give it away? – my father asked me recently if I realized that I talk too much when people want to help me! ;-) and I suggested that I pay for framing since his offer was so generous, he responded:

“If it's not too much trouble for you, yes, please give it to Eugenia. [Let’s] frame it. It would be a crying shame if it were to be stored in a file or vault. (Although it occurs to me that 50 years from now maybe I'll be telling my grandchildren how I gave away a signed original Borsheim!)”

ha ha – now I have expectations to fulfill! But seriously, the generosity of this art benefactor touched me. And impressed many of my artist friends. We all agreed that the mental boost of such kindness is amazing! And Eugenia was so happy that she spoke way too quickly in Italian for me to understand most of her expression. And she will keep modeling. Thank you, Mr. Anonymous Art Patron from Eugenia and me in Italia!

Drawing of Sara in Charcoal

Even though I am back in Texas and working on my sculpture projects, my mind cannot help but linger on the main drawing that I did not finish while in Italia. I really wanted to keep working on my charcoal drawing of Sara after my time with the model ended, but I had too many friends to visit before I returned to gli stati uniti.

My friend Skye Campbell took this foto of me during one of the model breaks. While I have some more turning of the figure to do, such as making the shoulder and pectoral form darker on the viewer’s left side, most of the work left is everything other than the figure in the drawing.

Per esempio, I have exaggerated the reflected light on the spine of the book under the model’s foot, as I often do when making notes to myself. The exaggeration reminds me that something is there to address, whereas a subtler note might become an overlooked detail, or a missed opportunity. There are subtle changes to be made to the book to show that the source light is falls brighter on one end of the book than on the other. In addition, the big black box that the model sits upon needs more work, mostly darkening the top plane, but also improving the gradation of tone to show more depth to the box itself. The floor and the background wall need to have these sorts of subtleties finessed as well. I will add more movement of tone to improve the interest in this charcoal drawing.

All in A Day’s Work – Drawing

So, I am coming to the end of my projects. Here is what my weekday often looks like: from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., I work on my charcoal drawing of Sara. Then from 2 to 5 p.m. I work on my charcoal drawing of a plaster cast of a sculpted ear using the sight-size method. I do not actually see it as an ear. For the longest time I have only seen abstracted shapes, such as the duckie, the infinity symbol, and the sideways apostrophe mark.

Monday, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I draw from live models (portraits the first two days, one 2-hour pose of the figure on the third day) from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. I host the Wednesday evening sessions of lots of artists sharing model expenses. Thursdays are art history night, often with two events at two different art schools here in Florence, Italy: Angel Academy of Art and the Charles H. Cecil Studios. Fridays, I have the option to draw from life again or usually, just catch up on other projects or maybe even go out with a friend.

After drawing each night, I then work some more on my drawing of Sara (without the model) until 9 p.m. Much of working with charcoal means using the point. By this I mean that the charcoal stick must be sanded to a fine point in order to be applied to the paper, especially when trying to remove any blotchiness from using other application methods. My figure of Sara is 60 centimeters tall. She has taken up a lot of time, but I am happy with the progress I am making.

The rest of the time, I am either living life, meeting new people, or doing laundry or something. Perhaps this is not the exciting life some imagined – being in Italia and all – but I am really refining my skills as an artist and I love it.

Drawing of Mario - Florence, Italy

And another life drawing here. This time the model’s name is Mario. We seem to have an abundance of models here in Firenze. Lots of new faces and forms to draw. The figure is about 42 centimeters (just over 16 inches) tall. I drew in the light shapes only with a white pencil on a dark charcoal grey Canson paper. I have done some shape exercises to train the eye in which I only draw what is light, and not shadow. I had fun with it and when working with Mario, I decided to use a much darker paper so that the lights seem to emerge from darkness, adding perhaps some mystery.

The paper for framing purposes is around 47 x 30 cm, not counting what would be under the mat and frame. The drawing is signed and dated 7 November 2007. I did a few minor touch-ups after that, but that is the date that the model session was held and most of the work was done. I may get to use this sketch as an inspiration in my “Naked Gondolier” series of paintings.

“Mario” is available for private or public collexions, so please do not be shy about inquiring! Thank you for reading.

Pencil Drawing - Seated Female Model

On the 24th of October, I did a pencil drawing of a new model, Eugenia. I have been interested in doing drawings on dark paper with the light shapes being prominent. But I only had a grey paper with me. I began the 1.5-hour session by sketching the figure in with a pencil. But I ended up liking the drawing and only added a wee bit of white pencil to try to round out the form. I am pleased with this figure drawing, especially because of the relatively short duration of the pose.

While I am working to improve my seeing of shapes accurately and this means a study of classical proportion and realism, I am not sure how far I will take this. What I really enjoy about the process of drawing that I am learning now is that I can leave some elements of a work of art only implied, such as the chair and hands. There is enough of a chair drawn there so that a floating figure does not confuse the viewer’s brain and the gesture is visible without all of the details in this pencil drawing.

She is 23 centimeters tall – from foot to head. Signed and dated. If interested in this drawing, you may add her to your collection for only $50 (US) plus $15 shipping from Italy to anywhere in the world. Just send me an e-mail!