anita murphy

I’ve been longing to get out to do plein aire work but have several things conspiring against me – the incredible heat (working in the sun with temperatures over 110 degrees F (44 degrees C) and also with the restrictions imposed here so I decided that the next best thing was just to open my…

Looking across the living room to the patio window. Feeling quite happy about this pastel. The light was interesting as it was coming from three directions. The window in the background, from a window behind my left shoulder and also very diffuse light from the skylight windows above the chair and table.

View out of the window from my breakfast table. Fun doing this pastel and feel particularly happy with the light showing through the cloth on the table. Begin to feel more at ease with this medium. “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” William Shakespeare “Sunlight…

Working with “Comfort Zone” has become rather like working with an old friend. I begin to know this chair so well that I can imagine the feel of its curves as I work. Developing the colour studies – not quite there with the chair yet but feel much happier with the background colours now. The…

I’m beginning to enjoy the pastels. Having to fight the temptation to use the same colours in every orange – have to think of each one as a separate object and not that they are all identical. “There is no blue without yellow and without orange.” Vincent van Gogh “Champagne and orange juice is a…

Trying to pinpoint the colours in the walls – not sure that these are right yet but an exercise in pastels none the less.

Started the grisaille of Comfort Zone this week. This is the first pass. Painting is a refound pleasure!

Interesting lesson learned doing this on how colour moves objects within the visual plane.

Its been too long – but I am freshly returned from rainy Spain and ready to pick up my brushes. A couple of photos from the trip – I have a passion for doors and windows and this pair from the Bullring in Ronda particularly attracted my attention. Super blue shadows! The flowers were just…

“Jarhead” – graphite on paper It was a pleasure to do this for a friend. “The devil is in the details, and everything we do in the military is a detail”Hyman George Rickover