Love and Courage

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

"For a relationship to stay alive, love alone is not enough. Without imagination, love stales into sentiment, duty, boredom. Relationships fail not because we have stopped loving but because we first stopped imagining."
- psychologist James Hillman

"Love is the most difficult and dangerous form of courage. Courage is the most desperate, admirable, and noble kind of love."
- Delmore Schwartz

Happy birthday, Cayla!

Mermaid Bronze Sculpture

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I always loved the Grimm fairy tale of “The Little Mermaid.” Here was depicted a creature who had no soul (but wanted one), but knew what love really was. As a young girl, and even now I suppose, I am touched by the story of her figure falling in love with a human prince, saving his life when his ship capsized, and allowing another girl to take the credit and the joy.

As luck – and the nature of a good story – would have it, the Prince fell in love with the girl he thought saved his life. However, our heroine went through great personal costs (her lovely singing voice traded for a pair of legs to replace her tail, but sharp pains were felt whenever she walked or moved with those legs) and finally met her prince after she transformed on his beach. While he became enchanted by the youngest daughter of the Sea King and loved her in his way, she never gained his romantic love.

As his closest companion, she had to endure watching him marry another. On top of that, she loved him too much to refuse his asking her to dance for them all at the wedding, despite the physical pain the movements gave her. She had no voice with which to complain. The rules of her world dictated that as the sun came up the morning after her beloved had chosen another, her life would end and she would become sea foam, returning to the ocean, her natural life cycle cut way short.

During the night of the wedding, the little mermaid’s older sisters swam to the boat where the festivities were taking place. They, too, had been to see the Sea Witch. They traded their graces for a special knife. If the little mermaid were to use that knife during the night and kill her beloved and his new wife and let their blood run over her legs, she would have her natural life as a mermaid back and could return to her royal family.

The Little Mermaid stood in the dark bedroom of the slumbering newlyweds that night. Love completely overwhelmed her as she gazed down upon them. She could not harm them. She left them there and went to meet the sun. Her body became lighter and lighter. The sea was before her. But she felt herself lifting higher and higher. . . until she began to see small figures in the air beside her.

Because of the pure and unselfish love she had shown, she was being given a second chance to gain a soul. She had become a “Daughter of the Air.” Depending on the joys and sorrows of the children she was to witness, there was a faint possibility that over much time, she could gain a soul. It was not love, but a soul is something, isn’t it? And it is interesting that gaining a soul depended on the behaviours and whims (or love?) of others. Well, Grimm IS the name of the author, after all! Ha.

Sadly, from my point of view, the prince and his bride never understood what happened. They were oblivious to her pain. They never appreciated that in the hands of another, they could have died. They never knew how much she loved them. They never knew what happened to her. And worse, perhaps, they never knew that they could help her in her new search for a soul.

What I always liked about the ending is that idea that we do not know how our choices, our smiles, our groans, affect others. So, should we not do all we can to lighten the load instead of possibly denying one a soul or at least a chance at happiness? I have never seen the downside of a genuine smile.

Art Anniversary Promotion: Get more art for your buck. Hurry, this one-time offer expires on 15 February 2013.

Portrait Oil Painting

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I was amused recently when one of my close friends, a painter, said (as he has on more than one occasion over the past year) that he thinks that I am a strong enough artist that Angel [Academy of Art here in Florence, Italy] will not beat out of me what is so good about my art. It is funny how some of us have this discussion about the four major classical art schools here in Firenze and how they differ, as well as how they do not. And most of us strive for our own independence.

Educating myself on the work of others is something that I have changed my opinion about over the years. I did not receive the traditional art education and before coming to Firenze, I knew very little about art history. I sometimes choose NOT to see the work, being curious about what kinds of images I would create without much influence of much anyone else. Other times I feel that looking at the work of others helps me hone on my own taste and grow faster. Much in the same way as my picture taking, each time I see an image, I refine my own sense of composition. It is helpful to analyze my emotional response to try to find that elusive quality that makes me FEEL something in one artwork, and feel too little in a similar effort.

I am where I need to be at the moment, despite my impatience. I find when I paint at Angel that I am trying to piece together many different approaches. Here is a small detail image of a portrait of a model Mauro that I am working on at the moment. This image reminds me of my approach with pastels when I do street painting. I have since gone in and refined the shapes in the face. Shapes are the most important thing and I find myself getting lost in them. But here, I am playing with putting the background color into parts of the face. This follows one idea that every part of a painting is a combination of the same colors. Each part simply varies in how those colors are proportioned. Let us see where this path takes me . . .

Art Anniversary Promotion: Get more art for your buck. Hurry, this one-time offer expires on 15 February 2013.

Art Workshops Pastel Sight-Size

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I am planning to be in Florida, Texas, and North Carolina (USA) around mid-May to mid-June... I would love to teach some workshops in one or more of these areas. Please contact me if you are interested in learning something artistic (tell me what) and are near any of these areas. Thank you. I will focus on 2-dimensional art this time since I will be flying in from Italy and logistics and supplies/tools may be an issue for me. I see that May 24-May 27 is Memorial Day weekend: I am not sure how that impacts you. Thank you for the feedback!

Thus far, the votes are coming in for pastel painting workshop and using the Sight-Size method of drawing and painting. Pictured here is the pastel painting “Reluctant Temptress”

"Reluctant Temptress"

12" x 9"
Pastel on Pastelbord
© Kelly Borsheim

Like this original pastel painting? There is a one-time offer going on right now to celebrate my “taking the plunge to full-time” art anniversary. Act before 15 February and enjoy more art for your bucks. See details of the twelfth anniversary ART EVENT, here: http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2013_01_GuggenheimSerraBilbao.htm

After The Bath Sculpture Women

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

It is not so often that I get the opportunity to sculpt two models posing together. However, some years ago in Texas, I was able to host anOpen Sculpture Studio with Austin Visual Arts Association. I hired two great models and did a couple of sculptures of them. It is quite interesting to have people hold a position for hours (with breaks, of course; the body is simply not designed to stay still for very long!) while touching each other. Touch is so personal, even the most seemingly casual or insignificant.

Today’s featured sculpture “After the Bath” is the original “sketch” in clay that I created during a short series of modeling sessions (perhaps three sessions of three hours each?). These photos were taken during the patina (coloring) process out in my wooded studio in Texas. The two women are of different ages and physical physiques. I like the contradiction of shapes and forms. I like the openness of this composition to interpretation. What is yours?

"After The Bath"
terra-cotta, one-of-a-kind
10" h x 18" x 18"
© 2005-2006 Kelly Borsheim

Like this original sculpture? If you make arrangements to add this artwork to your collection before 15 February, you will receive MORE art (of your choosing). See details of the twelfth anniversary ART EVENT, here: http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2013_01_GuggenheimSerraBilbao.htm

Happy birthday, Great Aunt Lil in St. Paul!

Tenebrism Black Oil

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Continuing from my previous post about my painting in Tenebrism, here you see that I am adding a layer of black oil paint. In my composition, much of the raw umber will be covered over in black as I build the dark tones and refine shapes. But not all of it. This is why you saw a spool appear last time when the raw umber layer of paint did not show it – the spool was darker than the applied color.

By the way, the line between the black paint and the raw umber paint was simply my stopping point for that day. Black is a very slow drying paint, more than umbers I believe, and I tried to avoid painting over the previous day’s section.

I hope that you can see how I am developing the forms of the sewing machine in the background by adding only the dark shapes around those forms and moving into those forms where needed. I find this way of painting to be similar in approach to stone carving and therefore intellectually satisfying and gorgeous.

I must apologize for the poor visuals. There is a horrible glare in this studio where I work and it makes it difficult to see while I am painting, as well as when I photograph the canvas on the easel. Also, the black is dry in some parts and not others, so you will also see a mixture of shine and non-shine. Generally these kinds of paintings are terribly difficult to photograph well, even when finished. But how beautiful they often are and I hope this one will be!

Allora, do not forget about my art anniversary celebration for taking the plunge to full-time art in January 2001! There is a special offer described in my latest art newsletter: http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2013_01_GuggenheimSerraBilbao.htm. It is the best “sale” I have ever had, giving you more art with each purchase. Offer expires on February 15, 2013. Valentine’s Day gift, anyone?

Tenebrism Painting

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I fell in love with an old wooden spool the other day. What fun we had! Perhaps you have read the stories of Giuseppe, the shoe flirt and his father (now flirting elsewhere). I had originally decided that my painting project of Tenebrism would be about the historical music of Firenze, such as in my pastel on black paper artwork “World Traveler.”

However, after the many interesting exchanges with Giuseppe, I changed my Tenebrism subject to something more personally connected to my life. "Mr. Kisses" was generous enough to loan me some old tools for repairing shoes, so old he said he could live without them for about four months. He also gave me pieces of leather, polish, and various doodads that I asked for, not knowing how I would arrange the items. I bought the old shoe forms from an antique market in Piazza Santo Spirito. The old sewing machine is borrowed from another artist friend. And the spool on top of it came from Norway, handed down from a mother to a daughter, who is living now in Firenze and is a sweet friend of mine.

I am using the Sight-Size Method, which is a time-saver for those who can draw, and a crutch for those who cannot. So, my canvas is situated perpendicular to my eye position about two meters away and alongside the grouping of objects in the middle ground of my composition. In this exercise, I have three distinct groupings, with at least seven centimeters between each section. I have arranged them in a way that I hope is pleasing, but also in a way that conveys depth. I want a feeling of space on my two-dimensional canvas. My first image here shows you my work station from my viewing position, where all judgments are made.

I prepared a canvas with a dark campitura of burnt umber, black, and white. Now I will sketch in the basic shapes with charcoal. I have drawn too much in my attempts to get the shapes right the first time, but since this is the first time I have painted this type of painting, I will give myself a break about it. It just means that I have done more work than necessary.

The next step is to take a mixture of raw umber and a smidgeon of white and make a tone painting of everything that is darker than the campitura. I only work on a section that I can finish in one sitting.

I then repeat the process, using black this time with a little bit of black medium. You may see in this image how little of the sewing machine remained in the raw umber stage. Actually, I left too much of it light just because I did not relish the time wasted in redesigning the shapes of some parts.

You may notice, though, that the spool on the top of the sewing machine did not exist when I painted the raw umber tone painting. I find this stage of painting subtlety in the darks glorious fun and wondered how I could ever make myself add any color to this painting! My goal is to keep everything soft, yet rounded as its form is, and in the right amount of light. So, now, I am off to the studio again to finish the black!