Home Decor Giveaway and Stories of the Art
Well, hello and a happy ART GIVEAWAY! A LOVELY offer for Austin-ites or soon-to-be Austinites, Texas:
A GIVEAWAY gift certificate to be redeemed with me for any of my available art, art prints, digital download photographs, antique paper designs, gift tags, sculpture and more.
Here is the offer from Chris Lloyd at Everything Austin Apartments and the site link below:
"At Everything Austin Apartment locators we like to think of ourselves as more than just apartment locators. We want you to be able to get everything you can out of our city and your home.
To that end, art can be one the most important ways to personalize your home. That's why were excited to be giving away a $50 gift card to Borsheim Arts, so you can enjoy work from Kelly and her guest artists.
Just go to our site below and sign up with your email address
by Sunday, 9 October 2022
and YOU will be eligible to win. It's a really easy decision. Offer open to your friends and family, as well as anyone who wants to participate. Happy browsing our site!"
Sign up here before 9 October ends:
https://everythingaustinapartments.com
Here are some sample images of Austin, Texas, area apartments with BorsheimArts works added digitally to help you see how something might look in your new home.
*** The Fine Print: You may use the gift certificate to purchase any available art I offer on my online shops. Browse those sites (listed towards the end of this newsletter) to decide what you would like, but I do not have a way to honor a gift certificate online. Thus, the winner should contact me directly,
https://borsheimarts.com/pages/contact
to let me know what your choices are. I will send you the items myself.
[Please note the Etsy shop sale below. It starts after this Giveaway concludes.]
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STORIES behind the ART:
I have (almost) always felt privileged when a person includes me in a personal part of her (or his) life. I am referring to those kinds of things that two people share in an often quiet moment, such as when viewing a powerful sunset or one-to-one learning situation. This pastel artwork is a painting that I did of my friend Hafiza in her home near Florence, Italy.
We were both sitting on Hafiza's bed talking, while she slowly gathered a warm blanket over her lap and legs. She had paused to formulate her thoughts before speaking and then, I saw her turn her head towards the window. She had heard a bird singing outside for just a moment and I realized almost simultaneously that we had not heard any birds in a while and also that the light coming through the window and falling onto my friend was truly lovely. I asked her to stay still for a moment.
I am having a good time with pastels and enjoying the transitions areas, such as blending pinks and oranges into the folds of the curtain behind my friend, as well as the grey parts of her back-lit hair. In the second detail image, you can see the radiator and bed. Although I tend to work in a realistic style, I am trying to do this with fewer strokes. And I worked to depict the texture of fringe vs. the other soft parts of the blanket.
Maybe you did not hear the bird's song, but I hope that I was able to depict a feeling on intimacy and peace, and maybe even sharing the joy of spending quiet time with a dear friend.
Songbird - Original Pastel Painting
This painting was created in pastels on white sanded Wallis-brand Museum grade paper. It is a thick strong paper and offers a subtle texture to the art. Like all of my pastel and charcoal artworks, this one has been treated with a fixative spray and will ship safely to your home or office.
This artwork is framed and ready to hang. Please inquire if she touches you.
https://borsheimarts.com/products/songbird-old-woman-listening
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Libri Riviste e Fumetti
Back to memories of Florence, Italy: I knew that at some point I would paint Piazza Ciompi in Florence. There is a seemingly random-appearing raised platform of stone with square columns and repeating arches over it, right next to a flea market - antique shops that are more like sheds. This platform appears to have had no purpose other than marking one part of an edge of this mid-sized city square or shelter from the rain.
During one of my many walks past this structure, I noticed the light filtering into the city and between these square columns. To my delight, a young woman was enjoying a moment in the winter sun reading her book while leaning against one of these columns. I stopped in my tracks and began to work out the painting in my mind. Later, as I got closer, I realized that she is a friend of mine! Even better.
This pastel painting (only a 9" x 12" on panel) is titled after the sign on the "shed" behind the reading girl. It says simply, "Libri, Riviste E Fumetti", Italian for "Books, Magazines, and Comic Books."
https://borsheimarts.com/products/libri-riviste-e-fumetti-girl-reading-art
P.S. The piazza has since been renovated and the flea market moved to another location (Piazza Annigoni). Those shacks no longer exist.
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Reluctant Temptress
Eve was doomed from the very beginning.
And yet, is there not some beauty in almost every person? (I would like to remove "almost" but fear I might sound too idealistic - ha!) So, this next pastel painting comes from another one of my explorations of the duality in our humanity. Imagine a modern day Eve (any woman actually) who follows her passion, but hesitates as she is reminded of a cultural weight. The future might be full of love and family and even fame (in Eve's case), and yet, that apple . . .
I do not know. I could go 'round and 'round with all interpreted meanings of my latest pastel painting (and the bible). Sometimes an apple is just an apple . . . It will be more interesting to learn how YOU feel about this image.
Extra note: Wonderful to have this opera singer Caitlin pose for a drawing. I met her while I was street painting in Florence, Italy, as she passed by with her dog. After a short introduction and chat, I asked her to sing at an art exhibit that next evening, in which I had some work. I had not heard her sing, but how many people will say that they have performed more than once if they suck? I took a chance and got permission for her to do her thing . . . and she was AMAZING! I do not know much about opera, but she definitely made everyone stop looking at art. Such a presence and what a lovely voice. Here, I painted her as Eve, the reluctant temptress [for who would willingly accept that job?].
Check her out here:
https://borsheimarts.com/products/reluctant-temptress-pastel-portrait-of-eve
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October Sale: Etsy shop > BorsheimArts
In an effort to allow more people to enjoy the visuals I create, during Covid I reopened my Etsy shop and have been actively adding art to it. There I offer a wide variety of art prints, digital photographs, digital papers, and art gift tags, as well as some vintage posters for all budgets.
To give even more value to the gift certificate offered by Chris above, I will start a sale once his giveaway signup has passed.
Enjoy this October SALE of digital format artworks and photographs, gift wrapping paper and art gift tag printables, start here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/borsheimarts
Find what moves you and great gift giving... so many kinds of art to share!
A few days only, SALE runs from 9 October through to 16 October 2022.
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Other sites with BorsheimArts : Live with Art in many forms
Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/BorsheimArts/shop
Fine Art America:
My usual place to order framed prints (choose your frames online and have the art shipped directly to your door, ready to hang... great gift service!)
https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-kelly-borsheim
In closing, I want to send out loving arms to those in Florida, where I spent many of my school years and still have family and friends. But even if I did not, a hurricane is one of Nature's beasts, bringing at times necessary rains, but in the wake of destruction. It is a concern for safety regardless of connections. We must look out for one another best we can.
Stay safe, live well,
Kelly Borsheim
https://BorsheimArts.com