Marble Fountain, Collectors' Corner, and WWI monument restorations

In this issue of Borsheim Art News (December 2025):

• Vasily's Pool marble fountain
• Collectors' Corner
• Venezia Fish Market Framed
• Birds of Paradise Diptych
• Layaway Plan reminder
• Last minute download gifts and tags, wrapping papers!
• YouTube channel postings
• WWI memorials restoration, Tuscany
  

Dear Art Lover,

     I hope this newsletter finds you well and thriving.  'Tis the season of sharing, so I want to show you some lovely artworks and also further down the page, I will offer some art things to help your Christmas and other holiday gifting.  And the last item is actually the story of how I recently restored TWO memorials from the First World War.  Keep reading!

Vasily's Pool marble fountain:

     I have been a fan of Ukrainian-American sculptor Vasily Fedorouk's work since I first met him at the MARBLE/marble symposium in Marble, Colorado, in 2001.  He was only there for four days of the eight-day event, but watching him carve out a belly dancer fountain in such a short time left my jaw on the floor.  Most carvers were just making abstract flowing ribbon sculptures.  I was tackling my first figure in marble (having previously only done a few figurative pieces in the softer alabaster stone).  
      Of course, Vasily had not finished the sculpture, but one could see exactly what she was.  His goal had been to remove as much material as possible before loading up the work-in-progress and heading back home to his family in Seattle.  They later moved to Chicago and then I was able to meet his family, as well.

     This marble fountain was carved the year before I met him, from the Colorado Yule Marble.  You may see in this image I share here that there is a hole near the partially submerged woman's lower legs.  The water comes out there and cascades down the "steps" on either side of her relaxing figure.  What a gem!  What a talent he has for design.  I also love his feminine hair styles of his figures.

Please contact me if you would love her to enchant your home or office area.

For more details, visit:  

https://borsheimarts.com/products/vasily-fedorouk-pool-marble-fountain-sculpture

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Collectors' Corner

     Every now and again, buyers of my artworks share with me images of how they exhibit and live with my work.  This is wonderful feedback and inspiring.  I hope it may give you ideas of how to arrange your art collection.  Here are this newsletter's contributions:
The oil painting Sitting on a Shelf in its new home, as the buyer was just moving into her new place :

Private Collection, Madrid, Spain

Read the story of her creation here:
https://borsheimarts.com/products/sitting-on-a-shelf-headless-antique-wooden-puppet-bookshelf
 
AND

Here is an image of how my large bronze Ten wall hanging became a focal point in a contemporary and eclectic home.  

Private Collection, Texas, US

     This bronze is a limited edition of only 12, and two have sold.  I will cast a couple more in the coming year, perhaps, so I will only accept a deposit if one would like to order one.  Balance due after the casts are made and ready for shipping.  The small Ten is still one of my best selling works of art.  [The small version is a larger, limited edition.] 

For details about these works, visit here:  
https://borsheimarts.com/products/ten-large-bronze-wall-hanging-female-back-bas-relief-sculpture

and the smaller (original) version, along with the backstory of how this design came to be:
https://borsheimarts.com/collections/bronze-statue/products/ten-female-nude-back-hands-small-bronze-sculpture-stone-base

AND

Uzzano at Midnight:  a pastel painting

     This couple recently made their first art purchase since their summer wedding.  I was supporting events in my favorite little village in Tuscany by creating small art offerings, hand-sewn ornaments, bookmarks, and beeswax candles at a recent Christmas market.  They purchased my largest original painting there and thus, we have the expected selfie!  Yay!

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Venezia Fish Market Framed

     I am so happy with how this painting turned out framed.  I often allow my framers to choose what they think would be best.  I suspect that, like the patina work in a bronze cast sculpture, the framing is the place where the person doing the work can actually show his artistic side.  Fun collaboration.  
     This oil painting on a wood panel shows a young woman hiding behind the outer wall of the fish market in Venice, Italy (Venezia in Italian).  It has been a habit of mine since high school to go out walking around midnight.  So many people find Venezia enchanting and I am not different, even if it is just for the novelty of it (as I prefer the mountains and not the cities).  However, seeing the lights of the palaces (palazzi) reflecting in the moving waters in the Venetian canals, it is easy to fall in love with the place.  
     And I like "hiding" figures into places just to give some storytelling surprises now and again.  
     My framer thinks my work is often too dark, so he tends to add some white wood around a Borsheim painting that acts as a mat would.  I think at times he is correct.  What do you think in this case?

     This painting will be coming with me soon to the US with several other works.  I will be with my family this month to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday.  My sister seems to have quite the itinerary planned!  Let me know if you would love to own this painting of a much beloved island city.

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Birds of Paradise Diptych

I am now offering this 2-canvas gem (12 x 12 inches for each of two canvases), a diptych, for a great price for a limited time (offer expires 15 December).

Check them out at:

https://www.borsheimarts.etsy.com/listing/1484951938/birds-of-paradise-original-paintings

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Layaway Plan reminder

     As an artist, I probably should not state this is my art newsletter:  Most of us do not NEED art.  The old "need vs. want" argument.  The Maslow's hierarchy of needs psychological theory, the triangle.  And yet, the idea that we are astounded to find ceramics, sculpture, frescoes, and even utensils from long-ago civilization tells us that we do actually connect with our humanity through the things our cultures create.  We learn more about each other through the items that we choose to live with and with which to surround ourselves.  

     Art may not be food and water (although taken to a higher level, I could argue it can be), or shelter (same argument), but as social beings, it is what we collect and use and at times, cherish, that show our ideals.  And our dreams, perhaps.

     As a creator, I need (yes, need) to have others appreciate and enjoy what I make.  I try to touch other's souls, in that place we often have few words for description, yet feel, or not feel something just the same.  To that end, for over 25 years now, I have often sold my art on a Layaway Plan.  

      My terms are simple:  YOU decide what you can afford each month.  YOU decide the day of the month that is easiest for you to make a payment.  YOU receive the art once we have reached the right amount... and YOU make my ability to keep working and creating possible.  Because I have learned to make a lot with a little.  And I would rather do what I can to help you get the art that you want to live with.  

     There is no interest charge.  You set up everything.  And I love you for it.   Just sent me a message about which artwork(s) you want and we go from there.  Thank you.

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Last minute download gifts and tags, wrapping papers!

     I know that I spread myself thin a lot, but I like to do many things, don't you?  So, for the holidays, I may or may not be able to get an art shipment to you before Christmas in a couple of weeks, but I have created some INSTANT downloads to ease your holiday stress.  I have a sale on these items going on through 15 December, so good prices, just got better.  Download and print for personal use to your heart's content.
     The digital papers are from hand-printed vintage Italian designs.  Use for wrapping paper, scrap-booking, origami, some are also designed as stationery.  And the gift tags may be printed out as ornaments for colleagues or fellow students, or for those who have large families and want a little something unique to share with the folks in your life.

Digital papers of hand-printed Vintage Italian designs: 
https://www.borsheimarts.etsy.com/?section_id=36132521

Art gift tags and labels for wrapping or to use as paper ornaments:
https://www.borsheimarts.etsy.com/?section_id=31926484

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YouTube channel postings:

     Do you enjoy watching art being created?  Do you find processes (techniques, or mental approaches) interesting?  If you do, hopefully you will find useful (or entertaining?) some of my content online about those topics.
     Since January 2009, I have been posting videos on my channel on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@BorsheimArts

     An example is how I package sculpture to travel safely.  Find that one here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMCsTOkIaD0&t=347s

      This is my experimenting, growing, and learning.  Not every artist goes through the same type of process, but at the same time, I am not convinced that my method of learning is altogether different either.  This one is only 15 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoH9V3sRLmI

      Full disclosure:  YouTube tells me that if I can get more than 500 subscribers (yes, thank you... I have!) and 3000 watch HOURS within the last twelve months (anytime) OR 3 million Short Video views in the last 90 days, then I will be able to start earning money (from YouTube) because it will mean that I am a content creator with viewers.  Thus, I not only appreciate, but I NEED, at least part of my videos watched.

      But on the selfish side, I would love feedback on the CONTENT because if I can learn what subjects intrigue you, then I can create videos with substance that are USEFUL to you.  To do that, I hope to build a small community of people sharing ideas, asking questions, etc.

     Would you like to be a part of that?  EVERY interaction with my channel (a "like," a comment, a share, a subscribe, notification bell, and every minute watched) helps my channel grow.  Growing helps YouTube to decide to share my content with people of similar interests online (by suggesting my videos below the video being watched).   THANK YOU!

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WWI memorials restoration, Tuscany

Above:  The marble slab with all of the names on it and the explanation below had to stay in the wall.  The color had fallen away from many of the hand-chiseled beveled lettering.  [Vasily used to carve tombstones with sculpted figures and he explained to me how few people today would pay to have this type of beveled carving done, so I saw up close how much work had been done on this marble.  Most places today, I understand, sand-blast the letters, which is a very different treatment and effect, but far more affordable.]

     The 26-inch large painted plaster bas-relief medallion was lifted off of the hook in the wall and some neighbors took it to my house for me.  I still cannot lift heavy things, but also I usually walk into town for various events.  Restoring the disc at home gave me a LOT more time and space to work freely and privately (with fewer distractions).  

Above:  I first started with the back side.  I had to wash off the dirt as much as possible.  The most important thing was to replace the lost plaster at the top where the hook is.  I have no real idea how long the metal legs traveled down into the plaster, but since the back was not flat, I assume perhaps six inches down.  Point is that if the hook ever dislocated from the plaster, the entire disc would fall off the wall and shatter.

     Here is the video in which I show you how I restored the plaster, using netting to insure strength.

Plaster Work:   https://youtu.be/9V7dgZ7s_og

     After allowing at least an overnight curing time for the plaster on the back, I then turned my attention to the front.  I do not know when this bas-relief sculpture was actually made.  And I have not taken the time even to research who the artist might be (initials are carved into the piece under the chest on the right).  

     My guess is that the process may not be very different from how an artist would create such a work today.  And the words and subject here are generic enough (do not mention the village of Castelvecchio, for example) that my guess is that the artist sold multiple copies of this design.  

      Thus, he probably created the original in clay or maybe even wax.  A mold was made and then the plaster was poured into the mold.  Once the plaster set up, the mold would have been removed and probably prepared to pour other plasters.  I do not know.  

     My point is that the mold would be open in the back, and plaster would first arrive to the high points on the sculpture (the lower edge of the helmet, the brow and the jaw, and so on, with the background with the text being filled after the frame and the face.  

     Thus, I find it interesting that you see in the image above that there is what looks like terra-cotta in the high points.  And different mixtures.  The one top left that I circled has a lot of holes in it (air spaces?), while the other sections have less of this "sand" look.  The section at the top of the sternocleidomastoid muscle behind the ear appears to be smooth, having very little texture, just subtle cracks in it.

     This information did not change my work, although the sections with more holes allowed me to have more available "tooth" for the new plaster to grab onto, creating a better bond.  The rest, including the smooth exposed plaster, I roughed up with a file before adding plaster.

     Also, before any plaster was added and carved away to create the form I was matching, I needed to wipe my hands over the bronze colored paint.  Anything that fell away easily had to be removed.  Otherwise, my work would flake off when those sections finally did on their own.

     Another thing I found curious.  Plaster is also very absorbent, maybe more so than marble.  But the color on the medallion did not bleed into the plaster!  Perhaps the medallion was made some years after the marble?  Is it painted with acrylic?

     On Sunday mornings while the Circolo was open for breakfast, and as many rainy days as possible or whole days, I worked on the marble slab.  I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible, minimizing how often I had to ask to be let into the place.  I had to remove any remaining color before I could paint in the new mixture. 

     Above, you see that at some point, someone working on the building dripped transparent chemicals, plaster and other chemicals/paint onto the lower section of the wall where the marble was.  Apparently never thinking to drape a sheet over the marble when working above it.

     Marble is rather porous, so some staining happened.  I removed what I could of what lied on the surface, but otherwise, if a mild soap or cleaner did not remove the marks, I left them.  Plaster drippings were easily wiped off. 

     The goal really was to be able to read the names from below and afar.  I had no intentions to make the memorials look "perfect" or "new." Somehow that seemed insincere or dishonest to me.   

Above, a selfie of myself at work.  I taped off the border and the vertical line in the center.  That made it much easier to get a good straight line, even though the marble cuts were straight.  This first color I tried was too orange.  It was later changed after I bought the bronze metallic paint in Pescia.

     I included these images to point out that whatever paint was used originally, my guess is oil, it stained the stone.  You may see the upper letters where I removed the old color.  They seem to have a "halo" of brown around the letters.  This was also something I chose to leave.  I have no idea how one could remove this.  And I was not about to sand down the marble to get to a white plane and re-carve all of those letters!

     I chose to paint with acrylic this time to avoid any more absorption.  Up close I could see that the hand-chiseling left a bit of texture inside the letters.  Thus, I hoped the acrylic would grab on and stay.  Practically, I think of acrylic as a plastic:   it would not be "leaking" into the marble and would not make the problem worse.  Also, this slab is indoors, so it and the paint will be more protected from the elements.

     A side note:  I really had no idea when acrylic paint came into use.  I suspected like photography's start, it was earlier than when I was aware of it.  A little bit of research online says that it originated with the Germans, first using the resin-like substance for industrial use in the late 1930s or early 40s.  Artists, especially mural artists, seem to embrace the paint in the 1950s.  If this memorial was actually created shortly after WWI, then it IS unlikely that acrylic paint would have been used.

Above:  I purposely left the original colors in the letters "GIO" for matching.  In this case, I got the best match with a 1:1 mixture of raw umber and bronze metallic paint.  I noted some shimmer in the original color, but it is very subtle.  As it is in my acrylic mixture.  Naturally, once I was satisfied with the color, I removed the original paint in those letters.  I was happy that I got a good match using a simple formula of only two colors.  That way it was much easier to mix a consistent color for this entire project.  

     While I started painting the letters on the top right (but only the left half while the Circolo was open), I waited to paint the far right parts when I was working alone in the building.  Why?  Because that small area below the scaffolding I stood on housed the refrigerator.  I did not want to disturb their breakfast-making niche while they were open for business.

     The great feedback was to get down from the scaffolding later and realize that my work really did make the names easier to read from a distance.

     I also learned that this list of names were NOT of the local soldiers who died in the war.  These were those who SURVIVED the war and returned to their village.  They then founded this Circolo to revive the town.  That was a bit more positive story!  

     Thanks to Andrea Parigini for taking the above and the below images of my silly self at work on site.

     To give you an idea of the time this project took me:  I worked about a 7-hour shift to paint about 8 lines of names.  I am not often a fast worker, but the precision and the standing on the shelf slowed me down.  I had to act quickly when I painted outside of the bevels to wipe all of the traces of paint off before it dried or stained the stone.  And often, I had to do a second pass of color into some letters.

     I was blessed with rainy days during the month of October and I worked on the marble during those times.  On sunny days, I stayed home to work on the plaster medallion.  I was able to leave the front door to my house open to work on my kitchen table with natural light as much as possible.

     Now, back to the medallion restoration:  You may note in the photo above that more of the original paint flaked off than I had anticipated.  I applied layers of plaster, sometimes over-applying.  That way, I could use rifflers to shape the curves, while also giving a tooth for either more plaster or for the new paint.   

     Ok. Again, I waited for the plaster to fully cure before applying the acrylic paint.  I explained more about my color mixing choices and motives in my video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ro-VdscAs

     In the photo above, left, do you see on the cheek bone that I tested the colors right out of the bottles to understand what I needed to do for the mixing base level?  In the upper left corner, you will see a dark reddish brown.  This is straight Van Dyke brown.  See the video in the above link to hear why I painted that straight color in several places.  

     The original paint is seen on the strap that holds the helmet to the soldier's head.  You may also note how the face has a darker charcoal color, adding shading and dimension to the base color.  It is these details that told me that one pass of any one color would not do the trick.  Layers were the answer, as for my taste, they often are.

     In the above photo, right, you see that I got lucky in that my base starting color turned out to be another 1:1 mixture, but this time with the reddish Van Dyke Brown (instead of the greener Raw Umber used in the marble letters) mixed with the same greenish bronze metallic color.  

Finger painting:  adding depth/shadows to the bronze color:
https://youtu.be/YLhuT8AldrM 

     Above is how the medallion looked in total daylight (overcast) on the morning of 2 November.  Just before neighbor Antonio picked up the art and brought it to the Circolo for me.  I walked up to the village about an hour later and watched the guys install the medallion over the finished restored marble sign below it.  I had made the right call to set aside all of my own work in order to meet this deadline.  It was satisfying to hear how people appreciated the job that I did.

     This year, the 4th of November fell on a Tuesday.  Some years ago, the Italian government felt there were too many work holidays and decided to remove 4th of November from that list.  Thus, the Circolo held a luncheon on the following Sunday, 9th of November.  

     Renzo Marchini called out the names on this marble slab in 2018 (when I last attended this luncheon), and probably many other years.  However, he died a few years back (2020) and this year, his son Aldo called out each of the names on the list.  After each individual name, the attendees called out "Presente," not unlike the way that some churches run down a list of prayers, to which the congregation respond, "Amen" after each one.  

     I hope that you have enjoyed reading about this restoration project and like the results. 

     I want to end on another positive note:  Despite BOTH World Wars, and even my own home suffered the WWII loss of a father and his two sons after a canon blast by the Germans, leaving his wife and their very young daughters alive inside my house, and the murder of 20 young Italian men after two Allied soldiers killed two German soldiers in the village, San Quirico, above my home near the end of WWII, today is another story.  A lovely German couple who live here and have hired me to create art for them were at this luncheon.  And many other German people live in our mountains, as well as in many parts of Italy.  No wars, no conflicts that I have ever heard about.  Peace.  

     I wish you a Merry Solstice soon and a happier Christmas.  So many seasonal festivities regardless of the equator, hahah... I am soon headed to Florida to help my siblings celebrate our mother's 80th birthday.  Important to spend time with loved ones, and then . . . rest!  

Thank you for traveling this art-life with me.

Cheers, 

Kelly Borsheim

https://BorsheimArts.com