Young Man with Blue Eyes – sold

Oil on canvas, 10″x8″

This is a portrait study of a beautiful dark haired man with pale skin and vivid blue eyes. He’s got a timeless, arresting look about him. I played up the high contrast in his coloring and captured the shimmering quality of the skin highlights. I kept the edges sharp and surrounded him with the color of cool air, the palest yellow-tinged turquoise. The effect is intensely lifelike and rather mesmerizing.

I’m always trying to achieve a certain realism in my paintings while also creating a sense of mood and an inner life. This painting really got there for me, like having someone fascinating in the room and I was happy that others felt that energy too. I was excited that it sold quickly but sad to see him go at the same time.

April 9, 2018 by Pat Kelley Categories: PortraitTags: blue eyes, contemporary realism, figurative painting, fine art, handsome man, male figurative art, male model, male painting, male portrait, original oil painting, representational art 2 Comments

Portrait of a Dance Hall Girl – sold

Oil on hardboard panel, 8″x6″

This painting is another in a series of what I think of as “creative portraits”. They aren’t any existing person but are usually inspired by old B&W photos and stories of the past. They start to take on a life of their own as I paint and become about an imaginary character and mood.

This girl reminded me of the taxi-dance girls in the dance halls of the 1920s and 30s. Paid a dime a dance, it was a somewhat scandalous yet relatively lucrative profession for young women in an era where opportunities were limited. I think anyone who was able to make a living that way had to be tough yet charming. This girl looks like she’s got a lot of spunk and wouldn’t take any nonsense from drunken louts.

December 1, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: figurative, PortraitTags: 1920s, beautiful woman, female figurative art, figurative painting, flapper, original oil painting, pretty face, red haired woman, representational art, roaring twenties, taxi dancer, vintage look 2 Comments

Portrait of a Blonde Flapper – sold

Oil on canvas, 10″x8″

Although she’s decidedly a girl of the 1920s, while painting this one she started to remind me a bit of Botticelli’s Madonnas. The Cestello Annunciation in particular…maybe something about her golden hair and sweet but uncertain expression. So I went with a hint of Renaissance colors in the coral red of her outfit and the faded blue of the background.

October 19, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: PortraitTags: blonde, coral red, female figurative art, flapper, girl portrait, original oil painting, realist, representational art, vintage look 1 Comment

Portrait Study of a Young Man – sold

Oil on canvasboard, 10″x8″

This is a quick portrait study I did of a beautiful young man with dreamy eyes. He has a renaissance look about him so painted him with something of a Caravaggio flavor. I liked how it turned out so I might persuade this model to pose for me as Bacchus one day.

 

September 19, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: PortraitTags: Caravaggio, figurative, male art, male nude, original oil painting, realist, renaissance, representational art Leave a comment

Nude in a Red Chair – sold

Oil on hardboard panel, 7″x5″

While painting this one I focused on the angles and the light falling across the figure. It’s a serene seated pose but I like the energy produced by the various angles of the arms and legs. The unusual vintage chair and the paneled interior add to the timeless charm of this painting.

This model is just as naked as the one in my previous painting, Standing Male Nude, but so far no one who’s seen it has had any discomfort with her body or level of nudity. Everyone also seemed to think that my earlier female nude, Woman in Bathtub – sold was just a nice painting. It’s a minor thing but interesting to me that male bodies seem to trigger a reaction of mild discomfort, even in a painting, whereas a female nude is seen as pretty standard stuff.

May 18, 2016September 19, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: figurativeTags: female nude, figurative, fine art, nude painting, nude woman, oil painting, realist, representational art 2 Comments

Standing Male Nude – sold

Oil on hardboard panel, 12″x9″

This painting is a classic figure study. Figurative subjects are my favorite and I love the challenge of painting nudes. Especially male nudes as they tend to have more defined musculature. There are few things more difficult to paint than the human body and I have to admit that the contrapposto stance gave me some trouble…but I think I pulled it off.

I was told by a male friend that I made the penis too large in this painting. I wasn’t trying to be shocking or make a statement here, the model’s penis just happens to be on the large side. But this comment made me wonder, do artists have to “tone down” that part of the body or risk having it come off as erotica? It’s just a normal part of a human body, why is there so much baggage? If a female model happens to have large breasts is it somehow more tasteful or artistic to shrink those? I spent a lot of time in art school drawing whoever happened to be naked in front of me on the model stand, did this throw me out of alignment with what regular people see in a nude? Obviously there’s no answer to the various questions that occurred to me but it does make me wonder….

May 17, 2016September 19, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: figurativeTags: fine art, male art painting, male figurative art, male nude, original oil painting, realist, representational art 3 Comments

Portrait of a Redhead – sold

Oil on hardboard panel, 10″x8″

Playing with color again. The starting point for this painting was an old black and white photo so that left a lot of room for invention. I’m not sure where the red hair came from but she seemed to want to be a redhead and it was fun to paint.

I’m finding that conveying emotion is increasingly important to me in these “portraits”. Even though they are largely invented from my imagination they also seem to create themselves and have their own personalities. Happily, I’m starting to relax with this odd feeling that I’m not in complete control and trusting what emerges in my paintings.

May 9, 2016May 9, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: figurative, PortraitTags: beautiful face, fine art, original oil painting, realist, red haired woman, representational art 3 Comments

Portrait of a Girl in Pink – sold

Oil on hardboard panel, 7″x5″

Experimenting with mood, expression and color combinations. Trying to create a completely new painting frequently is quite a challenge but I enjoy when I find it taking me in different directions. I’m finally finding myself departing from tight realism and evolving a more fluid and personal style which has long been an elusive goal. I’m still a realist painter and interested in depicting a person rather than a cartoon (not that there’s anything wrong with that, just not something I want to do) but in this case I’m happy to find a touch of whimsy and personality.

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May 8, 2016December 1, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: figurative, PortraitTags: beautiful face painting, female figurative art, fine art, girl portrait, oil painting, realist, representational art 6 Comments

Man in a Sauna – sold

Oil on hardboard panel 7″x5″

I love painting figures and enjoy taking them out of the traditional context of figure study sessions. In my work I like to paint people enjoying simple pleasures…sunlight, the beach, a soak in a deep tub, and in this painting, a sauna. It’s a wonderfully sensual respite from winter. I wanted to convey the relaxing heat and the dark coziness of the cedar wood paneling.

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January 31, 2016May 13, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: figurativeTags: affordable original oil paintings, figurative painting, figure study, male art painting, male nude, oil painting, original oil, price $50, representational art 2 Comments

Nude with Red Curtains – sold

Oil on Hardboard Panel 7″x5″

This figure painting is a study in back lighting and reflected light. I love the dramatic highlight effects of back lighting while the subtle reflected light from the surrounding curtains helps define the figure. I enjoyed the challenge of painting the contrasts of light and shadow on both the nude and the interior scene.

January 19, 2016May 8, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: figurativeTags: female nude, figurative, figure study, fine art, impressionist, nude woman, oil painting, original oil, realist, representational art 2 Comments