Terry Rafferty: Paintings and Drawings

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.

Butterfly Garden

2009-07-05T14:38:00.004-06:00

Oil on Panel, 12x12

The Albuquerque BioPark is a fabulous place, combining the zoo, an aquarium and the botanical gardens, linked by a small train. The garden is actually divided into many theme gardens, from Moorish to Japanese, an amazing Children's garden, greenhouses, a farm, and many others. One that is particularly fun is the butterfly garden, an enclosed outdoor space that houses all the needs of the butterflies: flowers, food, water, and shade. Not a bad place for people, either!
One of my favorite things about the biopark is the ecological focus: the plants grown at the farm feed the zoo animals, who then kindly provide the fertilizer for the gardens.

This painting was done with a palette knife, with just a couple of details added by brush at the end.

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.

After the Rain

2009-06-25T19:42:00.009-06:00

Oil on panel, 11x14

In this painting I was after a particular feeling in Montana after a fall rain - wet, misty, the smell of the damp earth. There was a promise that even though winter was coming the land was still fertile, resting, waiting for the next spring season.

Shameless advertising and horn tooting: Two of my friends have published books! First is Carrol Haushalter's story "Trail To Tomorrow", a charming book for young adults (say 10 - 12 years old). Its the story of a young girl who works as a cowboy on a cattle drive, moving with her family from Texas to New Mexico. Based on the author's great-grandmother's experience of masquerading as a boy in order to safely make the journey. Carrol and her husband travelled to New Mexico last year and joined in a cattle drive at the Burnt Well Guest Ranch as part of her research for the book and said they had the time of their lives. You can purchase Trail to Tomorrow here through Amazon.

Next is Andrew Cahner's work, "The Art Model's Handbook: The Naked Truth about Posing for Art Classes and Fine Artists". This is a long overdue book on everything related to being or hiring an art model. Andrew himself is a very experienced model, but instead of just relying on his own experiences he interviewed artists and photographers, managers of art programs and other models. The result is comprehensive, and extremely helpful in telling both the artist and the model what to expect and how to make a session professional and productive. You can buy this wonderful reference book here. A final horn toot: I'm very honored that Andrew included one of my drawings in the book:

Congratulations on your books Andrew and Carrol!

Snack Time

2009-06-17T12:21:00.002-06:00

Oil on Panel, 8x8"

Just south of Albuquerque is the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Its a gorgeous place in the Rio Grande valley, but never more so than in the fall migration. Thousands upon thousands of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese arrive for the winter months. Every day there is a Fly-Out (morning) and Fly-In (evening) as the birds leave to forage during the day and return to sleep. Eagles, Osprey, songbirds, coyotes, deer, turtles are all here too. Be sure to include the Bosque in your sightseeing if you come to New Mexico!

Sightseeing

2009-06-08T09:54:00.006-06:00

oil on panel, 6x8"

Just got home from a wonderful trip through Scandinavia, St. Petersburg and 10 days of a cruise in the Baltic Sea. Still jetlagged and overwhelmed by all we saw.

I did this little duck painting just before we left on the trip but hadn't chosen a title - but after days of touring, the title seems quite obvious - we certainly spent many hours lined up to see the sights!

One of the many highlights of the trip was the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, housing the collection of Catherine the Great and the subsequent Russian rulers. Its huge and packed with sculpture, objet d'art, paintings.... just the architecture is incredible. They say that if you looked at each item for 3 seconds each, it would take 8 years to go through the collection. We had a couple of hours! Definitely a fast paced "look left, see that, now look right, see this, now move on".
Favorite countries were Norway (it snowed!) and Sweden; maybe we will get back there one day. Loved the 24 hours of daylight - I could do that year around!

Taxi!

2009-05-17T10:20:00.007-06:00

oil on panel, 11x14"

Something totally different from my usual! The image for this comes from Karin Jurick's Different Strokes site. Every couple of weeks she posts one of her photos and invites all artists to work from it. Its great fun to see all the different interpretations and media used. When I participate, I try to challenge myself to work outside of my usual comfort zone. In this case there was no pre-drawing, just direct painting. I shifted the season to winter, and tried to convey the essence of crowded city traffic.

I'm leaving on vacation (Scandinavia!) so I won't be posting for a couple of weeks, but hope to come home with lots of sketches and new ideas -

Winning by a Hare

2009-05-14T16:36:00.004-06:00

oil on panel, 16x16

This is the third (and last, for now) Carousel painting. Along with 7 other paintings, they will be going into a show next month benefiting the New Mexico Cancer Center Foundation, which provides services to patients and their families. Its been fun getting everything ready for it. Winning by a Hare is my personal favorite of the three...

Untamed

2009-05-11T10:21:00.008-06:00

oil on panel, 16x16
This is the second of 3 carousel paintings, and just as much fun to paint as the first one. When you look at carousel horses alot you start to realize that many of the horses have wild-eyed expressions, especially the older carousels. Not what you would expect on a child's ride. These two horses seemed to me to be captive, but still free spirited, quite willing to take off at the first opportunity; hence the title.

Chris Beck and Faye Christian Phillips both tagged me with this Passion for Painting award a couple of weeks ago and I've been passing it along one person at a time. Katherine Treffinger is my choice for this post. Her work is alive and exuberant, definitely will brighten your day. She has been asking artists "What does doing art mean to you" and posting their answers and images of their works, so not only will you see her work but you'll also have the chance to find other new and wonderful artists! Today is "my" day to answer that question, so drop in and see it all!

Solo Pear

2009-05-04T13:53:00.007-06:00

Oil on Canvas Board, 8x10

This painting, small and simple as it is, was one that went through several phases of seriously ugly. It wasn't until I thought it was so hopeless that nothing I could do would make it worse that it finally came together. The final touch was to take a discarded toothbrush and splatter reds and browns across all of it. I like the interesting fiber-like bits of paint that resulted.

A couple of weeks ago Chris Beck and Faye Christian Phillips both very sweetly tagged me with awards. I've been terribly slow about passing those awards along. I think I will nominate someone new with each post rather than put them all together, and for this post I want to introduce someone fairly new to blogging (although not to painting!), giving Susan Finch the Passion for Painting award. Her work is incredible, my favorites are her Kimono clad women and her Koi paintings. Be sure to check her out!

As always, here are the "rules" for the award; no pressure to participate unless you want to.
1. Post the logo on your blog
2. Nominate at least 7 blogs that show great gratitude and/or attitude
3. List and link your nominator in your post
4. List and link your nominees in your post, and let them know they're recipients

Ancient Bridge

2009-04-29T19:27:00.007-06:00

oil on panel, 16x16"

We were lucky enough to spend a month in China 2 years ago; what an amazing place and civilization. There were so many highlights to the trip, but one of the things I liked everywhere was the sense of permanence, the simple age of things. How many generations of people have crossed this bridge?

Tuscan Light

2009-04-24T09:50:00.006-06:00

oil on panel, 8x12

I'm not abandoning still lifes at all, but am doing some experimenting with landscapes too. Let me just say that green is a color I find very difficult to get right - its so easy to get too intense, or too muddy, hard to get just right!
Its been several years since we were in Italy, but the area around San Gimignano was such a highlight of that trip; I suddenly understood why people fall in love with Tuscany.