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| Blue Anemones |
Sandy's presence always makes the gallery feel special - the paintings themselves, and also peoples' reactions to them. The colour, tone, texture and beauty of his paintings are rarely unappreciated. From the art-lover who knows that there is something very special about these paintings, to the artist who wishes he or she could paint like him.
The paintings speak for themselves, but people always want to know more about the artist behind them. Sandy Murphy was born in Irvine in 1956. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1975 to 1980. Having taught art in Ayrshire schools, he turned his full attention to painting in 1985 and has never looked back
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| Church, Drymen,Winter |
He has become one the country’s best painters and his work is loved and respected by his contemporaries and art-lovers alike. This is reflected by his many accolades and awards. He has been the National Prize Winner of the Laing Competition several times. He has won the Sir Gillies Award (RSW), the Glasgow Art Club Fellowship award (RGI), amongst many others. He was elected Royal Society of Watercolourists (RSW) in 1996, the Royal Glasgow Institute (RGI) in 2000 and also the Paisley Art Institute (PAI) in 2010.
This is such an impressive awards list, but for me, it's the respect from other successful artists that is so telling. Most painters, if not all, think highly of him. He is regarded as in a class of his own, and I completely agree with this.
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| Spots and Stripes |
I think he is so highly regarded by his contemporaries because of his talent, but also because of his motivation, his passion. For Sandy it's about the process itself. He creates colour, texture, dark and light, working on the painting as it hangs in his studio, with not necessarily a finished result in mind. He has recently been working a lot with collage.
Coupling his talent with this place of freedom and purity is what leads to works that evoke mood, warmth, stillness, calm. As never-ending as our spectrum of emotions.
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| Japanese Table |
Sandy's honest expression through various media, whether it happens to be a still life or landscape leads to beauty. And this is what makes him such a special artist. And I don't believe anyone has just one Sandy Murphy painting - if you like him, you love him!
As always they are selling fast.
Thanks for reading!
Natalie
