Terry Rafferty: Paintings and Drawings

Shadow Voices

2012-12-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

Juliet

Whispers

Wall Street

2010-08-04T19:36:00.005-06:00

24x12 oil on panel

Somehow this pair of male puppets makes me think of Wall Street guys, out for a good time, maybe checking out the girls on the street. Definitely dressed for a night on the town, too much money in their pockets.

Dancer; Understudy

2010-07-30T20:45:00.003-06:00

13x12 oil on panel

13x12 oil on panel

The Wayang Golek puppets are, of course, for performances, so here is the older, confident dancer and her understudy. Again, working out the personalities and painting the headdresses were the fun parts.

Princeling

2010-07-26T17:51:00.003-06:00

16x12 oil on panel

At one point I decided this painting was never going to come together - its funny how some just go so easily, and others are a fight from the beginning to nearly the end - and then fall into place too. I loved doing the headdress, and showing the joint of the shoulder. I see him as rather shy, but my husband thought he looked self-satisfied, like he knows he is 'studly'.

Arranged

2010-07-25T12:26:00.003-06:00

24x18 oil on panel

With their shy and innocent expressions, this pair made me think of the tentativeness that a couple in an arranged marriage must feel, excited and nervous, feeling the full responsibility of doing what their families want. I find it fascinating that studies show that these marriages frequently fare better than the modern, American idea of marrying for romantic love.
Painting the headdresses was just great fun.

Flirtation

2010-07-22T11:45:00.003-06:00

18x18, oil on panel

This is one of my favorites of the series - will the flirtation go any further? Will they actually speak to each other? Or is it just a moment where she feels the power of drawing his gaze?

PuppetMaster

2010-07-20T14:04:00.002-06:00

24x12, oil on panel

Many things have happened over the past 6 months, but I never thought I would need this long hiatus from posting to the blog. Among other events, we added a 2 year old Great Dane to our lives - a rescue dog. It was rather like becoming a new parent to a baby who outweighs me, and all my time and energy went to his needs. Now, five months later, he has settled in and is a great addition. (He quickly learned though that bumping my painting arm is a sure way to get immediate attentions!)

In February we were in San Francisco and I saw Javanese Wayang Golek puppets in a shop and fell in love with them. When I was asked to do some paintings for a show with a World View theme I decided to use the puppets to not only represent a different culture, but also to show how human needs and desires transcend time and place.
Here I am posting "PuppetMaster" who, in my mind, watches over and directs the other characters. I will post the series over the next week.

Beseme

2010-02-14T18:03:00.004-07:00

8x8" oil on panel

I did this painting for the Arts Alliance fundraiser here in Albuquerque, a silent auction to benefit the arts. The subject matter was to relate to love and valentines, so I chose this red Kiss. For those not grounded in Spanish, Beseme translates to 'Kiss Me'. The painting had lots of bids, and sold the night of the reception. It was fun to paint, and fun to attend the auction!

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!

Revisions

2010-01-31T20:07:00.003-07:00

Journey 30x30" oil on canvas

Camel 30x24" oil on canvas

I continued to work on both of these pieces a bit - some minor tweaks to Camel, and some major ones to Journey. I'm happier with both, but personally like Camel better of the two...

Camel 1

2009-12-15T10:49:00.003-07:00

30x24", oil on canvas

Riding a camel was always on my 'things to do' list, and in September we went to Cairo where I finally got to do it. Such ungainly, gracious creatures; quite magical.

Magpie

2009-11-18T15:30:00.003-07:00

8x8" oil on panel

I've always thought that Magpies were one of the most beautiful birds. The bold black and white just doesn't need any colorful embellishment, its just purely elegant.

I Was Here First

2009-11-17T16:13:00.003-07:00

6x8" oil on panel

While both my dogs are gone now, they both are present in this painting - I used a picture of Elijah as a reference, and my beloved Zeke inspired the title. He was a Great Dane mix and when the chickens would come up to eat mosquitoes off his fur (we lived in Montana, then) he would just get this look of indignant patience as if to ask why they couldn't leave him alone...

This is the last of the "there's a bird on my head" group for now - and I'm delighted to say that they just got accepted into the Small Wonders show at The Wooden Cow gallery, here in Albuquerque, along with a painting I'll post tomorrow.

Nesting Instinct

2009-11-15T14:46:00.004-07:00

8x6" oil on panel

Trying out a nest seemed like a logical extension of the bird idea. Credit for the title goes again to my husband.

And Coming on November 22nd:

Over at the fabulous Seth's The Altered Page, he is posting the latest version of The Pulse. Every Sunday there will be a variety of artists answering questions about their favorite art resources, art secrets, where they work, etc. Its a great, fun way to find new artists doing Amazing work, so be sure to check it out every Sunday starting on the 22nd (and check out The Altered Page any time - Always great stuff there!)

RedHeads

2009-11-14T20:05:00.003-07:00

8x6" oil on panel

Wouldn't you be worried too, with a woodpecker sitting on your head??

Joyride

2009-11-13T15:57:00.003-07:00

8x6" oil on panel

I was waiting one day and scribbling on a scrap of paper to pass the time. A bird, then a head, which accidentally bumped into the bird. It looked silly: 'Hey look, I've got a bird on my head!' The idea stuck, and I ended up doing a few small oil sketches from it. Here is the first...

Time and Time Again

2009-10-22T09:09:00.004-06:00

oil on panel, 12x12

This is the final one of the clock series for now - I still have some ideas I want to work on (Passing Time, Time-Out, Time Stands Still....), but its "time" for a break to work on some other subjects too. Hope to post new work in a week or so -

Half-Time

2009-10-20T15:29:00.004-06:00

Oil on panel, 8x16

This one was the most fun to paint of all the series! Something about the straightforward simplicity of it.

Double Time

2009-10-18T14:21:00.002-06:00

oil on panel, 12x12

Of all the clock paintings, this was the most challenging. I'm still not sure its quite right, something about the shadows. To get the reflection, I used a piece of black plexi-glass.

Old Tyme

2009-10-15T07:56:00.003-06:00

oil on panel, 12x12

This is the second of 5 clock paintings for the "Faces and Places" show at the New Mexico Cancer Center. Getting the ellipses right so that the pocket watches lay down and recede in the picture was a challenge, but of all 5, this one came together the most easily. For all of the clocks, I finished everything but the hands and numbers, then used an alkyd medium to create a barrier layer. This let me put in the details, making corrections or wiping them out as necessary without having to repaint the clock itself.

Family Time

2009-09-28T09:56:00.002-06:00

Oil on Panel, 12x12

Time, and how we use it, or let it control our days, is a fascinating thing to think about, whether from minute to minute or over a lifetime. Such a powerful thing.
I found all these clocks at a local junk store and loved the distinct styles. Had so much fun painting them that it turned into a series that I'm still working on - a total of 5 paintings so far, but this is the only one thats finished. This grouping, with all the clocks clustered together and facing forward makes me think of the formal family portraits of the early 20th century, thus the title. I guess that makes the marbles family pets, and the wooden shoe the crazy relative?

I'll be gone for the next 3 weeks, so the rest of the series will get posted when I get back...

Patience

2009-09-24T22:01:00.002-06:00

oil on linen panel, 14x18

I'm not sure if the title reflects the mood of the painting, the model as she took this pose every day for 2 weeks, or me in working it all out! My favorite part is her shirt - it was a little small for her and gapped at the buttons, and slightly sheer, so it took on a different look over her arms than in the body where she had a camisole on underneath. Alot of fun to figure out how to paint it.

Dreamer

2009-09-23T14:34:00.004-06:00

oil on panel, 12x12

Hard to believe how time flies. I've been busy painting but got out of the habit of posting, but here I am, finally back. "Dreamer" was done using a Ralph Lauren advertisement as the inspiration source, not something I would normally do, but I loved the charm of the girl in her hat.
My daughter was visiting last week and wanted to learn about painting. Below is one of the 3 crow paintings she did, using acrylics. In addition to color mixing she was learning about "low-key" versus "high-key" paintings, and about keeping detail and dimension even in silhouetted subjects. I think it turned out great!

acrylic on panel, 12x12

Crows

2009-08-04T16:26:00.008-06:00

Posing

Attitude

Dinner

Land, Sea, Air

Jay, Crow, Flicker

Loud Mouth

Talk About It

I happen to be reading "In the Company of Crows and Ravens" by John M. Marzluff & Tony Angell, a fascinating look at who crows are and how we interact with them. Our current campsite has a flock of crows (also known as an Unkindness of Crows or a Murder of Crows: read the book to find out why!) who are keeping me entertained as I am stuck in camp with a broken foot. The wonderful book illustrations inspired me to work at capturing these characters. They are unusually shy, but greedy too - a handful of oatmeal cookie crumbs draws them in every time. They still move too fast to capture, so these drawings are from a combination of direct observation and photographs. The feathers and shells I found here, and are drawn from life.
We've been in Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington for the past week or so; heading back to Oregon soon for the last part of this trip.

** Added note: Andrew sent me the following link about crow behavior - fascinating! Click here
Robyn at the fabulous Art Propelled also has a wonderful post on Crows here.

Oregon Sketches

2009-07-17T20:13:00.004-06:00

We're off camping on the Oregon coast; these are a few of the quick ink sketches I've been doing. I planned to bring some watercolors along, but forgot them in my studio; just as well, as we have been going non-stop. Its a fantastically beautiful area - we came up through Nevada into SE Oregon (who knew that Northern Nevada was so beautiful too?!) and cut across to the coast at Brookings. Its a *perfect* seaside town with boats and a farmer's market right at the harbor. Since then we've seen Elephant seals and different varieties of sea lions, a couple of gray whales, lighthouses, wetlands, sand dunes and miles of pristine beaches and forest. Off the scale for gorgeous, and great seafood at every stop. We're only half way up the coast, and certainly looking forward to the rest of the trip.

Mountain Landscape

2009-07-01T13:49:00.003-06:00

oil on panel, 14x18

I've been doing a number of experiments with using a palette knife. Very awkward at first, but I'm finding that I can get effects that are impossible for me with a brush. This landscape is all palette knife; my next couple of postings will be of paintings that use both a knife and brushes.