- 60 h x 50 cm (about 24 h x 20 inches)
- Oil on Italian canvas, frame not included
- Signed with name on lower left front, hand signature canvas edge
- copyright 2015 Kelly Borsheim
- Ships from Norfolk, Virginia US
Reflections of a Studio Model ~ Original Oil Painting
A model posing in a studio full of artists mediates and muses on peaceful places, such as this one filled with weeping willows and a reflecting pond. The turtle in the foreground left looks up at her and implies that maybe her faraway dream could be, in fact, a future reality. It brings me comfort and wonder and memories of beautiful times. I hope you can take away something positive from 'Reflections of a Studio Model' as well.
Adding a Scene around the Live Model Figure Painting:
Reflections of a Studio Model
October 2012: Original life painting in oil created from model Magdalena from Poland while working in Florence, Italy, in art studio with many other artists.
November 11, 2014: During this time, I was renting a private room with a private bathroom in the room and a balcony overlooking the Salvation Army church and garden in Florence, Italy. [Kitchen was shared with other tenants in the building.]
I had little room to paint, but I set up a table easel and came up with the willow tree scene.
I enjoyed the idea of the "vertical railroad tracks" started by the chair back and continuing to the slightly curving hill behind the trees. I wanted to add elements that were dreamy, but also would lead the eye around the composition.
2015: I have done a fair amount of paintings from live models while in the studio with a bunch of other artists. In Florence, Italy, most of us tend toward similar realist painting style (unlike my more fun experiences in Open Studios in Austin, Texas, in which anything goes!). Maybe it is my being a tree-hugger that makes me want to turn these exercises into something someone might want, but in any event, I have been propping up some of my drawings and paintings from life and thinking about them.
This painting of the life model Magdalena sitting on a wooden bench seemed like a great one with which to start. Her pose already gives the viewer a curiosity about where she is looking. I have been longing for more trees in my life. And maybe for times of innocence or less knowledge of what horrible things people are doing to the world and each other. I have great memories of visiting my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in St. Paul, Minnesota. And I especially loved the huge weeping willow in the lakeside lawn of my paternal grandparents. Oh, what times we had in that house, in that yard, and in that lake!
So, please indulge me with my sweet little painting. It brings me comfort and wonder and memories of beautiful times. I hope you can take away something positive from Reflections of a Studio Model as well.
Enjoy and thank you for reading!
~Kelly Borsheim