A classically-trained oil painter, Sandra Murphy took her first art class the year she turned fifty. She saw an ad for classes at the Art Gallery of Ontario, told her son she thought that would be fun, then promptly forgot about it. She enrolled at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, one of the few ateliers in Canada teaching the techniques of the Old Masters. Now a graduate, she pursues her art full time.
Sandra paints mostly still lifes featuring fresh flowers, antiques, children's toys, old tools, common household items, wine, cheese, whatever captures her eye and imagination. She likes things with a history, things that are worn, rusty, well used or obviously much loved. Viewers say they find her paintings peaceful, soothing or that they have sparked fond recollections.
Murphy arranges her flowers and any other objects to be included in the painting on a stand beside her easel, lighting them to create interesting shadow patterns. Unless it's a particularly complex composition, she then sketches with her paintbrush directly onto a prepared panel using thinned Burnt Umber. She carefully separates the lights and darks, does a thin underpainting of local colour, and follows this with multiple layers of paint containing progressively more oil to achieve rich, luminous colours.
Sandra paints mostly still lifes featuring fresh flowers, antiques, children's toys, old tools, common household items, wine, cheese, whatever captures her eye and imagination. She likes things with a history, things that are worn, rusty, well used or obviously much loved. Viewers say they find her paintings peaceful, soothing or that they have sparked fond recollections.
Murphy arranges her flowers and any other objects to be included in the painting on a stand beside her easel, lighting them to create interesting shadow patterns. Unless it's a particularly complex composition, she then sketches with her paintbrush directly onto a prepared panel using thinned Burnt Umber. She carefully separates the lights and darks, does a thin underpainting of local colour, and follows this with multiple layers of paint containing progressively more oil to achieve rich, luminous colours.
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