Blog - Cora Murphy Irish Landscape Artist

BlogIrishArtist2021-12-16T11:12:19+00:00

coramurphyart

Is it just me? Or after the 29 weeks of January, i

Is it just me? Or after the 29 weeks of January, is it beginning to feel like the year is speeding away already! Despite persistent nudges from social and every possible news outlet, I’ve been taking it slow this month** – only dieting on my news and social consumption. ** Poem in first comment below helped!

Perfection is total and utter BS! A myth! I am a fan of doing your best whatever the fec that looks like for you (or me!). I’ve taken some time to look back over the last year – and Celeste (full time Magician & Studio Manager) has put together this video for safekeeping. On tough days it’s hard to remember how everyday has a little bit of magic in it, but I highly recommend looking back over your photos from the last year, or taking more this year.

‘Holding on & Letting Go’ is a mantra that has sustained me an artist, a self-employed person and someone perhaps not living life inside the lines. In 2022 I learned to trust myself too. When I look at this short film I am amazed at how much happened – great things I had totally forgotten – and scary ass things too.

When developing their own paintings, I ask my students to look for colours, shapes and textures. It helps to break down all the things that go into the soup of the days that make up our lives. In a time when a lot of us are concerned about rising costs, I realise the ‘best bits’ of this film – have zero monetary value – and are priceless. So much colour, sights, sounds, smells – HUGE challenges – none of it paintings – and yet ALL of it made its way into my paintings. All of it blessings. So much love, such great friends, and a brilliant family.

I’m a bit of a sop bag this Friday eve but it’s been lovely to look back and has helped me to really look forwards with hope.

F**k fear! Forwards friends. We will be tested but let’s control the narrative. **continues in comments

On The Way Home⁠ ⁠ I’m not good at rememberi

On The Way Home⁠
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I’m not good at remembering road no’s or indeed mountains names so I fondly refer to the mountains midway between my parents home and mine as – The In-betweeners! ⁠
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This painting was completed on a Monday morning following a lovely weekend at my folks. I had been a little ‘stuck’ with the painting but when driving home, across the country from my parents’ house the evening before, the answer was literally staring me in the face. A golden orb, the most glorious sunset guided me home. It’s more literal than my usual work but I liked it, so I’ve left it!

Threshold: My largest oil paintings to date. The

Threshold: My largest oil paintings to date.

These paintings took a lifetime! Usually I’ll add up to 50 laters of oils when making my contemporary landscape paintings. I’m often asked ‘How long does it take to make these paintings?’ - I work on several at the same time, it keeps the energy flowing and sort of ensures that I don’t ‘over paint’. I don’t usually log the time, the paintings tend to tell me when they’re cooked!

A wiser, older painter once told me the correct answer to that question is ‘my whole life’.
And that’s really true. I didn’t start painting until I was 30 and it took several years to limber up, shake a few monkeys off my back and get out of my own way before I had the courage to make this work. Along the way, I figured out how to paint, and saw SO much art - it was like a perpetual thirst that needed constant sating. Developing my own visual language and figuring out what it is. I want to do and say in my work took a long time. I liken it to trying to catch a fish with your hand.

When you do join up the dots, you realize that every painting you’ve made to date has lead you to this one. And of course Picasso was on the ball with he said Inspiration exists but it has to find you workings’.
As I face forward into 2023, I am grateful for the many blessings of the last year (and all the years that led me here).

2022 was a time of growth and wonder - with LOADS of love and learning. I finally bought a building in my beloved Cork city and hosted 'Threshold' - an exhibition of my largest oil paintings to date - in situ. It was magic! A rich mix and a great opportunity to pause and mark time between the past and the future. By the end of this year, we will be permanently in situ and I will be painting in the wonderland that is my city garden. I am so happy about it all. Thank you for the love and support that has underpinned hope and inspired courage. Forwards is my direction, I can't wait to show you all the progress.

Note: The Threshold exhibition has now ended. See the collection via link in bio. Studio visits available by appointment. Limited Edition Prints of Threshold Paintings also available via link in bio.

Ahhh January - it can be a balm or a blister! in o

Ahhh January - it can be a balm or a blister! in one sense it's a fab new beginning - it can also feel a bit 'Keepy Uppy' - so I prefer to think of it as a month of stillness and contemplation. A time to chill the beans and think what can the next year bring. ⁠
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A wise student of mine once told me 'Pressure is for tyres'. So with all this 'Blue Monday' malarkey. I'm injecting some of my fave blues into this post. There are some old faves here. Imagine we are half way through the month already - from here on I will try to use the time to reflect, to re-engage with my mind, body and of course the work. To practice a birra stillness and being present. Here's a lovely poem for your Blue Monday. I hope you love it x ⁠
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January Mist Poem by Sandra Fowler⁠
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Sometimes at night I hear small birds lament. ⁠
Dark notes that seem to second moon's descent. ⁠
Cold is the color of a deep regret, ⁠
An etude perfected by winterset. ⁠
⁠
The world was music and it turned us round. ⁠
Stirred by the subtle atmospheric sound, ⁠
You gently sketched a snowflake on my face ⁠
Which shall be mine till light has left this place. ⁠
⁠
Such solace has the power to outlast time, ⁠
To lock a small bird's elegy in rhyme. ⁠
Somewhere beyond the January mist, ⁠
The magic of our landscape still exists.

The Tender Places⁠ There is a softness to this p

The Tender Places⁠
There is a softness to this painting that belies its layers. Oftentimes those paintings that seem most resolved, take the longest to make. It is not unlike life. I find, as most people do – when I am a bit stirred up or bothered by something a walk on the beach is the cure. The expanse of space, salt between my toes, the spray of salt water on my feet and the rhythmic breath of the tide puts whatever is bothering me into proportion. It’s as if a type of tidal tenderness puts a balm on my tender places.

The Fertile Void⁠ I had the most enchanting conv

The Fertile Void⁠
I had the most enchanting conversation with someone recently about the strength of stillness and the power of darkness. In long Summer days, darkness (metaphorical and physical) feels less compelling, but my friend spoke of how germination requires darkness in order to cast deep roots into firm soil. The silent shoreline of this painting seemed to me a place to pause and enjoy the inherent (restorative) stillness we all have capacity for – when we shelve all the shizzle. I love to think there is a fertile void in all of us.

These larger paintings have been stirring inside m

These larger paintings have been stirring inside me for the past few years. It has been a pleasure to see them finally come to fruition in the studio. I am forever saying my work is ‘holding on and letting go’ . There may be more robust, verbose words for my process but the practice of turning up, letting go of all my notions and hang ups and holding on for inspiration, flow and the good stuff (that feels to my mind like fire) is essentially how I find and harness inspiration. Begin to Hope feels like a line I am making by walking, beyond the fertile void, it is of itself spilling out into the world at large

https://www.coramurphy.com/product/begin-to-hope-2/

FLUME ‘Inspiration exists, but it has to find y

FLUME

‘Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working’ so said Picasso. I agree – turning up is everything, yet inspiration turns up in many places. Often the oddest of places. For me, Ideas often solidify when walking or in the shower, And always, always in music.

The title for this painting ‘Flume’ came to me organically. While I was painting, the word rolled around my mind – it seemed a hybrid somehow of Flow or Float and Moon. On inspection the definition was of ‘an artificial channel conveying water’ or ‘ a winding tubular water slide or chute at a swimming pool’. Both definitions gave ballast to the sensations of rolling water and a light, playfulness at the edge of a body of water. Beyond the shallows, I remembered the Peter Gabriel song ‘Flume’– it petered up from the recesses of memory.

The lyrics,

“I move in water, shore to shore, Nothing’s more. Only love is all maroon, Lapping lakes like leary loons’

affirmed the sensations I am trying to capture – the feeling of being ‘all in’ when in water (or life, or love!). Being entirely in your body, in your own nature but also weightless – feeling in flow, sort of floating. That particular pleasurable illumination – the lightness of being.

https://www.coramurphy.com/product/flume/#

As we ease ourselves into the year 2023 I will sha

As we ease ourselves into the year 2023 I will share some paintings from my most recent collection 'Threshold'.
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In West Clare, We are Eternal⁠
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In my life, I have only toured through Clare twice – once on a teaching assignment at the wonderful Burren School of Art, it was high Spring and wild flowers were a wonder as was the Nivea blue sea. We were blessed with great weather and lovely dips after class.⁠
⁠
My second visit was during a terrifically stormy season (July!).⁠
Puttering around the County Clare coastline after an absence of many years was restorative in all the right ways. We were awash with elements. Incessant rain kept us grounded – but even so, the beauty of the place was undeniable.⁠
⁠
Sometimes in places like that, on days like that – the ones that take your breath away – I wonder at how I might have missed it – been rained off etc and never known its colour, shapes and texture in that season. The storm added starkness to the landscape, giving more grist to the black of the Burren and a cobalt green to the tide turning on a cliff. And so much⁠
frothy white in the sea.⁠
⁠
I can recall the colours of both excursions with ease. The scenes are still in my senses, I think those moments – the magic ones – are like tattoos on our minds. Eternal in that moment, as are we.⁠
⁠

A look back on the styling of some of my limited e

A look back on the styling of some of my limited edition prints. I'm dreaming big and always looking at inspiration for paintings and my new home. ⁠
Be it to complement or to create a statement I love to see the different ways people style their homes and bring out their personality. I can't wait to begin on my own gaff, already it's hard to choose what to do with each room 😆 But that's half the fun of it!.⁠
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For more on my limited edition prints head on over to ⁠
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https://www.coramurphy.com/limited-edition-prints2/

Unsure of what to get a friend or family member (o

Unsure of what to get a friend or family member (or yourself! ) for Christmas? Give the gift of art that lasts a lifetime. ^Early Bird Alert^ I'll be starting my next Abstracting the Landscape Course on February the 19th! ⁠It’s a 4 Week Course that lasts forever (accessible 24/7 as infinitum!)
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Suitable for ALL levels (including absolute beginners), this workshop teaches participants how to abstract elements of the landscape and create their own painterly response. Through a series of fun and stimulating exercises, you will learn how to approach painting in a fresh and creative manner while tapping into and developing your own intuitive painting style.⁠
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Here is a snippet of what is included in the course:⁠
⭐️ 4 x Weekly LIVE Online Painting Workshops with demos 11am – 1pm each Sunday.⁠
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⭐️ Exclusive ‘Behind the Scenes’ weekly footage of my own process.⁠
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⭐️ An extensive video library of recorded support classes such as photo-transfer technique, collage, glazing and texture.⁠ 24/7 Lifelong access.
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To learn more and secure your spot ☝️please see link in bio ☝️

Instagram post 18007745521512731

Instagram post 18007745521512731

⭐️GIVEAWAY TIME⭐️⁠And the last giveaway

⭐️GIVEAWAY TIME⭐️⁠And the last giveaway of this year!

Incase you missed out the previous weeks, here is the LAST giveaway! Thank you all so much for entering! The response to the new collection has been amazing and I am truly grateful!
⁠⁠

🎁🎁🎁🎁🥂 🥂 🎁🎁🎁🎁⁠
As per previous weeks I will give away a small print from my new collection Threshold PLUS a Threshold Box of Blessings (10 Art Cards & Envelopes Gift Box). I will announce the winner LIVE this Sunday at midday.
🎁🎁🎁🎁🥂 🥂 🎁🎁🎁🎁⁠
To enter simply:⁠
🎁 Follow Me⁠
🎁 Like the post⁠
🎁Tag TWO friends below in the comments (or as many as you like!)⁠
🎁 And for a bonus entry, share this post to your stories (don't forget to tag us!)⁠

Thanks as always for all your super support 🙏
My Pop Up Shop and Exhibition is open at 42 Douglas Street, Cork City, Fridays from 5pm -8ish🍷 and Sat & Sun 11am -5pm. Come on down ❤️🙏
⁠
Winner of the FINAL giveaway announced Sunday 11th of December :)⁠
⁠
X

⭐️GIVEAWAY NUMBER THREE TIME⭐️⁠ Incase y

⭐️GIVEAWAY NUMBER THREE TIME⭐️⁠
Incase you missed my last two giveaways! I hope you are enjoying them as much as I am and thank you to everyone who has entered the competitions so far!⁠
⁠
To Celebrate the launch of ‘Threshold’ my new painting collection and the opening of my Weekend Pop Up Shop at 42 Douglas Street, Cork City, I am hosting 4 giveaways! ⁠ ⁠
⁠
🎁🎁🎁🎁🥂 🥂 🎁🎁🎁🎁⁠
Each week I will give away a small print from my new collection Threshold PLUS a Threshold Box of Blessings (10 Art Cards & Envelopes Gift Box). I will announce the winner LIVE every Sunday at midday.⁠
🎁🎁🎁🎁🥂 🥂 🎁🎁🎁🎁⁠
To enter simply:⁠
🎁 Follow Me⁠
🎁 Like the post⁠
🎁Tag TWO friends below in the comments (or as many as you like!)⁠
🎁 And for a bonus entry, share this post to your stories (don't forget to tag us!)⁠
⁠
Thanks as always for all your super support 🙏⁠
The Pop Up is open Fridays from 5pm -8ish🍷 and Sat & Sun 11am -5pm. Come on down ❤️🙏 ⁠
⁠
Winner of the third giveaway announced Sunday 4th of December :)⁠
⁠
X

‘In West Clare’ (We are Eternal)⁠ In my life

‘In West Clare’ (We are Eternal)⁠
In my life, I have only toured through Clare twice – once on a teaching assignment at the wonderful Burren School of Art, it was high Spring and wild flowers were a wonder as was the Nivea blue sea. We were blessed with great weather and lovely dips after class.⁠
⁠
My second visit was during a terrifically stormy season (July!).⁠
Puttering around the County Clare coastline after an absence of many years was restorative in all the right ways. We were awash with elements. Incessant rain kept us grounded – but even so, the beauty of the place was undeniable.⁠
⁠
Sometimes in places like that, on days like that – the ones that take your breath away – I wonder at how I might have missed it – been rained off etc and never known its colour, shapes and texture in that season. The storm added starkness to the landscape, giving more grist to the black of the Burren and a cobalt green to the tide turning on a cliff. And so much⁠
frothy white in the sea.⁠
⁠
I can recall the colours of both excursions with ease. The scenes are still in my senses, I think those moments – the magic ones – are like tattoos on our minds. Eternal in that moment, as are we.⁠
⁠
Oil On Canvas:⁠
⁠
100cm x 80cm⁠
⁠

⭐️GIVEAWAY NUMBER TWO TIME⭐️⁠ Incase you

⭐️GIVEAWAY NUMBER TWO TIME⭐️⁠
Incase you missed my first giveaway last week.⁠
⁠
To Celebrate the launch of ‘Threshold’ my new painting collection and the opening of my Weekend Pop Up Shop at 42 Douglas Street, Cork City, I am hosting 4 giveaways! ⁠

🎁🎁🎁🎁🥂 🥂 🎁🎁🎁🎁⁠
Each week I will give away a small print from my new collection Threshold PLUS a Threshold Box of Blessings (10 Art Cards & Envelopes Gift Box). I will announce the winner LIVE every Sunday at midday.
🎁🎁🎁🎁🥂 🥂 🎁🎁🎁🎁⁠
To enter simply:⁠
🎁 Follow Me⁠
🎁 Like the post⁠
🎁Tag TWO friends below in the comments (or as many as you like!)⁠
🎁 And for a bonus entry, share this post to your stories (don't forget to tag us!)⁠

Thanks as always for all your super support 🙏
The Pop Up is open Fridays from 5pm -8ish🍷 and Sat & Sun 11am -5pm. Come on down ❤️🙏
⁠
Winner of the second giveaway announced Sunday 27th of November :)⁠
⁠
X

^^NEW Card Collection Alert^^⁠ ⁠ Lads, I am t

^^NEW Card Collection Alert^^⁠
⁠
Lads, I am thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to launch my new Art Card Collection - if you have been following on here for a while you will know I have been releasing card collections for EVER! Some were better than others - they were NEVER all the same. This is our fifth design and -- honest to fec I think we nailed it! ⁠
⁠
The feedback about the Art Card Collections was always lovely and the cards went everywhere BUT sometimes folks wanted to keep them for themselves. I totally get it - and now you can! ⁠
We redesigned the card collections to be 'A Box of Blessings' - as usual the box contains 10 cards plus envelopes but as Blessings you can gift them to yourself, frame them or send them onwards with blessings of your own. ⁠
⁠
Oh and the best bit is there are TWO collections.⁠
The next best bit is the price hasn't changed €25 per pack! ⁠
AND honestly they are GAWGESS! ⁠
⁠
The Beannacht Box is The Classic Collection⁠
⁠
The Beannacht Box was created to share joy and blessings. It brings together 10 artworks from Cora Murphy’s Classic Collection. All paintings were made with love in Ireland. Each one is a gift for you to enjoy, frame or send on with blessings of your own.⁠
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The Threshold Box is The Home Colletion.⁠
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It brings together my more recent collection of very large paintings and is totally a celebration of my finally finding my own home and all that, that means (a lot!). ⁠
⁠
Each card is of the highest quality print and illustrates a contemporary landscape painting from my collected body of work. The story of the painting is on the reverse of each card.⁠
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The Boxes of Blessings are available to purchase in bundles and can be Shipped Worldwide.⁠
⁠
https://www.coramurphy.com/product/beannacht-art-card-collection-gift-pack-a-box-of-blessings/

⭐️GIVEAWAY TIME⭐️⁠ November is a #DOSE!

⭐️GIVEAWAY TIME⭐️⁠
November is a #DOSE! So to cheer us all up AND Celebrate the launch of Threshold, my new collection of large paintings AND the opening of my Pop Up Shop, I 'm doing a Giveaway. ⁠
But, since we are doing FOUR Weekend POP UPs - why do one Giveaway when you can do FOUR! ⁠
⁠
Sounds a bit mad I know but enough of that, here are the deets!⁠
🎁🎁🎁🎁🥂 🥂 🎁🎁🎁🎁⁠
Each week I will be giving away a Limited Edition Print from my new Threshold Collection (small size 20" sq) PLUS a Threshold gift box. Winners will be announced every Sunday ⁠
To enter simply:⁠
🎁 Follow Me⁠
🎁 Like the post⁠
🎁Tag 2 friends below in the comments (as many times as you like!)⁠
🎁 And for a bonus entry, share this post to your stories (don't forget to tag us!)⁠
⁠
Winner of the first giveaway announced this Sunday 20th of November :)⁠
⁠
X

Inspired by time fishing with my father on the May

Inspired by time fishing with my father on the Mayo Lakes, Nocturne is evocative of days ending and that very special light particular to the low sun on the lakes.⁠
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I am a fair weather fisher but time on the lake with my Dad is nothing short of glorious. It is time out of time. Even though senses are accelerated with the cut and thrust of the boat traversing the waves, sideways rain and all the slip-slop sounds of water, reels and bird life – time feels somehow suspended. The experience is utterly elemental and yet really, very restful but stimulating. ⁠
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Beyond the shoreline, out on that horizon there is a promise of magic and reward. Great days – time well spent – the best currency – before the waves roll us back to shore and home.⁠
⁠
Oil On Canvas:⁠
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150cm x 150cm⁠
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Oil On Canvas:⁠ ⁠ 160cm x 160cm⁠ ⁠ In Slip

Oil On Canvas:⁠
⁠
160cm x 160cm⁠
⁠
In Slip Frame Ready To Hang⁠
⁠
To be full of future – dreams, plans, schemes and such – is a lovely, latent kind of energy. That’s how I felt when making this painting. ⁠
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As a rookie artist I painted in a traditional context – working out in the landscape, making paintings in response to place. As my practice deepened, the response has become more intuitive. I’ve learned to trust myself and the work, and to understand (to paraphrase the late, great Mary Oliver) ‘My work is loving the world…, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished’. ⁠
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Composition has taken on a more vital, vibrant quality – rather than thinking in terms of foreground, lines, proportions etc, making paintings now feels like composing music. It is beyond looking and seeing and involves a sort of deep cellular listening – to hear, but mostly feel the rhythm of nature. ⁠
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My paintings are made with oils in many layers. Creating this big painting was a joy. Pregnant with possibility, it was in and of itself a wonderland. With every layer it seemed to unfold, evolve and reveal itself to me. Often painting feels like magic – a particular kind of alchemy. It fills me with wonder and a special energy – an illumination radiating from the inside out.

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