Black and Green

By Anita Murphy / January 13, 2009 /

10″ x 10″, oil on canvasWorking with a limited palette of viridian, cadmium yellow light, cobalt blue, alizarin and titanium white. Applying more paint and using a larger brush – the problem as usual was not tweaking with a tiddly brush at the end. I have to get over the idea that all edges have…

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York II

By Anita Murphy / January 12, 2009 /

I love reflections in still water, slight ripples disturbing the reflections so they just shimmer.

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Trees and Garden

By Anita Murphy / January 11, 2009 /

Today was another study day – studying trees and trying to work out how to paint trees so that they look natural but painterly.I am struggling with trees. I’m not sure what the answer is but I feel it lies in brushwork and controlling the paint. The learning process goes on. This morning the sun…

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Chocolates

By Anita Murphy / January 10, 2009 /

I did get out to paint plein air today but I have it posted on a private blog for critiquing so just some sketches today of chocolates. I’ve given myself the evening off practical work for more study and note taking. I’ve been carefully studying other artists landscape work and in particular their brushwork. Sargent…

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Chiquitas Cosiendo

By Anita Murphy / January 9, 2009 /

10″ x 10″, oil on canvas I took the reference photo for this painting at Valle de Bravo in Mexico after we had been to see the Monarch butterfly migration (Unbelievable sight!). These two young girls were dressed in traditional dresses and sitting in the dappled shade of the trees, embroidering. I have to admit…

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Revisiting Missouri

By Anita Murphy / January 8, 2009 /

I came back to this reference today to put into practice some things that I have been reading about. Slightly different crop this time. I’m much happier with this version and feel that I am beginning to make a breakthrough with bringing my foregrounds forward and pushing back the background. The tree also seems to…

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White on white

By Anita Murphy / January 7, 2009 /

10″ x 10″ (Lousy photo I am afraid, despite my best efforts and it being daylight)Another experiment – battled with this – but its definitely an improvement on my last try of white on white. I can see that I am having problems with the deepest shadows. My instinct tells me they are the same…

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Two Pairs

By Anita Murphy / January 6, 2009 /

6″ x 8″, oil on canvas.Today I did some colour studies. Single Japanese pear place on red, blue, green and yellow ground. I was aware that I got less and less loose with each one – maybe doing them all in one session was pushing it a little. It was really interesting to see the…

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Genalgualcil

By Anita Murphy / January 5, 2009 /

Genalguacil is another of those gorgeous Andalucian pueblos blancos and an artists dream. Within this small village is an amazing art community who show their work throughout the village and once or twice a year hold an exhibition with their studios open to the public. I’ve not been fortunate enough to have been there at…

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York

By Anita Murphy / January 4, 2009 /

Today just a sketch – from York. My father was a champion clay pigeon shooter – he won competitions the world over. He had a theory that anyone could hit the first clay – the action was instinctive. He said that after that it would all fall apart because you would try to think about…

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