Turkish Light Still Life Painting

Dear Art-loving friend,

Shortly after carving stone in Bulgaria this past summer, I then went to Istanbul for a few days.  I did not buy as much as I wanted, however, I am a sucker for burning things… so I bought a couple of the tea light candle holders that glow with glorious hues from the colored glass mosaics.  One of those became a model in my next project, “Turkish Light.”

I have always moved slowly; ask my parents if you believe this not.  But while I have come to accept this part of myself, I still work to improve my productivity in creating art.  And when it also helps me to improve the quality, well, … you know that accepting the idea is a given.

I have also come to accept about myself that I have a self-sabotage mechanism in my brain. To that end, I refer to the idea that no matter how many times I do “shape exercises,”  my first attempts at drawing anything are way off.  It is difficult for me to do demos when I teach in part because of this problem.  [Another problem is talking while drawing… they rarely mix in my brain.]  Anyway, despite the encouragement by some to simply start my compositions in paint, I prefer to use charcoal.  

“Pentimento” is the Italian word that describes the concept of “the sins of the past will continue to haunt you.”  I know that oil paint goes transparent after many years and I know that red is a tricky color. I do not want my bad drawing to show through.  And I know that on this composition of red, white, and black… I increase the odds a bit of having problems.  So, you see me figuring out my design in charcoal on a mid-toned primed wooden panel.  

 I was not sure that I wanted the vase thingy as close to center, but later decided to leave it as is.  I liked the shapes between the objects, too.  Once my drawing was close enough, I used egg tempera to paint in the light shapes.  This is opaque and dries very quickly… like acrylic, but I think that I like egg tempera better, and hopefully it leaves more of a tooth for the oil paints.

I then layered in some of the cadmium orange and the serious reds.  The black came later.  These colors take forever to dry (an exaggeration, I hope you understand) and I had to be careful not to smear a thing, yet keep the edges I wanted soft … soft.  This painting then went up on a shelf to dry for about a month, I think.   

I took her down occasionally to develop the painting in layers, letting each one have about a week to dry, if I could manage that.  My models stayed in place while I worked on other easels.  Ok, so THAT part of the process is not particularly efficient for productivity, but hey, I love red and black, both slow driers.  It was the egg tempera trick that gave me light and speed.  There… I have given away all of my secrets.  So, I will go home now. 

I started “Turkish Light” in mid-July.  I finished her in mid-October.  Sadly, in my new flat, I have not yet figured out how to get a high-quality image of an oil painting.  But here is the shot that I have.  

“Turkish Light” is available.  She is a 50 x 35 cm (19.6 x 13.7 inches) oil painting on Italian Geso-vero’d primed wooden panel.  Please contact me if you would like to own this gem or gift her to someone you love.

Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm,

Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com

Donatello Bas Relief Sculpture

Dear Art-loving friend,
My friend and fellow sculptor here in Florence, Italy, enjoys giving lectures on art and art history.  Jason Arkles has recently created a new series of podcasts, called “The Sculptor’s Funeral.”  That title alone ought to get some attention!

The podcast that I listened to this Sunday morning was all about the sculptor Donatello.  He has not been one of my favorite artists, but Jason makes a great argument on why I should never discount Donatello’s importance or creativity.  Give it a listen, will ya?

"Oh Boy!" bronze mirror of men

Over fifteen years ago, I took a sculpture class from Eugene Daub.  We did a portrait in plastilina in three days and studied bas-relief sculpture the last two days of the week-long workshop in Colorado.  Eugene made bas relief interesting to me because for some reason, I had not understood the possibilities of having a sculpted figure INSIDE of an environment.  Looking back, I probably just had very little experience looking at bas-relief sculpture in general.  The idea of adding architectural “frames” around a figure intrigued me.  I remember thanking Eugene for opening my eyes to this art form, admitting that I had only thought before of bas-relief sculpture as “Puffy Painting” and had not been interested in it.  He seemed amused.

Eugene Daub taught bas relief with the same idea that my friend Vasily Fedorouk did:  as compressed form.  From then on, I looked at bas-relief in that way.  I had often assumed that some artists just did that badly.  Perhaps you can imagine my surprise this morning to hear Jason’s voice coming through my laptop to say that Donatello was the first sculptor to understand and successfully demonstrate this idea.  Sculptors before used mainly outlines to describe their forms!

"Rehearsal" bronze bas relief / wall hanging

Since Eugene’s class I have tackled many bas relief compositions.  Here are just a few:
"Oh Boy!"  [Mirror of Men, what a fun way to brush one’s teeth in the morning!], "Rehearsal" (the woman waving the large fabric over her head), and "Infinity" (created for the eighth wedding anniversary gift of bronze material, note the figure eight as the outside shape).


I have been thinking of new compositions to create in bas-relief because I think the story-telling ability is very similar to painting in that respect.  But I hope you enjoy the compositions that I have created thus far.

[Ask, please, about availability, or commission some art for yourself or another.]


Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm,
Kelly
~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher
http://BorsheimArts.com

"Infinity" bronze bas-relief sculpture by Kelly Borsheim

Art Newsletter October

Dear Art-loving friend,

Oh, will wonders never cease!  I spent the night sending out my art newsletter and have now verified that the problem was not with my new Internet service provider (although slower and spottier than I had before), it is because my new Web site hosting company puts a limit of 250 e-mails sent per day!  Boy, I never thought to ask about that in this age when I asked about all the other things I wanted to know.  I assumed so completely that a business site would have no limitations on e-mail that it just never occurred to me to ask about that!

Allora, if you are not one of the first 250 names on my subscription list (different from Blogger subscriptions), then you will not yet have received your copy of my newsletter.  Sadly, you may not receive it for days, depending on whether or not I can find a way around this limitation. [Also, I cannot send any other e-mails from that address until the ban gets lifted.]

So, if you are like me and impatient, read the online version here.  It is prettier anyway, since I include images.  As always, I appreciate your feedback and support of my art career.  I will be posting more informal images from the symposium in Bulgaria on my Facebook page, so that my colleagues and you may enjoy.  Although, I was told that I missed a lot of the fun that others had because I seemed only interested in my work.  Perhaps, but I love to sculpt and prefer my fun time as a small break to my art-making time.

Without further ado, here she is, Bulgaria:

http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2014_10_RussalkaBulgariaArtSculptureSymposium.htm

Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm,

Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com

Tuscan Table Painting Art

Dear Art-loving friend,

      There is comfort food and comfort art.  This next painting I share with you gives me a very peaceful feeling and memory.  I had gone with a close friend to the southwest region of Tuscany, to an area called Maremma.  She wanted to buy a tombstone for her late father who is buried in the area.  When we stopped to visit at the home some of her long-time family friends, I was struck by the light in the dining room and the rich wood of the table in front of old chairs and stone walls.  This room invited me.  I let them visit each other . . .

      “Tuscan Table” is one of my oil paintings on primed Italian-made heavy thick watercolor-like paper.  She is 74 x 54 cm (or 29 x 21 inches).  I will offer FREE worldwide shipping if you would like to buy this original work of art for your own home or the collection of another.

Just contact me via e-mail (sculptor@borsheimarts.com) or call (0039) 334.245.0129  [Italy].

Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm,

Kelly 

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com

PS.  Happy birthday to my sweet sister Amber, founder of WhiskerWorks.com  http://whiskerworks.com/

ExTempore Art Festival Grožnjan Grisignana Croatia

Dear Art-loving friend,

The ExTempore Art festival that I wrote about in the previous post on Grožnjan, Croatia, had a deadline on Sunday, 10 a.m.  All 2-dimensional artworks had to be turned in before that time.  If the earliest registration time was Thursday morning, then each artist had a maximum of three days to create his masterpiece.  I had only spent a couple of hours on Friday working on my surprise entry.  

On Saturday morning, I had taken a walk to another little village up the hill from Grožnjan.  For me it was an escape into sanity to be out in the country air in mountainous areas, dirt roads, and stone buildings.  I returned to meander among the stalls selling antiques at the festival.  

After lunch, Marino locked up his gallery and again we drove out to his home.  I studied the plants in his garden and the woods behind his home.  We are starting off castagne [chestnut] season, the trees loudly and periodically dropping their nuts.  Then I took my obligatory nap, loving being outdoors.

It was not long before I got out the paints and plastic bags I had used as a palette the day before.   I had done some thinking during the night and wanted to add a few things to my composition, despite the short time I had left.  I even painted while another artist from the symposium in Bulgaria where I met Marino dropped by with his wife.  They left and another couple arrived for dinner.  So the hour was getting late and pacing oneself is an important part of the work, at least when there is a deadline and you are at the mercy of others in their lives.

Marino hunts cinghiale (wild boar) and he had prepared a dinner for our little group of artists, including Saša Kosanović and Željka Gradski, artists who have a gallery selling their photography and paintings across the little stone road from Marino’s gallery.  Marino served up his own hunted cinghiale with gnocchi and peppers from his garden:  a lovely and tasty way to dine!  During dinner, I heard about “Big George” … really called “Jure Grando.”  He is said to be the first vampire in Europe.

 

Maybe that was why I woke around 4 a.m. and looked out of my bedroom window back in Grožnjan.  What a joy to see the constellation Orion above me!  So many stars that city life cannot offer.
 

I still managed to get some sleep before really waking around 8 a.m.  Marino suggested that we turn in our paintings early since the crowd would start to gather around 9 a.m.  They actually have a pretty good system in place.  They stamped your empty canvas day(s) earlier to insure new art and when you turn in your piece, they instantly photograph it with a plain background.  I was told they had a long-distance juror, but these images allow them to not only document each year’s entrants, but gives them an easier ability to create publicity or send images to magazines or newspapers, even on the Internet.

After the photography is done, artists wander off to find a place along any wall (except the church’s) to hang the art.  Marino, Saša, and Željka already had nails in exterior walls around their gallery.  Marino took this shot of a sleepy me with my work “Elettricità’”  in acrylic (60 x 80 cm).  The next image is of our artworks along one wall.. .mine, Marino’s and Saša.  [Saša won third place with his photograph (right) and bought drinks for all of us later that evening!]  And two of Željka’s colorful compositions grace the wall in front of her gallery.

We returned to the caffe with the best morning view in Grožnjan and I enjoyed a strudel stuffed with soft sweet cheese and a freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast.  By the time I returned to the registration area, it was obvious that Marino knew his stuff. The line of artists waiting to enter their artworks extended beyond the town’s outer wall.

Back inside again, I was delighted to see an exhibition of … FUNGUS!  I had never seen so many varieties in one place and I loved the display of them against the green moss. 

Although two entries, this pair won Second Prize.  I like them as I composed this image.

This pair of paintings is obviously by the same artist.  The one on the right, however, was a prize winner.

This child hanging from a clothesline was the First Prize entry this year! 

I was surprise to meet a lot of other artists that had participated in the Russalka symposium in Bulgaria that I had attended this past July.  They had created art there in earlier years, but we knew some of the same crowd.   I had an idea that it would be fun to take a group image and share it with our various colleagues.  This was taken inside of Marino’s gallery by the brother of one of the artists.

The 5:30 p.m. awards ceremony was packed with  all sorts of people and the winners were well-chosen.  Afterwards, interviews were taken and the band recommenced while  the party moved on into the dinner hour.  I chose to disappear, not knowing many people anyway, and sat on one of the city walls to watch the sunset.  Life is so very peaceful here!

Calimara was my lunch choice, having received a voucher from the contest organizers.

Saša Kosanović with his award for wonderful photography.

The next morning involved a trip to a few spaces along the coast.  I had come to research a place to live because I must leave Italy for a bit later this year.  People here in Istria were so friendly to me and I have a lot of things to work out, but I may be back for the winter.

I hope that you enjoyed this art festival and I thank you for your continued interest and support.

Cheers,

Kelly

Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com