- 70 x 50 cm (Just under 28 x 20 inches)
- Charcoal drawing on Italian paper
- Available, framed and mounted on foam core
- copyright 2020 Kelly Borsheim
Original Charcoal Drawing ~ Duet
This artwork may fall under "The Most Unusual Inspiration" yet award. For many years, I have envisioned a series of paintings of men with wild animals. I just had not gotten around to it. But then in 2019, I picked up a catalog from IKEA and the pattern of the ceiling in a photo probably selling bedding caught my attention. Here it is:
COVID hit us in February 2020. I finished this drawing in April that year. I write this in February 2026 as I only recently discovered that I never posted this artwork online for selling. I must have completely forgotten!
Often many small things come together to inspire creativity. And with all of us staying at home and my seeing via Facebook and other social media that many people felt that home had become cabin fever, especially for those living in small apartments in cities. Maybe that was why flight became a theme?
It is a theme that is rarely far from my mind, but this idea of a joyful meeting in the sky of man and bird intrigued me. Also, with the grays of the striped ceiling acting as a dark background, it made sense to choose a snowy oil to parallel the shapes of the male dancer's extended limbs.
The above image was taken on 22 March 2020. I was working at my bedroom easel near the pellet stove. This is just an ordinary piece of paper so that I could work out the design. Once I was happy, I transferred the lines to a proper piece of Italian drawing paper. Mostly I wanted to work out the relationships between the figures and also the light/dark placements based on the location of the darker rays vs. the lighter ones. And try to give the movement of upward direction, for hope.
The above image was taken on March 27, which tells me that I worked solidly each day to have developed the drawing to this level. Here, you may see square sticks of pastels in a variety of dark greys to darken the lower part of the background more than is possible with my charcoals. I find that it takes some work to get a good blend between the much softer charcoal and the pastels. However, I find the extra dark tones achieved make it worth it.
The title came to me at some point in the drawing of the figures, seeing how harmonic they are in the symmetry of their poses in that moment captured. Do you like the title?