anita murphy

I watched a wonderful series on television which featured kingfishers and since then I have been mesmerised by these little birds. Their flashes of brilliant colour brighten riverbanks and add a irridescent magic to the leafy green world of water and trees.

It’s such a pleasure and honour to be asked to do a commission for someone – an old friend asked if I could paint a hoopoe for her to give to her husband for Christmas. An easy choice to say yes on two counts; she is an old friend and I love hoopoes. I grew…

I recently saw an exquisite botanical painting of a single rosehip – it was perfect! You could have picked it up off the paper, it was so realistic. On my weekly foray to the florist, I found that they had sprays of rosehips. So this week’s floral paintings are inspired by one perfect rosehip.

While I was shopping for Lisianthus at the florist, I was seduced by the most gorgeous hydrangeas. I love these flowers with their big blousy heads in a range of colours from white through pinks to bright turquoise blue – my favourites! After painting the first couple of petals, I began to think that madness…

Continuing with the floral theme this week, I’ve had a flush of pink in my palette from painting a commission of cymbidia orchids. It’s such a joy when someone reaches out and asks you to paint a picture for them. This is the first of two commissions I have lined up. A couple of warm-up…

While we were in Denmark a few years ago, I was struck by the beauty of the sand dunes. I have found few landscapes more peaceful than the undulating sand with whispy grasses blowing gently in the sea breeze, shadows playing on the pale sand. I took a number of photos and then forgot about…