Rafferty: Pet Portrait

Happy Painting!

Please contact me if you are interested in a pet portrait.

"Plato" :Pet Portrait

Well, I'm creating pet portraits now and it's been exciting so far. I would love to create a new one each day. Here's my most recent one of Plato, which is Evening's Labrador. Thanks Evening!

I'm open for more commissions if you like my work and would enjoy a portrait of your favorite pet.

Pet Portraits

I figured that since I've been creating these daily paintings of roses and animals I'd give it a shot and create meaningful pictures of pets as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions at all.

Thank you!

Flamingos

Here's my most recent oil painting, a 6 x 6 on linen. I do enjoy utilizing a variety of techniques to apply paint to canvas.

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“I love the texture of paint made of colored earth, of oil from the trees and of canvas and paper. I love the expression of paint from a brush or a hand smearing charcoal, the dripping of paint and moisture of water, the smell of the materials. I delight in the changeable nature of a painting with new morning light or in the afternoon when the sun turns a painting orange or by firelight at night. I love to see it, hold it, touch it, smell it, and create it. My gift is to share my life by allowing others to see into my heart and spirit through such tangible, comprehensible and familiar means. The paint is part of the expression.”

Kipper

As best I can recall this is the first pet portrait I've attempted in oil. It's of my friend Cliff's dog, Kipper, a mix of German and Shepherd and beagle, I think.

One thing in life I enjoy is painting scenes outdoors, when the sunlight ties together the world creating a harmony based on the time of day.

Elephants and Color

When I had gone to AZ I visited their Zoo and observed these Pachyderms with their massive form reflecting the sunlit grass. As they trumpeted around I tried to remember the hues that bounced off of their leathery hide.

I had heard it uttered once, and I'm seeing it now, the most  chroma, I mean pure hue rather than some desaturated, muted tone, can be seen in the areas of the form that are transitioning out of shadow and light. The not quite areas, the wishy washy expanses seen in the form. Look at these places and the color will be there.

I try to push chroma until it verges on breaking the value, and if I go to far then the integrity of the form breaks asunder and the gestalt fails as a composition. But what else is there? I didn't go into painting to be a meat photocopier.

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Arizona and Desert Big Horns

I had recently visited the state of Arizona and had a chance to see some areas of interest in the southern city of Tucson. I wouldn't mind living in that desert region.

It was fascinating to see the western landscape change from rolling hill country dotted with juniper and oak to a drier, less humid and arid desert space with mountain views. Large Saguaro cactus reaching towards the cloudless sky replaced the oak trees of Central TX that I had grown familiar with seeing. The city of Tucson is a pretty SW mountain town with the Catalina range to the north (Mt.Lemmon) and the Rincon's to the east. Depending on the time of day and weather, the city can have a backdrop of a solid blue tinted shape.

I wasn't able to do much hiking since I'm still recovering from a rock climbing injury that I had sustained in mid April, but I did manage to hobble short distances and in one outing with my friend, Cliff, I saw one of these Desert Big Horn Sheep:

I'm drawn to the symbol of the mountain goat, and this Big Horn Sheep reminded me as to why I liked climbing in the first place. I had enjoyed the simple freedom of movement and the eventual control over fear.

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Thanks for viewing my work and Happy Painting!

Brian Lee

Pink and Yellow

This rose was one of the more challenging ones for me to draw because of its intricate, star-like structure. There were many color changes within the petals of this rose, which were caused by the reflected warmth of the sun. In this image you can see thin use of oil and also the build up of thick layers for the lights. This is my way of approaching the study of light, and I hope it may add variety to a painting. Thanks again to the beautiful Cordair garden.
Happy painting!
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Pink Rose 6 x 6 Oil

Here's my most recent small painting, a pink rose in the Cordair garden. I was initially attracted to the color temperature relationships between the warm reflected light bouncing within the petals and cooler cast shadows tempered with skylight.

And here are my other two:

So far Raymar canvas has accepted my thin paint washes and thick paint application quite well. Even with the elements of shapes,values,edges and color I still think about the quality of paint, thick/thin, and brushwork, too.

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Yellow Rose 6 x 6 Oil

This painting was good practice on turning form using slight temperature changes within the same hue. Even though the flower is predominantly of yellow color there are subtle differences in value and color temperature that I had to be sensitive to. It was a great feeling applying the lemon yellow highlights on the delicate petals of this yellow rose.

Thank you to Linda Cordair and her lovely garden.

Happy painting!

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Sunlit Rose 6 x 6 Oil on Panel

I've decided to study flowers and the play of light on their delicate and intricate form. My goal is to become more sensitive to recreating light with my paint, and in the process I'll try to be more subtle with value shifts,temperature changes in color, edge qualities,etc.

I'm now on Daily Paintworks, and you can see my smaller paintings here:http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artis…/brian-lee-3814/artwork

Also, a thank you to Linda Cordair for her beautiful garden.

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Peaceful Pose 10 x 8 Oil

I enjoy painting the figure from life:
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"Shadow Grazer" 7 x 5" Oil

When I had visited Big Bend park I had stayed in a little town called Terlingua, which had a ranch with this beautiful cow. One day I was driving past the ranch and saw one of them resting in the shade, chewing on grass. The colors in the shadows really caught my eye, so I wanted to express what I felt on that day.

Framed Gallery Work

Time to go further west:

"Reimer's Ranch, River View" 12 x 9

Mule Ears at Evening 16 x 12" Oil

Here's one when I had visited Big Bend in west TX and checked out the prominent rock formation known as Mule Ears Peaks. That same week I had hiked up to the base of the mountain. The rock quality is very chossy(brittle and not suitable for climbing) but even still I had to see it up close.

Bullcreek Bluffs 12 x 9 Oil

Continuing to push chroma and amplify reflected sunlight that I see in the shadows:

Jefferson Memorial 12 x 9 Oil

Enjoy your celebration of Independence Day. Here's an Oil from the "Jefferson Memorial". It was fun to study the color on the sculptured form.

Eve in Blue 7 x 5 Oil

Sculptors focused on shape and form, so bringing a sculpture to life in oil allows me to emphasize one more element, color.

All these 7 x 5" Oils are for sale, so please message me if you're interested.

"Kneeling Faun" 7 x 5 Oil

I've been studying a few of Rodin's sculptures and painting them in oil. One aspect of Rodin's work that I admire is the areas of unfinished stone left to complement the rendered areas of interest. This is opposed to having sculpted everything as equal.

The sculpture is of a woman kneeling and gesturing behind her neck, as if she is tinkering with a necklace or braid in her hair.

Homer, The Poet

He was a blind poet known for epic storytelling such as the Iliad and was a legend in his time, responsible for our stories today.

Aristotle 7 x 5" Oil

I've been in the habit of pushing the chroma that I see in sculpture. Color is relative, contextual and always changing depending on the light source and environment. Besides the sculpture of a philosopher, I was attracted to the general warmth emitting from the reflected light bouncing up into the marbled form.

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If you like my artwork and would be interested in helping to contribute towards my goal of painting full time you can become a Patron. Even for as little as $1/per month you'll greatly aid in my journey and as a reward have access to my new content which includes sketches, regularly updated paintings, articles and more.

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Elephant Man 5.13a

Here's a video of my recent project, Elephant man, 5.13a at Reimer's Ranch: