Ponte Vecchio Florence Italy Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

“Il Ponte Vecchio-Firenze, Italia” is the last of this series of Florence, Italy-inspired charcoal and pastel artworks that I will be able to complete before returning to la bella Italia soon.

Florence has enough eye candy that she has been teaching me to just sit and watch in a way that I rarely have allowed myself to do since I was a child. I like to walk around Florence at many different times of day. One day I found myself sitting on the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) behind the bust of Cellini. I had time that day to stay a while and watch the lives of various figures intermingling on this famous bridge in the Renaissance City. This is a beautiful view of a silhouetted Ponte Vecchio framing the next bridge upstream (the Ponte alle Grazie) with some Tuscan hills in the background. The reflections in the River Arno are quite peaceful and beautiful.


I tend to be a fan of backlighting, even if I am often blinded or even crying a bit as I draw. But seriously, what an effect the light has! And I try to tackle some new challenge with each artwork that I create. For example, this is the first drawing in which I have depicted a crowd of people. I like all of the abstract patterns. This drawing is completely in charcoal, except for black pastels to give me a darker tone than I can get with only charcoal. And, the old woman standing alone, wanting the attention of the others, has been colored with pastels. This may have been a subconscious flashback to my days in the image preservation field, in which I oil painted on photographs printed onto a fiber paper.

Even if you have never been to Florence or Italy, I hope you will enjoy the bright sunshine entering the shapes on the Ponte Vecchio.

As with many of my 2-dimensional artworks, giclée (smaller than the original drawing or painting) and notecards are available.

“Il Ponte Vecchio-Firenze, Italia”
17” x 23”
Pastel and Charcoal on Roma-brand paper
Copyright 2010 Kelly Borsheim
$1800 + $25 shipping and insurance

Pitti Palace Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

The countdown continues – soon I will be back in my beloved Florence, Italy (or Firenze, Italia as she is properly called).
In the meantime, please enjoy the arches and architecture of the famous home of the Medici family: The Pitti Palace. Once again the light was what drew me into the scene and I hope that she captures your attentions as well.

”Palazzo Pitti – Firenze, Italia”
25” x 18”
Pastel and Charcoal on Roma-brand paper
Copyright 2010 Kelly Borsheim
$1400 + $25 shipping and insurance

Happy 40th Birthday, Michael!

Camille Claudel Book Review

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

A little while ago, I finished a book about a passionate sculptor. The book “Camille Claudel: A Novel” was published in 2006 and written by Alma H. Bond, Ph.D. The young French sculptor was an apprentice and for a while, a lover, of the great master sculptor August Rodin. Many people I have spoken with think that she was at least his equal, if not better than her male contemporary. Some even speculate as to how much of her hand is in Rodin’s work – a logical assumption given the typical apprentice system of professional artists throughout history.

Since I really did not know much about Camille’s life and path, I enjoyed reading about her days as a child. I could relate to them quite well because I remember playing in the muddy creek beds with my own brothers in Germany and in the States, relishing the feel of the wet clay and often fashioning it into bowls and other forms.

Anyone who has felt a heady love can certainly enjoy the very girlishly romantic descriptions of Camille’s growing attraction and later full-blown love affair with the much older Monsieur Rodin. I still do not really understand why Rodin ultimately left Camille, unless it was simply that he refused her insistence upon a relationship on her terms (marriage). However, some hearts are more fickle than others are and as real life and much literature can attest, sometimes circumstances, ambitions, and other people’s decisions create variables that become insurmountable obstacles to one’s potential.

This novel is written in first person and I often felt that I was inside of Camille’s mind, feeling her thoughts as my own. Perhaps this was part of the reason I felt so uncomfortable, sometimes annoyed, and often depressed as I read the latter parts of the book. After the cooling of the relationship of these two passionate artists, Rodin continued his adventurous amours and career.

But Camille began to withdraw from the world and wavered between periods of grief, insecurity, pride, anger, isolation, and paranoia, and yes, even some happy moments. All of these emotions seemed quite reasonable to me, given the frustrations and losses she endured both professionally and personally. But knowing that she spent the last 30 years or so of her life in an asylum and worse, NOT creating (in fact, she even destroyed some of her works) made me feel alternately angry and sad. Too many times I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her out of her self-pity and despair and get to work.

Ultimately this novel left me with more questions than answers, but that is by no means a bad thing. And I felt that the writing was consistent with the thought patterns of a sensitive soul trying to find some understanding for why people behaved as they did. Without explanation or resolution, it is difficult to move on, as so many others expect one to do. I indulge my own pain for longer than most others can appreciate, but I like to think that another part of me takes over and pushes me to keep working towards my dreams despite grieving or the insensitivity of others.

But my main question remains: What quality is it that allows one person to function and even excel despite bad relationships with parents, lovers, employers, or others while others collapse into themselves? What personality trait enables one person to turn her grief and rage into a motivation to succeed beyond all expectations, while another has only the energy for self-sabotage? How selfish must the soul of another be to turn love into hatred? Is it inevitable that super-sensitive people will suffer from this trait?

Would the world have enjoyed more of Camille Claudel’s incredible sculptures if events and personalities in her life had been a little different? If yes, how different would those relationships in her life have had to be? Her intense and unresolved emotions kept her from creating. If she had been able to keep sculpting, could she have healed from her personal sorrows?

Can we ever know? Read the book to see if you can determine possible pivotal points in this dramatically sad, yet influential life.
Buy the book via this link and help support this blog: Camille Claudel: A Novel
Thank you!

Happy Birthday, Jake

(may you never feel the pain or injustices endured by Camille Claudel)

Via Della Spada – Firenze Italia

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I have been creating more works with the pastel and charcoal combination that I began in Italy and am loving the effect! Here is the newest completed work of another couple in the rain: a night scene in the streets of Florence, Italy:

“Via Della Spada – Firenze, Italia”
25” x 18”
pastel & charcoal
copyright 2010 Kelly Borsheim

SOLD to a private collector-11 March 2010!

And check out my first pastel workshop at a resort in Kona, Hawai’i. It will happen this September, so mark your calendars, this is gonna be so much fun!
http://borsheimarts.com/art-workshops/hawaii-pastels.htm

Sculpture Challenge

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

This Saturday sculptors from around central Texas, including myself, will be helping Philip and Michele Hoggatt of Carved Stone in Dripping Springs raise money for PAWS – a local animal shelter. The event is titled the “Sculpture Challenge” and you can come out and stroll through a garden full of 3-dimensional art and chat with the artists who created most of the works there.

You may also cast your vote for your favorite sculpture and 20% of all sculpture sales this Saturday benefit PAWS. Voting concludes by 4 p.m., but the grounds are open from 10 am to 5:30 p.m. You do not even have to buy art to help out the shelter: The small entrance fee goes directly to PAWS.

CARVED STONE, INC. – Sculpture Challenge March 6
5300 Bell Springs Rd.
Dripping Springs, TX 78620
Phone: 512-858-5665

For more information and directions, visit:
http://joomla.sculpturechallenge.com/

Hate, Fear and Love

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

It is funny that knowing my process in making art does not give me much comfort when I am in the “suffering stage” of it. I know that there will be a light at the end of that tunnel, I just cannot seem to see it until I turn that mystical corner.

I started about five good-sized charcoal and pastel drawings some time ago, in preparation for my Open Studio in early February. Along with my efforts in marble, I knew that I could not get that many works finished in the time that I had, so I set my goal to develop each of the works to the point that others could have a pretty good idea of where I was headed.

The cold and rain have returned (so I carve less now) and I am able to get back to those Italian-inspired pastels. The basic idea is there for each of them, and now I work on creating the details that put a certain level of quality in my art that appeals to me (and I hope to you).


It is at this stage, when I see the work finished in my mind, but I have still the work to do, that I begin to hate the work. This is when I start dusting. Or working on taxes. Or writing my blog (ha). Or eating more than I should. Anything to procrastinate on my approach to the easel or the stone.

I know, I know, most artists want to speak of the joy in their efforts. Sure that is there, or it would be madness to continue. But there is a time during each creative effort in which the vision is mentally done, but the work is not. For a relatively short amount of time that feels like forever, I get bored with the doing. And I hate it. And I hate the work for making me feel that.

The hatred comes from fear. The fear is that I cannot create that which I envision; that I cannot live up to my hopes. Should I want to lose that kind of fear? Absolutely not! That fear is my strength. It keeps me learning. However, I must learn to face this fear, again and again. My faith that I can turn the hatred into love now comes from experience. I know that each time that I approach the easel when I feel this hatred for the task and work through it, I am one step closer to my goal.

Today, I plodded along and then … finally . . . , I got lost in the shapes and colors I was applying on a small section of the drawing. And later, it dawned on me that I was turning that corner: that glorious and familiar corner. And now, I am once again in the infatuation stage that will grow and grow until I realize that love has entirely replaced the hatred. Love has replaced fear.

Viewing Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I have had the topic of “Viewing Distance in Art” on my mind for quite some time now. Perhaps it started a couple of years ago as I learned the Sight-Size Method of Drawing in Florence, Italy. In that method, the artist draws from one point of observation and is precise to the point of marking the viewing position on the studio floor and even wearing the same shoes throughout the process so as not to change the height of one’s eyes.

In another example, unless we are creating a 3-D street painting, we madonnari generally ignore the precision of the concept of “Viewing Distance.” That said, we are very aware of where our audience will be standing while we create our horizontal artworks. We also know that because of the perspective that we have chosen to draw from, our street art is best photographed from above.

There seems to be a position in which each artwork is best viewed. Many things factor into this, but I wonder if it boils down to the idea that the viewer can best take in the entire composition from the same vantage point in which the artist used during the creation of the original work. Even as I say that, exceptions come to mind (such as Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling). The size and style no doubt also figure in – but I still believe this to be intentional.

As an artist I often hear that gallery staff always know how to tell whether a visitor is an artist or a collector. (Yes, sometimes we are both, but …) Collectors, the rule says, generally enter and look around the room before approaching the one or two pieces that interest them. Artists, on the other hand, methodically look at each work on exhibit and usually, at some point or another, will walk up close to see each brush stroke or detail in the sculpture. It makes sense that collectors are seeking the emotional experience and artists also want to learn more about the technique.

Anyway, I include three images here of me recreating one of Michelangelo’s Sibyls on Via Calimala in Florence, Italy, in a pastel street painting. Drawn from a viewing spot or perspective that is equivalent to a bird’s eye view, each of these images shows you that the photographer was not standing even close to an ideal viewing position for that artwork.


Of course, once artists began to think about this position, manipulating it to the extreme or unusual (such as those wonderful 3-D drawings you most certainly have seen floating around the Internet) became a matter of fun and creativity.

Since I have more I would like to share with you, I think I just came up with the topic for my next art newsletter. That is scheduled to come out in early March and is a different subscription list (sign up here if interested).


Do not forget the 9th anniversary special going on until 28 February. That includes the savings on portrait commissions AND Enjoy a 20% Savings on ALL Giclée orders taken before the 28th, so hurry and contact my studio now!

Happy Birthday, Lisa!