Seal of Approval

The highly esteemed artist David Martin RSW RGI visited the Sandy Murphy exhibition today.  At almost 90 years old he has been one of Scottish painting's leading lights for a long time.  It was fascinating to discuss the paintings with him.  Having been to Glasgow School of Art in the 1940s, over the last 70 years he has seen it all.

It turns out that he's almost as big a Sandy Murphy fan as I am, which is praise indeed.  I could see he was tempted, but it turns out he already has two of Sandy's paintings.  No excuse I say!  I'm taking my time throughout this exhibition to pick my third.  That's the sort of painter Sandy is, one isn't really enough because each painting gives so much, and each time it's something different.

What has been so special about this exhibition is the amount of artists who have come to visit.  They all say that they feel filled up and want to immediately run back to their studios.  I find this a joy.  The gallery for me is all about the artists and about inspiration.  To be able to inspire viewers to see beauty is a dream come true, but then to be able to inspire artists to create more work is something else.  Of course this is down to Sandy's work, but I am so glad to have been able to put this exhibition together with him.  It has been amazing and still four weeks to go . . . . .

Thanks for reading!

Natalie