Flying Balalaika Brothers

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I never can answer the question “How long did it take you to do this?”
But I suppose I can say that technically speaking (if you do not count years of training and drawing), this next work took me two years – to the date even.

On December 1, 2008, I did some “negative shape” drawing exercises from a model named Katie in Florence, Italy. Now, once the drawing is done, you may not be able to tell that I created it by drawing only the dark shapes, relating each non-touching dark shape to the next dark shape. But this is a very powerful exercise that helps me refine my observation and recording of shapes.

As usual, I create these studies with pencil on drawing paper. In the image below, you can see that I did another drawing on the same sheet of paper, but in a different direction since the other drawing was of the entire figure and I needed the length of the paper. I do not always use my sketches to create derivative works, but sometimes I just enjoy the shapes or the lighting or the gesture and cannot get the images out of my mind. Such was the case Katie’s face.


For a couple of years now I have been experimenting with pastels on black paper. And so it seemed natural for me to transfer my pencil drawing onto black paper and fill in the Notan (white and black tones only) design with whites. Wow, what a change of effect!

This artwork is one of the new works I will debut at my last event of the year (and naturally, you are invited):

Sunday, December 12, from 2 to 6 pm.
The Curiouseum Arts Weekend inside the Community Renaissance Market
6800 Westgate Blvd. (NW corner of Westgate and Wm. Cannon)
Austin, Texas 78745
Tel.: Ruth: 512.744.3411 and Susan: 512.925.4085

Music lineup:
David Perkoff plays flute and saxophone from 2 – 4 p.m.

The Flying Balalaika Brothers play Russian folk music & a wide variety of other styles from 4 – 6 p.m.

There will also be a fashion show happening at the other end of the building from the gallery. Please pass this one to anyone you think might enjoy this kind of variety on a Sunday afternoon. Thanks!

Black Friday Giclee Sale

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

While I seem to be running “a day late and a dollar short” these days, perhaps because stubbornly, I want to use my daylight hours for art creating… I did want to jump in on offering shopping specials during this weekend of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

So, now through this Cyber Monday (29 November) at midnight (well, ok before I wake up in Texas on Tuesday morning), I am offering all of my blog readers

20% off of all available giclée

Giclée (pronounced 'zhee-clay') is a French term used to describe a high-quality reproduction of 2-d art using inks that will last at least 200 years, given reasonable care of your art (ie… little direct sun).

While I do encourage collecting original art, I am fully aware that not everyone can do that. I am very impressed with the quality of my giclée and would love to see people have things around them that move them.

Lately, I have been creating pastels and charcoal paintings/drawings on paper. I have had hi-resolutions scans done of all of these, such as ”The Letter” that you see here. Please note that for an original that is on paper, the giclée will be on paper. Painting reproductions are on canvas. Also, if the proportion is not matched with the original, then please tell me the longest dimension that you want. For example, “The Letter” is a long and narrower drawing compared to a standard 24” x 18” image proportion. So, if you ordered a 24” giclée, the width might be around 15”.

Also, included in this sale are giclée on canvas of some of my images from Italy that are part of my fund-raising efforts to help my kid Rudy get a set of dentures (implants are apparently way too expensive). He has had about four years now without ANY teeth because of a rule in Medicare that says “teeth are cosmetic and therefore not provided.”
Rudy was born with Treacher Collin’s Syndrome and I think he has struggled enough! For more information on this project, click here:
http://www.borsheimarts.com/treachercollins.htm

Details on the Art Sale:
All you have to do to receive your 20% savings, is to visit my Web site and then my contact page. Tell me the title of the artwork you would like to buy and also the size of the giclée. I will send you a PayPal invoice so that you may safely use your credit card online, or you may send me a check, your choice.

I will try to have all images shipped to you before Christmas, but if it is just not possible, I will create a “gift card” to give your loved one on the right date that includes an anticipated arrival date for the artwork.

Helpful links:

• About Kelly’s giclée – including sized and pre-sale prices
  
• Images of Italy – for Rudy
  
• Pastel Artworks Page
  
• Original Charcoal Drawings Page
  
• Contact Studio.
  

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.

Carving Marble Torsos

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Generally after I hang a big exhibit, I find my energy zapped and need a day or more to recoup a bit before beginning to make art again. That pattern held true for my current exhibit at The Vineyard at Florence, which will be up at least until mid-January 2011. I had been working very hard to create lots of new works for this and other events since I returned to Texas. I really need to continue to do this – at least until I have my last event of the year on 12 December at The Curioseum in the Community Renaissance Market in Austin, Texas.

However, some days I just cannot make myself do what I should. Yesterday was one such spontaneous day. It was slightly cloudy, but warm – one of my absolute favorite kind of carving day. So, tools in hand, I worked on my marble carving of two torsos titled “Back to Back.”

I enjoyed my day outside and have been loving refining the forms each day that I have been able to go out, even if for only an hour or two. Sometimes I like it that stone carving takes so long. For a while now, I have been trying to find some clever answer for how to finish the tops of the torsos. Here you see some clarified sketches for an idea I started visualizing last March.

Supporting the Arts during the Holidays

Whether you want to brave America’s “Black Friday” this week with the crowds at the shops, or stay home, if you shop at all with Amazon.com, you can also help support this blog without spending one cent more than you normally would!
Borsheim Arts Studio is an affiliate of Amazon's. Just visit ANY page on my blog and look along, down the right hand column until you see the search box for Amazon.com.

Then just type in any title or item you want to find on Amazon while on my blog page and start shopping. You will be taken to Amazon’s site, but they know you started with my site. Amazon will send a little something my way for most sold items and it will not cost you a cent extra! This is an easy way to support, for example, my art blog writing and photography efforts.
Thank you and happy shopping!
http://artbyborsheim.blogspot.com

World Traveler

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Oh Italy! How she changes a person. This next newly finished pastel painting is titled “World Traveler” and is part of my (casual) series of shop windows in Florence, Italy. He is making his debut at my just installed solo exhibition at The Vineyard at Florence (Texas, that is!). Your invitation to Thursday’s reception is below.


“World Traveler”
pastel on black Firenze paper
24” x 18”
copyright 2010 Kelly Borsheim
$2100 + $20 shipping (+ sales tax for Texas-based destinations)

“Italian Inspirations”

solo art exhibit by Kelly Borsheim
The Vineyard at Florence (central Texas, USA)

You are Invited!

Dates:
17 Nov 2010 – 18 Jan 2011
Reception: 18 November (Thursday), Hours: 6-8:30 p.m.
LIVE jazz!

Kelly is exhibiting over 25 paintings and drawings and 5 bronze and marble sculpture (such as “The Offering”) in this invitational solo exhibit, mostly inspired by trips to Florence, Italy.

8711 W FM 487
Florence, Texas 76527
254.793.3363 (office)

Exit 266 from IH-35, head west to Florence, then right on Main,
4 miles to the Vineyard on right
I hope to see you there!

EAST Art Event Austin Texas

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

This weekend marks the opening of E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tours). This is a big deal in Austin when TONS of artists open their studios to the public.

Wander through, as you like. The link above (click on E.A.S.T) will show you their map. My work will be exhibited as one of the guest artists of my friend Beth Schoen. Beth teaches portrait sculpture and gets rave reviews from her students. She also did a marvelous portrait of one of Austin’s most famous musicians Willie Nelson.

Beth Schoen's Open Studio: guest artist Kelly Borsheim + others
Site # 60 on the E.A.S.T. map
4601 Smith Road
Austin, Texas
Tel. 512.740.7817
Sat and Sundays: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

I would love to see you!

Honoring Veterans today, including my father and many other members of my family.

Art and Life Pastel Painting

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Sometimes life and art coincide, sometimes they just do not seem related at all. Back in 1995, I had an accident on a three-way skateboard at a ToysRUs [no worries, the toy store took this disaster off of the market after my proof of its danger -- I can be quite convincing -- ha!] In a matter of seconds, I had damaged my spine and broken three of my front teeth. This year, one of those teeth started to rot [external resorption, the dentist called it] and very recently, it was removed. I will have quite the gorgeous smile for several months now, as my normal bone will grow in place of the cadaver’s bone that was put into the vacated space in my jaw.

Anyway, I recently finished a new pastel painting and was contemplating the title of the work. Sometimes I start with a title, sometimes they come to me as the work emerges, but this time…I needed some help. It is good to have friends!

I saw this image of a table for two with the leaf of a palm plant and a single white calla lily and unopened bottle of wine as a setting full of potential. It seems to leave more questions than answers, allowing one’s imagination to take off. What will be served? Who will enjoy the meal, the wine? What will they talk about? And after?

While I had fun with the technical aspects of painting transparent objects and creating another one of my pastel paintings, trying to be a bit of a minimalist with color on black paper, I imagined many a scenario.

I hope you enjoy “A Night’s Promise” and let your imagination run wild.


After my surgery, I was told to eat only soft foods for several days and that later, I will not be able to eat with my Essex retainer that hosts the false temporary front tooth. My imagination now turned towards one party at the table being too shy to smile or sipping only wine, or perhaps soup … ANYTHING soft to avoid sharing the beautiful reality during this one special dinner.

And that made me smile . . . again.


Allora, I GOOFED! E.A.S.T. is NOT happening this weekend, but the next two. My exhibits page is correct, while my overwhelmed brain is out to lunch.

Saturday, November 13 & 14 and again November 20 & 21
Sculptor Beth Schoen's Open Studio: guest artist Kelly Borsheim
4601 Smith Road
Austin, Texas
Tel. 512.740.7817
Both weekends, four days: 10 am to 5 p.m. Hope to see you there!

[Thank you, Simon, for the title of this pastel painting!]