Break on Through to the Other Side

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Normally when carving stone, the artist works three sides and leaves the fourth alone in case it becomes necessary to push the carving back into this forth side. On a portrait, for example, if the nose breaks, it would be possible to carve all details a little bit deeper without distortion, if one has not already cut away the stone at the back of the head.

In the case of my marble gymnast, I have been working all four sides, using my “inside” as my insurance, if you will. While carving the shapes and determining proportions of the various forms of my figure in stone, I was careful not to undercut into the interior.

However, when this cautious behaviour led to my inability to envision and shape the face, I plunged forward and drilled my first hole in the stone. Commitment time. I am a firm believer that when something begins to distract me to the point of not being able to focus on my current activity (whether it be a need/desire for food, bathroom, sex, sleep, or another art project), I stop my current activity to satisfy my need. Then I can get back to the original task at hand, and with more enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of cool drilling tools. So I used a common electric drill and a long masonry drill bit. Of course, my objective is to drill the hole so that it comes out the other side in the right place, and certainly not through a body part! So, I used the drill bit and one of my chisels to help me place the drill spot and the angle, standing back and viewing the line from a distance and many viewpoints.


It took me most of the afternoon on 30 December to work this marble from both sides until I finally saw the light. I was proud of myself that the holes I drilled from each side matched up PERFECTLY in the center. I have a habit now of singing Jim Morrison of The Door’s “Break on through to the other side . . .” every time I drill the first hole in one of my stone carvings. I kinda enjoy the tradition of it, as well as the cheer-leading factor.

Art Anniversary Gable Stone Installed

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Today is the anniversary of the day I became a full-time artist nine years ago after selling my beeswax candle business, Lumina Candles & Art.

I am celebrating by offering special savings from my Web site that will continue through the last day of February.

But also, I wanted to do a bit of follow-up on a stone carving commission that I completed back in November. While I have shared images and thoughts of my progress on the carving of my first Gable Stone on my Facebook Fan Page, I last mentioned the art commission here on the October 1st posting.

Here is the finished carving. She is sealed 17” x 20” Cordova Creme Texas limestone. “Kalli & Satchel” depicts the young lady of the house and the family pet. The little girl loves balloons and there are three, each representing a human member of the family (mom, dad, daughter).



Lighting with lights at night -- not the best image, but perhaps you can still see that this is sculpture, not painting.

The Gable Stone is mounted in a frame above the doorway.
Houston, Texas
Private art commission – stone carving
Installed mid-December 2009
(house photos sent by client)

PS> Received this today: “Ciao Kelly, come stai? Spero bene!! Take a look of this video on youtube I made it and I put also the beautiful paint from you!!! Best wishes for the new year!!!! gReY, Firenze” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qxB15aOhH4

Happy Birthday, Aunt Patsy!

Taking the Plunge

9-year Anniversary Celebration:

January 11 marks the 9th anniversary of when I sold my beeswax candle business and "took the plunge" to a life as a full-time artist. Here are the ways you can benefit from my doggedness :-) :

• Enjoy a 20% Savings on ALL Giclée orders taken before 28 February 2010! Details: www.borsheimarts.com/giclee.htm
  
• FREE Giclée up to 18" long (up to a $200 value) or 20 FREE notecards with each painting commission received. (Your choice of available images.)
  Offer expires 28 February 2010. Information about how to commission a work of art, as well as some images of my past commissions, is online at:
  www.borsheimarts.com/commission.htm
  
• FREE shipping and handling on all art purchases (sculpture and 2-dimensional art) arranged from today through 28 February 2010.
  
• Interested in trying out my Layaway Plan? From now until 28 February, enjoy a reduced down payment of only one-third the full price instead of
  the normal half. As always, no finance charge if payments are made on time. For details, visit: www.borsheimarts.com/pricelist.htm
  

Know before you expand your art collection: Prices for my original drawings and paintings, as well as sculpture are all posted online - either on the
page exhibiting each artwork or on the Price List page:

www.borsheimarts.com/pricelist.htm

Charcoal Drawings

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

What a busy week! January 11 marks the ninth anniversary of my “taking the plunge” to be a full-time artist. Nine years! Scary, exciting, and still loving it.

I am still putting together my art newsletter about the savings on art this month to help me celebrate, but in the meantime I have been working to update my site, especially the 2-D section.

Thus far, I have organized the charcoal drawings that I have done over the last several years and added some new images, such as the one included here today. I do not think that I realized just how many I have drawn until I began to group them together. While I still want to improve my productivity, I guess I should not beat myself up so much about it.

Check it out:

http://www.borsheimarts.com/charcoaldrawings.htm

Thank you for being a part of it all!
Cheers,
Kelly

Erotic Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

It is very frustrating, but sometimes my work is not permitted to be exhibited because of “rules” against nudity in art. This despite the fact that most people are extremely complimentary of the sensitivity in which I portray people in their most vulnerable state (or so they tell me).

So, if you cannot beat ‘em, . . . join ‘em.

And I actually feel a bit excited to be joining the ranks of many of my predecessors, including lots of the “Big Boys” such as Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Théodore Géricault, Rodin, Pablo Picasso, and my friend and mentor Vasily Fedorouk. Even Michelangelo painted quite a lascivious “Leda and the Swan” composition. I suspect that besides the Japanese, Egyptians, and the Greeks, every culture has birthed some form of erotic art.

While exploring various compositions, I was trying to think of a title to inspire me and keep me on track. I was seeking eroticism, not vulgarity. My ex-roommate Elena, from Italy, unknowingly named this pastel and charcoal drawing. She and I happened to be corresponding shortly after I began work on this piece. She often addresses me as “tesoro,” which is Italian for “treasure” and is a term of affection among the Italians.

Thus, I would be happy to introduce to you my first published work of intentionally erotic art.

”Tesoro!”
22” x 16”
Charcoal and Pastel Drawing
Roma-brand paper
$1800 (+ $20 shipping + applicable sales tax)
by Kelly Borsheim

And I wish you a sensuous and joyful 2010 full of passion and amore.

Anatomy and Line

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Although I have not spoken much about this, I am not trying to make a copy in marble of an actual human being. While I am thinking about anatomy and using real bodies for references, I am constantly looking for that beautiful line.

The depressing thing about doing art of a more representational style is that people judge the piece for what it is not more than what it is. I mean that the tighter a work gets towards recognizable, the more people critique it for the artist’s mistakes. If would not matter if someone creating an exact replica of a specific person that was 99% accurate (on a scientist’s terms I suppose). The viewer’s eye would immediately find that 1% inaccurate part and it would ruin the rest of the effort.


It was not until my first visit to the Benson Sculpture Garden in Loveland, Colorado, about a decade ago, that I realized that there was a limit to how far I wanted to depict reality in my own work. Too much reality bored me. Art is in the details, but the KIND of details makes a world of difference. In Italy, especially, I have been learning to understand the difference between art and copying.


So, anyway, these images that follow show you how I am inspired by Nature’s anatomy, but that I am seeking a line that flows beautifully. In the latter two images, I have drawn the line of the legs that are covered up by the hands. This not only helps me to shape the legs underneath the arms and hands, but also helps me know how close to carve the hands and how much more marble I must remove.

The most difficult thing to do in stone carving is to have two things touch without overlapping in a weird way or becoming too far apart.

Enjoy your New Year’s celebration.

Top Ten Artist Blog Post Award

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Well, I would first like to thank several of my readers for nominating various artworks of mine that were posted on this blog in 2009 for artist and author Katherine Tyrrell’s Making a Mark blog’s “Best of . . .” competition. Two of my drawings were chosen in the semi-finalist stage for the Figure Art category, but I was not so lucky on the shortlist. However, I do appreciate your support and interest. Thank you.

You can vote for one of the three finalists by clicking here before the 29th of December:
http://makingamark.blogspot.com/2009/12/vote-for-best-artwork-on-art-blog-in.html

Then to my surprise today, I found out that one of my blog posts won a listing on Casey Klahn’s “The Colorist” blog. It made me laugh to see which of my blog posts struck Casey as memorable and why. Perhaps you will enjoy his point of view as well. Check it out:

http://thecolorist.blogspot.com/2009/12/top-ten-posts-2009.html

Thanks, Casey Klahn, and thank you to you ,too!