Florence Italy Immigration Problems

During slow season (now) in Florence, Italy, the city is especially lovely. And my favorite time to walk the city center is at night. This image depicts the famous Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). The shops full of gold jewelry and such are closed up and I love their wooden doors with decorative iron hinges. This man on the left is often playing guitar and singing – and in Italian for once – and working for tips. The music is beautiful and while few people are about, those that are here are listening attentively. The Duomo can be seen in the distant center.

There is also an interesting interplay between the police and the illegal immigrants, mostly from Africa. While I do not know much about this issue, I get the impression that everything is a bit of a dance.

Everyone here knows that the men who sell fake Gucci bags and such on the street are illegally doing so. (I heard someone say that even tourists who do not know this will be charged a hefty fine for buying from these merchants.) The immigrants usually display their wares on top of a sheet that they spread out on the street so that as the police cruise by, they may quickly pick up all four corners and scoop their bag of goods up in Santa Claus fashion.

In these last two images, I photographed a police car making its run as two illegals pick up their goods and wait. Sometimes they walk a little bit away, sometimes they simply wait with their bundles. I think sometimes that everyone knows the police will not arrest these men, but nonetheless, the police wish to remind them that at any moment, they have the perfect right and ability to do so. It is an interesting game of tolerance.

Last year, one of my Italian friends who creates caricatures beside the Duomo told me to be careful with my camera. I started to take my camera out of my coat pocket once when I saw the Carabinieri chasing one man, as his cheap wooden toys left a Hansel-and-Gretel trail behind him. My friend asked me to stop. This makes trouble. The authorities do not know who is a tourist and who is a journalist. The last thing this situation needs is one very slanted image of a situation published. But then, he also admitted that the Italian merchants are often frustrated because they pay for selling permits and then must compete with those who sell illegally.

I wonder if these problems are the same everywhere.

Street Painting Florence Italy

I was finally successful in receiving my permit to make drawing with pastels as a madonnara on Via Calimala here in Florence, Italy. My first two times street painting occurred last September, shortly after starting this blog. On Monday the 25th, I “painted” for the third time.

I madonnari have some pretty good pointers on how to work the crowd for the best tips. They put a lot of psychology in the choice of subject matter and even what time of day to have certain elements. Their choices are very human and make a lot of sense (and at the same time – ha!). However, this time, I chose to ignore all that. I do not want to give up any morning time with Italian model Valentina, so I arrived to start working around 13:45.

Then, I chose to depict the nude male torso, from the back view. Part of our permit regulations is that we do not introduce any original drawings. So, I decided to draw a work that is attributed to Jacques Louis David with a supposed subject of “Patroclus.” The Maestro John Angel told me today that this painting is too romantic to be done by David. He thinks it was done by an unknown contemporary, and my art history knowledge was not enough to be able to share more with you.

Anyway, I was relatively pleased with this effort and fortunate that the weather was not colder. But the night had mixed reviews. On the one hand, it was good practice and I was given many “Complimenti.” I was surprised at how many people told me they loved seeing the male nude figure.

I also met a lot of charming people. However, my body is sore now and most people did not tip at all! The other two artists left because they said that the money earned today was not worth the effort. I held out some hope until I just could not stand waiting for anyone, so . . . I worked from about 13:45 to 20:00.

Cartoon Transfer for Charcoal Drawing

By Wednesday night, my friend Janné and I were ready to transfer our cartoon drawings of the model Valentina to the better quality Umbria paper for our charcoal drawings. Pictured here you can see my tracing paper that is used to transfer my original drawing to the new paper.

This method of transfer does not harm the original. I used a blue felt pen to trace over my drawing. Then on the back side of the tracing paper, I rubbed some soft B charcoal over my lines (Nitram brand – French and not available in the States, that I know of). I then position the tracing paper over my Umbria paper, measuring my vertical placement lines from the paper’s edge so that my figure is oriented properly on the paper. And then I use a blunt pencil to trace over my blue felt lines and transfer charcoal lines onto the Umbria.


My next step is to lay-in the tones, starting with the background. I use a soft B charcoal (stubs usually) to scrub-in the ‘dirt on paper.’ Then I use a soft sponge to even out the charcoal and try for some consistent and desired tone. This is not precise because until I see the model in pose, I cannot determine any tonal relationships. Janné took the image you see of me wiping the extra charcoal dust into the street of Via Ghibellina here in Florence, Italy. Vine charcoal is quite dirty and the only other window in my apartment opens up over another woman’s courtyard. She often has laundry hanging up, so it seemed a bit rude to give her the dust. So, go ahead and chastise me for trashing Florence. Some art production is not particularly environmentally friendly.

This last image shows you my basic transfer from a cartoon drawing on inexpensive paper to a tonal disegno on Umbria paper. So far, I like Umbria much better than the Somerset that I used for the drawing of Francesco. As you can see, I have a lot of blending to do in the background, once I establish my desired tones in each area. And, of course, the figure needs much refinement. The face is too garish for my taste, but having gone through this process before, I know she will not end up looking like this for long. Also, I do not often see the model’s face (depending on her and my movements and the fall of her hair during each posing session). However, I want to create her beautiful face before adding wisps of hair over it. And finally, I am pleased with the sexy wave-like shadow her body causes on the model stand.

Thank you for reading!
Yours truly,
Kelly Borsheim

PS Buon Compleanno, Matteo!

Figure Drawing - Valentina Italian Model

On the 18th I started a new charcoal drawing of an Italian model named Valentina. She is a lovely girl, and I think a bit exotic looking. She is in a standing pose, with her left hand on her hip, while her right extends out to her front and side and rests on a short easel. I chose the back view of her because I love the dramatic lighting contrast. That said, I have also started a pencil sketch from the other side of the room, so that I can have more fun.

In this first collexion of images, you can see my quick gesture sketch. Here I work out my disegno in a small scale and decide how to create my image using “C” and “S” curves. Although I hope that I am getting better at sketching proportion without measuring, my goal at this stage is to make my choices before I start the actual drawing.

The middle image was taken of my 60-centimeter outline sketch of the figure. She has been given romance and architecture (curves for interest; straight lines for strength). In the image on your right, you can see that I have also outlined the shapes of the shadows.

In the second row of images, I have now colored in the shadow shapes, so that I may refine my shapes and design. I have also gone one step further by delineating the separate shape of the darkest darks in the model’s hair. In the close-up image (right), you may see what I am doing a little easier. Also, some of my mistakes are apparent, such as the upper right arm being too thin.

But, onward through the fog . . .

Drawing Portrait of Anthony

As I may have mentioned before, I feel weak in the area of portraiture and want to improve this. Several of my artists friends and I model for each other to help us in our drawing of faces. Anthony (pronounced “Ant – ton- ee”) was the latest sitter. Here you will see my finished drawing in charcoal, as well as steps in the process.



It should be apparent that after my initial drawing on the Roma paper, my shapes are wrong. I try to correct them in the outline stage because it is much easier to move a line than an area of tone. But once I have my tonal drawing, my errors become more evident.
In this case, I felt that I had a decent likeness in line, but once I filled in the shapes with carboncino, I lost something. But redrawing is an intellectual pleasure!

I hope you enjoy this portrait. This one took me about 6 hours to accomplish, for those interested in such things. Of course, this does not take into account how much training I have been doing to be able to create a drawing! One foot in front of the other . . .

Stock Photography

On my way out the door tonight to get some printouts made from some digital files, my friend Simone called. He met me and we ended up at the Edison (English-speaking) Bookstore café near Piazza della Repubblica. After a very funny conversation about what he would like to do with the rest of his life, I saw my new Italian friend Rita. I met Rita this Sunday as she joined Lisa and me at the herb market. Rita introduced me to her friend Donatella, who restores paintings in Prato. So, what a fun and unexpected joy tonight was.

However, I digress. Because of my short time at home tonight before I return to my late night drawing, I will do a blatant marketing plea:
Please check out and buy my photos online at:
http://www.istockphoto.com/borsheim


Currently I have received 2493 downloads of my images of Italy, food, Austin, Texas, Paris, homes, and more. I am SOoooooo close to the next level of 2500, that I thought I would enlist your help. These images have limited rights granted with each purchase, but the prices cannot be beat. Also, the photo experts at istockphoto.com have inspected each of my 434 images, so you will not be disappointed by the print or screen quality.

Besides the sales of my fine art, selling my images through http://www.istockphoto.com/borsheim helps me to keep working in Florence, Italy, and improving my skills.

And THANK YOU SO MUCH!


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Charcoal Sight Size Drawing Ecorche

I thought I might give you an update on the progress of my cast drawing – what I call the “Flaming Archer.” OK yes, bows today are getting much easier to draw by using various pulley systems and other technology. But if you have ever even held a bow, you would know that you do not hold your pulling hand in that manner! The string is not so easily plucked, especially during the times when this écorché would have been created. But then, maybe this flayed man really was that strong ;-)

Ok, back to the business of art: I last showed you my setup on
2 Febbraio 2008. I had done my basic drawing (cartoon) with shadow shapes designed on an inexpensive piece of drawing paper. After I was satisfied with my choices, I transferred the drawing to a quality piece of paper that accepts charcoal well.

This first image here was taken on 4 Febbraio. Normally, my transfer would only include two tones: the white of the paper and darks (all grouped together with an average value of tone). However, because my background is so much darker than the rest, I chose to start with three tones: white, the figure in shadow, and background. Only, I forgot to photograph that stage. What you see here is the beginning of my going over the darks of the background to make them darker.

For this project, I am trying a new paper. The folks at Zecchi Belle Arti e Restauro simply refer to this paper as “fake Roma.” It is made here in Florence, Italy, and looks a lot like the Roma paper, but is whiter, giving me the possibility of a greater tonal range. I am also trying to push the blacks. Normally for the darkest darks, I use a compressed charcoal (bought in the States, since it is different there from the compressed charcoal one can buy here in Italia). But I am also using a Rembrandt pastel (at the top, above the head). Rembrandt’s black is richer and darker than the compressed charcoal, giving me a greater range of blacks. Although the background may look solid black in these photos, it is not. For example, the figure casts a shadow onto the background that is even darker than the black background.

So, I scrub the blacks into the paper hard, sometimes sponging them off and hoping for some consistent texture and coverage in the process. You can also see that my original drawing is getting blurred, so it is a good thing I know how to draw! But seriously, this loss is not important, since in the stage of Big Form Modeling, I will be toning down the edges as I round the figure.




The next two images were taken on the 14th of February. I have begun to create the illusion of three dimensions by applying concepts of Big Form Modeling and also, I have begun to work the shadows a bit. I am also correcting many of my shape mistakes, although I have yet to fix that too-large receding hand or the shape of the base. And today, I finally realized that the shadow shape of the neck is wrong, so . . .

Big Form Modeling gives me a context for the rest of the tones in the image. Ideally, if I do this correctly, the figure will look almost done – and 3-d – before I have even added any details. Draw on . . .