Man Sleeping - sold

Oil on Canvas, 10"x8"

This painting is a study in serenity and light movement. I wanted to explore cool flesh tones with soft light and edges. There's something very calming about a sleeping figure and this is highlighted by the quiet shades of blue throughout. I've seen many paintings with sleeping female nudes but I wanted to feature a man instead. It's an unusual context that gives a vulnerable and tender aspect to the masculine form.

Upon reflection I think that's what I wanted to capture. That moment of peace. There is no guile or malice in a man asleep. He is free of his conscious torments, childlike and pure. Sleep is a wonderful thing that I rarely get enough of and I like to celebrate these simple, precious things in life.

Fine quality prints from this painting are now available here.

Copyright © Pat Kelley. All rights reserved. 

Blue Moon - sold

Oil on Canvas, 10"x8"

This painting was inspired by loss and memories, grief and ultimately joy. It's a portrait of fragility and strength. In studying faces I have found that there is an odd power in openness and vulnerability. It can connect us to the essence of our humanity. 

Portrait of Prince

Charcoal on paper, 12"x9"

I'm missing Prince on his birthday...and actually every day since he moved on to the afterlife. I am so grateful that my time on earth coincided with the life of this great artist. Even though Prince didn't celebrate birthdays I remember and celebrate the dazzling creativity and beauty he brought to the world. 

Lost Generation - sold

Oil on canvas, 10"x8"

Portrait of a moody flapper in a cafe. I experimented with using cooler, bluer colors than usual for the flesh tones in this painting. I wanted to imply her ghostly pallor and the smoky haze of a bar back in the day. 

Perhaps she's waiting for a date who's late or thinking about the boy who never came back from the war. Or maybe she's just wondering what she lost in herself and how she ended up here. I've always been fascinated by the Lost Generation, the seemingly dissolute and world-weary survivors of the Great War who partied their way through Europe in the 1920s. This girl could be Lady Brett Ashley or Nicole Diver, those enigmatic and compelling characters created by Hemingway and Fitzgerald, the feminine personifications of that confused, hedonistic era. These memorable women weren't the most admirable in literature but the flawless seldom haunt.